Rensselaer County passed its kratom ban.
Local Law T-4 of 2026, introduced on August 11, 2026 by eleven of the nineteen legislators, was adopted unamended on Tuesday, September 8, 2026 with fifteen votes in favour. It prohibits the sale and distribution of kratom throughout Rensselaer County, natural leaf included. It is not law yet. County Executive Steven F. McLaughlin held the required public hearing on Thursday, September 24, 2026 and said he would take several days to decide whether to sign or veto it, and Section 8 makes it effective only on filing with the Secretary of State. This page covers what the adopted text does, what happens next, and how to reach the people who decide that part.
Last updated September 29, 2026. The County Executive is deciding whether to sign or veto T-4, so the letter builder now writes to him. Procedural detail comes from a written reply by the Clerk of the Legislature, August 24, 2026, and the County Charter, Section 3.06.
What the introduced version would do.
Eleven of the nineteen legislators introduced Local Law T-4 (Intro) of 2026 on August 11, 2026. Everything below is drawn from the filed text and names the section it comes from, because the difference between an announcement and a filed bill has already mattered once this month: Dutchess County was publicised on July 30 as a countywide ban and filed as a 7-OH concentration limit that left plain leaf alone. T-4 is the reverse case. Its own definition section reaches the plant.
- Local Law T-4 (Intro) of 2026, "A Local Law of the County of Rensselaer Prohibiting the Sale or Distribution of Kratom in Rensselaer County," introduced August 11, 2026. T-4 (Intro) is a temporary designation used while a measure is pending, so it would receive a permanent local law number on final filing.
- Section 4 prohibits distributing or selling kratom in Rensselaer County.
- Section 3 defines kratom as the plant Mitragyna speciosa and parts thereof, products containing mitragynine, products derived from Mitragyna speciosa leaves, and any synthetic derivations thereof. Natural leaf is inside that definition, which is what separates T-4 from the Dutchess and Suffolk County measures that draw their line at concentration.
- Section 5 authorizes the Rensselaer County Public Health Department and law enforcement agencies to conduct regulatory inspections and compliance checks of any suspected retailer in the county and any vehicle used by that retailer, during routine facility checks, on a complaint, or as part of a criminal investigation. Kratom found during an inspection is to be immediately confiscated, and destroyed one year after a finding of violation.
- Section 6 sets a civil penalty of not more than five hundred dollars per item confiscated, and not more than one thousand dollars per item for each subsequent violation. It also provides that willful violation may result in criminal prosecution under New York State Public Health Law section 12-b.
- Section 8 makes the law effective upon its filing with the New York State Secretary of State, with no phase-in period.
- Sponsored by eleven of the nineteen legislators: Patire, Hoffman, Loveridge, Film, Choquette, Bayly, Grant, Casale, Herrington, Maloney and Wysocki. The eight who did not sponsor it are Fleming, Nichols, Ashley, Galuski, Rutecki, Sabo, Weaver and Zalewski. The Clerk of the Legislature confirmed on August 24, 2026 that the sponsor list is unchanged.
- Adopted September 8, 2026 with fifteen votes in favour, unamended, and not yet in force. Two members were absent. A motion to table failed, and a floor amendment that would have added a sunset clause, ending the ban once the state legislates on the same ground, failed on a roll call. The county Public Forum had been held on Wednesday, September 2, 2026, where residents spoke both for the ban and for narrowing it to synthetics. The adopted local law went to the County Executive, who held the required public hearing on September 24, 2026 and has not yet decided whether to sign or veto it. Section 8 makes the law effective on filing with the Secretary of State, so nothing about buying kratom in the county has changed yet.
Set against the law we said to copy.
This page holds up Dutchess County Resolution 2026136 as the better model, so here are the two filed texts next to each other rather than our word for it. Both are county measures written the same month, four weeks and one river apart.
Where the county says its power comes from
Section 2 of the Dutchess local law is enacted under Municipal Home Rule Law section 10(1)(ii)(a)(12), the specific grant counties use to legislate for the protection, order, conduct, safety, health and well-being of residents, and under Dutchess County Charter section 2.031. Section 1 of T-4 cites only Article IX of the State Constitution.
