WSLCB - Board Caucus (March 26, 2024) - Rulemaking Update
Staff looked ahead to 2024 legislative implementation and outstanding cannabis projects, including a recently submitted petition to ban disposable vapor cartridges.
Staff looked ahead to 2024 legislative implementation and outstanding cannabis projects, including a recently submitted petition to ban disposable vapor cartridges.
Officials outlined a transition period to take on accreditation authority in parallel with revising standards, including method approval and when enforcement of new standards would start.
Board members learned about the benefit-cost analysis of legal cannabis conducted by WSIPP researchers, including how agency staff could better collaborate on topics of mutual interest.
Attendees had many suggestions and questions for WSLCB staff regarding draft rules for medically endorsed retailers, with emphasis around expected levels of enforcement.
Board members reviewed actions of the 2024 legislative session, got the status of several rulemaking projects, and heard about a petition to renew harvest dates as required labeling.
Senators made changes to data gathering requirements in a bill regulating “high THC” products before almost unanimously passing the measure and returning it to the House for concurrence.
Senators reduced by half the period of time registered patients would be exempted from a cannabis excise tax under HB 1453, but a large majority again supported the change.
Legislative and budget issues were top-of-mind for the board, but they also discussed an impending rulemaking project related to minors on the premises of producers and processors.
Senators decided the “high THC” bill was similar enough to a companion to skip a public hearing; all testimony on the bill to exempt patients from cannabis excise taxes was supportive.
Testimony on cannabis commission legislation showed an industry divided over benefits and costs, plus the committee recommended bills on cannabis waste and THC-based taxation.