ALBANY, N.Y. (WIVB) — It’s another step forward for the budding marijuana industry in New York—the State Assembly passed a bill Wednesday authorizing temporary licenses for growing pot. The bill paid particular attention to licenses for hemp growers and minority and women-owned businesses.

Assembly Majority Leader Crystal Peoples-Stokes talked to NEWS10’s sister station in Buffalo just after the measure passed. “A lot of people whose lives have been damaged as a result of it being an illegal product and that damage has created a residual impact for multiple generations, we are talking 90 years here,” Peoples-Stokes said.

Peoples-Stokes said the bill focuses on equity for communities of color that have been harmed most by the war on drugs in New York State. She and Assembly Speaker Carl Heastie announced the passing of the legislation in a joint press release.

“These temporary licenses are the next step in getting our state’s market up and running,” Heastie said in the announcement. And the cannabis program is moving quickly—there’s a $200 million fund in Gov. Kathy Hochul’s proposed budget to build dispensaries across the state this year.