What happens when the state acts
Section 7 of the Dutchess local law is headed Reverse Preemption: it becomes null and void on the day statewide legislation with the same or substantially similar provisions goes into effect, or if a state or federal agency promulgates regulations preempting the county. The county rule cannot outlive or conflict with the state one. T-4 has no equivalent, and S8925-A is sitting with the Governor now.
Whether it reaches online sellers
Section 4 of the Dutchess local law applies to any person including any online platform, wherever located, and deems a sale to occur in the county whenever a prohibited product is delivered or shipped to an address within it. The enforcement authority in Section 5 of T-4 reaches suspected retailers within Rensselaer County and the vehicles they use, which is a rule aimed at the storefronts on the county's own main streets.
What the county worked out before voting
Section 8 of the Dutchess local law makes a SEQRA Type II determination on the face of the document, and the resolution package carries a Health Department fiscal worksheet putting enforcement at $15,000 for this year and $45,000 annually thereafter, for outreach, education and surveillance. The T-4 packet contains neither.
None of this means Dutchess went easy. Its penalties are the heavier ones: Section 5 sets not more than $1,500 for a first violation and not more than $3,000 for a subsequent violation within thirty-six months, with an additional $500 where the sale is to anyone under 21, and each sale counted as a separate violation. Section 4 makes liability strict, so not knowing a product was covered is not a defence. The difference between the two documents is scope, not severity. Dutchess drew a narrower line and enforced it harder.
Nothing changes today
We ship to Rensselaer County addresses now and will continue to until the law takes effect on filing with the Secretary of State. We follow the law in every state and locality we ship to, so when that happens we will stop shipping there, the same as we already do for Nassau, Washington, and Oneida counties, and as we now do for Albany County, whose county Department of Health order took effect at 12:01 a.m. on September 1, 2026.
If it is adopted, we email customers rather than let anyone discover it at checkout. If it is narrowed to concentrated 7-OH the way Dutchess was, nothing we sell is reached and we will say so here.
Draw the line at concentration, not at the plant.
This is not an argument that nothing should be regulated. The concentrated and synthetic 7-OH products behind most of the harm reporting are the ones the federal government is moving to control, and we have never sold them. It is an argument about where a county draws its line, and every point below is sourced at the foot of this page.
The federal government drew the line at concentration, not at the plant
On July 1, 2026 the DEA announced its intent to temporarily place 7-OH into Schedule I above a specified concentration threshold, set at 0.05 percent by dry weight, along with three related synthetic compounds. The action deliberately targets enhanced, concentrated, synthetic, and semi-synthetic products, and leaves ordinary leaf carrying only naturally occurring trace amounts below the threshold outside it. The agencies charged with drug enforcement and public health reviewed the science and concluded the concentrates are the threat. A county law reaching the whole plant would go further than the federal government determined was warranted.
A Florida county looked at this exact question in August and declined to ban
On August 18, 2026 the Marion County, Florida Board of County Commissioners declined to move forward with a local kratom ordinance its attorneys had been directed to draft. The county attorney noted that separating concentrated or synthetic products from plain leaf requires laboratory testing the county would have to fund, and commissioners said they would rather wait for the pending federal action than adopt a county rule that could conflict with it weeks later. Speakers and staff argued a blanket ordinance would sweep in traditional leaf and compliant retailers alongside the products that prompted the concern.
Two New York counties faced this choice and chose regulation
Dutchess County adopted Resolution 2026136 on August 10, 2026, restricting 7-OH above 2 percent of total alkaloids or 1 mg per serving and leaving plain leaf alone. County Executive Serino has since signed it. Suffolk County went further in the same direction: its Legislature voted unanimously to regulate rather than ban, and the County Executive signed that law on July 30, 2026, limiting sales to 21 and over, permitting only naturally derived products subject to third party testing, and prohibiting synthetics. Nassau, Washington, and Oneida counties banned outright, and Albany County has now joined them: its Department of Health signed Commissioner's Emergency Public Health Order No. 1 of 2026 on August 24, 2026, prohibiting all kratom sales county-wide effective 12:01 a.m. September 1, 2026. Rensselaer gets to pick which set of precedents it follows, and the county directly across the river has already picked prohibition.
