§ 715-a. Grounds and procedure for removal of commercial tenants for
unlicensed cannabis retail sale. 1. Any duly authorized enforcement
agency of the state or of a subdivision thereof, under a duty to enforce
the provisions of the penal law or of any state or local law, ordinance,
code, rule or regulation relating to buildings, or the cannabis control
board, office of cannabis management or the attorney general pursuant to
section one hundred thirty-eight-a of the cannabis law, may serve
personally upon the owner or landlord of real property authorized or
otherwise intended or advertised, in whole or part, for use to buy, sell
or otherwise provide goods or services, or for other business,
commercial, professional services or manufacturing activities, or upon
their agent, a written notice requiring the owner or landlord to make an
application for the removal of a commercial tenant so using or occupying
the same for a violation of article two hundred twenty-two of the penal
law or article six of the cannabis law involving the unlicensed sale of
cannabis or products marketed or labeled as such. If the owner or
landlord or their agent does not make such application within five days
thereafter; or, having made it, does not in good faith diligently
prosecute it, the enforcement agency giving the notice may bring a
proceeding under this article for such removal as though the petitioner
were the owner or landlord of the premises, and shall have precedence
over any similar proceeding thereafter brought by such owner or landlord
or to one theretofore brought by them and not prosecuted diligently and
in good faith. An enforcement agency authorized to bring a petition
hereunder may do so on their own initiative or upon a referral from an
agency of the state or a subdivision thereof. The person in possession
of the property, as well as any lessee or sublessee and the owner or
landlord shall be made respondents in the proceeding.

2. A court, upon a finding of such violation may, in addition to any
other order provided by law:

(a) grant a petition pursuant to this section ordering the immediate
removal of such tenant;

(b) impose and require the payment by any respondent not otherwise
subject to a civil penalty under section sixteen or one hundred
twenty-five of the cannabis law, who has been found to have knowingly
permitted such a violation, a civil penalty not exceeding five times the
amount of rent charged, owed, or paid, as the case may be, for the
duration of the violation, which may be calculated from the date the
owner or landlord respondent received notice of the violation to the
date the unlicensed activity is abated, for which a respondent shall be
required to provide sufficient proof thereof, including but not limited
to a sworn statement by a local law enforcement or other governmental
entity that the unlicensed activity has been abated; provided, however,
that in a city with a population of over one million the civil penalty
shall be fifty thousand dollars. The landlord or property owner shall
also provide a copy of any executed lease with such tenant;

(c) order the payment of reasonable attorneys fees and the costs of
the proceeding to the petitioner; and

(d) order that any such multiple respondents shall be jointly and
severally liable for any payment so ordered under this subdivision.

3. For the purposes of a proceeding under this section, an enforcement
agency of the state or of a subdivision thereof, which may commence a
proceeding under this section, may subpoena witnesses, compel their
attendance, examine them under oath before themselves or a court and
require that any books, records, documents or papers relevant or
material to the inquiry be turned over to them for inspection,
examination or audit, pursuant to the civil practice law and rules.

4. The use or occupancy of premises customarily or habitually for the
unlicensed retail sale of cannabis or products marketed or labeled as
such shall constitute an illegal trade, manufacture, or other business
for the purposes of section two hundred thirty-one of the real property
law.