New York State already regulates this, and is going further
In December 2025 the Governor signed legislation prohibiting kratom sales to anyone under 21 and requiring ingredient disclosure and consumer warning labels. In June 2026 the Legislature passed S8925A, a statewide 7-OH bill using the same 2 percent and 1 mg thresholds, which has not yet been delivered to the Governor. A county law that reaches natural leaf would sit outside the framework the state is building, and would be broader than the state measure that may take effect over it.
Prohibition moves the market, it does not close it
A countywide ban reaches the businesses that already verify age, test every batch, and publish results. Demand does not disappear with them. It relocates to sellers with no age check, no testing, no labeling, and nobody the county can hold accountable, and to the neighboring counties that have not banned. The concentrated products the county is rightly worried about are the ones about to become federally controlled regardless of what Rensselaer does.
Video series for officials
Kratom Leaf and 7-OH
Short explainers for officials weighing an outright ban, with a transcript and sources for every part.
Watch the series
One person decides this now.
The Legislature has voted. T-4 now sits with County Executive Steven F. McLaughlin, who can sign it, or veto it and send it back to the Legislature. He held his hearing on September 24 and has not said which he will do. Until he acts, he is the only person who can stop it, so the letter builder writes to him.
The nineteen legislators matter again if he vetoes it. Overriding a veto takes thirteen of the nineteen, so seven members can sustain one. Eleven sponsored T-4: Patire, Hoffman, Loveridge, Film, Choquette, Bayly, Grant, Casale, Herrington, Maloney and Wysocki. The eight who did not are Fleming, Nichols, Ashley, Galuski, Rutecki, Sabo, Weaver and Zalewski. You can copy any of them on your letter, and if you know who represents your district, copy that person whether they sponsored it or not. Mail from an actual constituent outweighs everything else.
Write plainly and in your own words: who you are, where you live, and the specific ask, which is to veto T-4 and send it back with the thresholds the State Legislature has already passed for concentrated and synthetic 7-OH, rather than ban the whole plant. Two honest sentences from a resident beat any script, including ours.
Both links leave this site and go to the county's own pages. Check the directory for district assignments and for any address we have listed incorrectly, and tell us if you find one.
Write your own email in a minute
It writes to County Executive Steven F. McLaughlin, because T-4 sits with him until he signs or vetoes it. You can copy any of the nineteen legislators as well: if he vetoes it, they vote on whether to override him. Then say where you are writing from and add your name and town. The letter rewrites itself for a county constituent, a New Yorker outside the county, or someone out of state, because those three are not the same argument and pretending otherwise is how mail gets discounted. It opens in your own email app and sends from your address, not ours. Edit anything before you send it.
Your letter
Selecting many recipients makes a long mailto link, and a few mail apps will not open one past a certain length. If the button does nothing, use Copy addresses and Copy letter text and paste them into a new message by hand.
Send your comment to the Clerk as well
Writing to the County Executive reaches his office. Sending the same letter to the Clerk of the Legislature is what puts it in the official record. The Clerk has confirmed that letters received, for and against, become part of the official record and are circulated to all members, and the members are the ones who vote if he vetoes T-4. Write the County Executive, then copy the Clerk.
Jessica L. Charette, Clerk of the Legislature. jcharette@renscony.gov. 518-270-2721.
Include your name and your town, and say plainly whether you live in Rensselaer County. That is the detail an elected official looks for first.
Anyone can write. Only county residents can speak.
Under the Rules of the Legislature, only Rensselaer County residents may speak in chambers. The chair may limit the number of speakers on the same subject and may impose a five minute time limit for each speaker. A sign-in sheet is at the entrance to the chambers.
Both of those nights have passed. The Public Forum on Wednesday, September 2, 2026 drew residents speaking on both sides, some for the ban and some for narrowing it to synthetics, and three people spoke against the ban during public comment at the regular meeting on Tuesday, September 8, before the Legislature adopted it: an East Greenbush resident, a local retailer who has consumed kratom for close to a decade, and the director of government affairs for the Global Kratom Coalition. All three argued for drawing the line at concentrated and synthetic 7-OH rather than at the plant. The County Executive's required public hearing followed on Thursday, September 24, 2026. Two mothers who lost sons and Legislator Bruce Patire spoke for the ban; users, a shop owner and Legislator Ken Zalewski spoke against it and asked him to veto it and send it back to the Legislature.
If you do not live in the county you cannot speak, and nothing on this page suggests otherwise. Writing carries no residency rule at all, and a letter is filed the same way whoever sends it.
September 8 was not the last word.
Two motions came first and both failed. A motion to table the local law pending more input did not carry. Then a procedural amendment was offered that would have added a sunset clause, so that the county ban would be superseded automatically once New York State legislates on the same ground; it failed on a roll call. The argument for banning synthetics and leaving natural leaf alone, the route Suffolk County took, was made on the floor but was never the amendment put to a vote. T-4 passed as written in the packet.
The vote was not the end of this. T-4 passed on September 8 and did not become law that night. The Clerk forwarded the adopted local law to the County Executive, Steven F. McLaughlin, who held the required public hearing on Thursday, September 24, 2026 in East Greenbush and said he would take several days to consider the comments before deciding whether to sign or veto it. Section 8 then makes the law effective on filing with the Secretary of State.
So there were two windows, not one. The first closed on September 8 and belonged to the Legislature. The second is the County Executive's decision, and it stays open until he acts. Under the County Charter (Section 3.06) he has ten days from receiving the law to sign or veto it, and if he does neither it is deemed approved. A veto sends it back to the Legislature, which can pass it over his objections within 45 days with at least two-thirds of its whole membership, thirteen of the nineteen. A county can also amend or repeal a local law it has already adopted, which is the other route open to the members who voted against it. Our written statement for the hearing record and our letters to the County Executive are in the advocacy documents library.
The full Legislature, all nineteen.
Rensselaer County is represented by nineteen legislators across six districts, elected to four year terms. Eleven sponsored T-4 and eight did not, and each card below says which. The eight non-sponsors are listed first because they have the least invested in T-4 as written, and if the County Executive vetoes it, overriding him takes thirteen of the nineteen. The letter builder writes to the County Executive and lets you copy any of them. Anyone may write to any of them, wherever they live; only county residents may speak in chambers. Party is listed because it is ordinary directory information, and the ask on this page is not a partisan one: the Dutchess and Suffolk measures that drew the line at concentrates were both adopted unanimously, by legislatures of different composition.
Mark J. Fleming
Leads the minority caucus.
- On T-4
- Did not sponsor
- Party
- Democrat
- mfleming@renscony.gov
Nina M. Nichols
- On T-4
- Did not sponsor
- Party
- Democrat
- nnichols@renscony.gov
Kelly Hoffman
Chairs the Legislature and controls whether a local law is taken up.
- On T-4
- Sponsor
- Party
- Conservative
- khoffman@renscony.gov
Kenneth H. Herrington
Leads the majority carrying the law.
- On T-4
- Sponsor
- Party
- Republican
- kherrington@renscony.gov
Bruce Patire
Listed first among the sponsors on the filed text.
- On T-4
- Sponsor
- Party
- Republican
- bpatire@renscony.gov
Rensselaer County Legislature
Meets in regular session on the second Tuesday of each month at 6:00 PM. Sessions are open to the public and agendas are published in advance.
- Phone
- 518-270-2880
- Office
- Rensselaer County Legislature, Ned Pattison Government Center, 1600 Seventh Avenue, Troy, NY 12180
- Meetings
- East Greenbush Government Center, 99 Troy Road, Second Floor, East Greenbush, NY
County attorneys
These are the offices that draft and advise on the text. They are the right address for a question about what the law says or how it is written, and the wrong address for policy comment. Please do not mass mail them. Policy comment belongs with the legislators above, and the official record belongs with the Clerk.
- County Attorney
- Carl Kempf, ckempf@renscony.gov
- Legislative attorney
- Phil Danaher, pdanaher@renscony.gov
- Legislative attorney
- Dave Gruenberg, dgruenberg@renscony.gov
What we do, and can show.
Not an argument, just the record, so that anyone weighing a county ban knows what it would actually reach.
- Leaf only. No 7-OH, no concentrated extracts, never have and never will.
- Orders to New York addresses are held until the customer sends a copy of their ID, which we check by hand against the state's 21 and over requirement before the order ships.
- Every batch tested by independent third party laboratories, with the certificate of analysis published publicly.
- Labeling compliant with New York State ingredient disclosure and warning requirements.
- No shipping into states or localities where sale is prohibited.
Fair questions, answered straight.
Has Rensselaer County banned kratom?
The Legislature has, and the ban is not in force yet. Local Law T-4 of 2026 was introduced on August 11, 2026 and adopted unamended on September 8, 2026, with fifteen votes in favour and two members absent. Adopted is not the same as in effect: the County Executive held the required public hearing on September 24, 2026 and has not yet decided whether to sign or veto it, and Section 8 makes the law effective on filing with the Secretary of State. Until that filing happens, nothing about buying or possessing kratom in Rensselaer County has changed. This page changes again the day it does.
Does this cover plain leaf or only concentrates?
As filed, it covers both. Section 4 prohibits distributing or selling kratom in the county, and Section 3 defines kratom as the plant Mitragyna speciosa and parts thereof, products containing mitragynine, products derived from the leaves, and any synthetic derivations thereof. Plain leaf sits inside that definition. That is what separates T-4 from the Dutchess County measure adopted August 10, which restricts 7-OH by concentration, leaves plain leaf alone and has since been signed by its County Executive, and from the Suffolk County law signed July 30, which regulates rather than bans. The Legislature adopted the Rensselaer text unamended on September 8, 2026, so the whole-plant definition is the one that stands. If it is narrowed later, by amendment before filing or by a subsequent local law, we will say so here.
The hearing has happened. What comes next?
The Legislature adopted T-4 on Tuesday, September 8, 2026 at the East Greenbush Government Center. There was no public hearing before that vote, which the Clerk of the Legislature confirmed in advance. The hearing came afterwards: County Executive Steven F. McLaughlin held it on Thursday, September 24, 2026 and said he would take several days to decide whether to sign or veto the law. Under the County Charter (Section 3.06) he has ten days from receiving the law to act, and if he does neither it is deemed approved. If he signs it, it takes effect when it is filed with the Secretary of State. If he vetoes it, it goes back to the Legislature, which can pass it over his objections within 45 days with at least two-thirds of its whole membership, thirteen of the nineteen.
Can I speak at the meeting?
Only if you live in Rensselaer County. Under the Rules of the Legislature, only county residents may speak in chambers. The chair may limit the number of speakers on the same subject and may impose a five minute time limit for each speaker, and there is a sign-in sheet at the entrance to the chambers. Both nights that were open to residents on T-4 have passed: the Public Forum on Wednesday, September 2, 2026 and the regular meeting on Tuesday, September 8, 2026, both at the East Greenbush Government Center, 99 Troy Road, East Greenbush. Three people spoke against the ban during public comment at the September 8 meeting: an East Greenbush resident, a local retailer who has consumed kratom for close to a decade, and the director of government affairs for the Global Kratom Coalition. The County Executive's public hearing followed on Thursday, September 24, 2026. If you do not live in the county you cannot speak, but anyone can write, and a written comment is filed the same way whoever sends it.
How do I get my comment into the official record?
Send it to the Clerk of the Legislature: Jessica L. Charette, jcharette@renscony.gov, 518-270-2721. The Clerk has confirmed that letters received, for and against, become part of the official record and are circulated to all members. Writing to individual legislators reaches those legislators. Sending your comment to the Clerk is the step that puts it on the record, so doing both is reasonable.
What happens to my orders?
Nothing right now. The law is adopted but not in force, so we still ship to Rensselaer County addresses and will continue to until it takes effect on filing with the Secretary of State. We follow the law in every state and locality we ship to, so when that filing happens we will stop shipping there, the same as we already do for Nassau, Washington, and Oneida counties, and as we now do for Albany County, whose county Department of Health order took effect at 12:01 a.m. on September 1, 2026. We would email customers rather than let anyone find out at checkout.
Should I write if I do not live in Rensselaer County?
You can. Speaking in chambers is limited to county residents, but writing is not limited to anyone, and the letter builder handles it for you. Pick where you are writing from and the letter changes: a county resident says so plainly and asks their own representative, a New Yorker outside the county writes about the statewide patchwork without claiming to be a constituent, and someone out of state says that outright and argues the substance instead. Mail from people who actually live in the county carries the most weight, so if that is you, say your town. If you have a business or family in the county, say that too.
Why is a store running this page?
Because we have an obvious commercial interest and would rather state it than hide it. We sell kratom leaf, we would lose sales in Rensselaer County if this passes, and that is disclosed at the bottom of this page. Everything factual here is sourced so you can check it without taking our word for anything.
Check all of it.
- Rensselaer County, filed text of Local Law T-4 (Intro) of 2026, Prohibiting the Sale or Distribution of Kratom in Rensselaer County, introduced August 11, 2026. Circulated with the August 11 meeting materials. T-4 (Intro) is a temporary designation, so the text is not yet carried in the county local law database.
- Dutchess County Legislature, Resolution 2026136, full text as offered in committee by Legislators Valdes Smith, Atkins, Munn and Kaul, and adopted August 10, 2026 without floor amendment.
- NewsChannel 13, August 2026: Rensselaer Co. proposes ban on natural and synthetic kratom
- NEWS10 ABC: Kratom ban proposed in Rensselaer County
- Rensselaer County Legislature, meeting schedule and agendas
- 352today, August 18, 2026: Marion County just hit pause on a kratom ban
- Congressional Research Service: Temporary Control of 7-Hydroxymitragynine (7-OH) and Related Substances Under the Controlled Substances Act
- FDA: Hiding in Plain Sight, 7-OH Products
- Governor of New York, December 22, 2025: signing of the under-21 sales prohibition and warning label requirements
- Dutchess County Legislature, Resolution 2026136, adopted August 10, 2026
- Rensselaer County Legislature, regular meeting of September 8, 2026, livestream recording. The vote on T-4, the failed motion to table, the failed sunset amendment, and the chair announcing the law passed with fifteen in favour are all in that recording, from 1:38:40 to 2:06:55.
- Jessica L. Charette, Clerk of the Rensselaer County Legislature, written reply to Hudson Valley Botanicals, August 24, 2026, confirming the September 8 vote date, that no public hearing precedes the vote, the County Executive hearing requirement after passage, the chamber speaking rules under the Rules of the Legislature, the September 2 Public Forum, the handling of written comment as part of the official record, and the unchanged sponsor list.
- CBS6 Albany, September 25, 2026: Rensselaer County kratom ban now awaits county executive's decision
- Rensselaer County Charter, Section 3.06, Executive Approval (revised through Local Law 4 of 2025)
Before it reaches a signature.
The Legislature adopted T-4 on September 8, and the County Executive held his hearing on September 24 and has not yet decided whether to sign it. If you know someone in Rensselaer County, or anywhere in the Capital Region, this page and its letter builder are worth passing along now.
This page is maintained by Hudson Valley Botanicals, a kratom retailer based in Poughkeepsie, New York, and we have a commercial interest in how this local law is resolved, including sales we would lose if it passes. It is civic and legislative information about a proposed county law, not legal advice, and the filed text as published by the county is the controlling document rather than our summary of it. Contact details are reproduced from the county directory and may change; tell us if you find an error and we will correct it. Nothing on this page describes what any product does. Kratom products are not intended to diagnose, treat, cure, or prevent any disease. These statements have not been evaluated by the FDA.
