WA Task Force on Social Equity in Cannabis - Public Meeting
(October 26, 2020)

Monday October 26, 2020 9:30 AM - 4:30 PM Observed
Seal of the State of Washington

The Washington State Legislative Task Force on Social Equity in Cannabis (WA SECTF) was established during the 2020 legislative session as part of HB 2870 and expanded in 2021 through HB 1443. The purpose of the task force is to make recommendations to the Washington State Liquor and Cannabis Board (WSLCB) including but not limited to establishing a social equity program for the issuance and reissuance of existing retail marijuana licenses, and to advise the Governor and the Legislature on policies that would facilitate development of a marijuana social equity program. The President of the Senate and the Speaker of the House were responsible for appointing 20 members to the task force.

The Social Equity in Cannabis Task Force will hold its first public meeting on Monday, October 26 from 9:30am – 4:30pm (times are still tentative and may change). The meeting will be virtual and is open to the public. There will be a dedicated public comment period on this agenda and on all future Task Force meeting agendas. We encourage community members to join and share their stories, thoughts, and suggestions with the Task Force.

The proposed agenda and instructions for joining the meeting will be available (and shared through this distribution list) by October 19.

Email to Social Equity in Cannabis Task Force Distribution List (Oct 8, 2020)
https://healthequity.wa.gov/...eetings/SocialEquityinCannabisTaskForce/October26

Observations

Meet the 18 appointed members of the Washington State Legislative Task Force on Social Equity in Cannabis in our first post on the inaugural meeting of this group.

  • Representative Melanie Morgan, representing the Washington State House Democatic Caucus.
    • Morgan served on her chamber’s cannabis policy committee, the Washington State House Commerce and Gaming Committee (WA House COG), after joining the legislature in 2019 representing the 29th Legislative District.
    • Morgan’s legislative biography stated that she is a “former school board director from Franklin Pierce Schools, a US Army veteran,” a commissioner on the board of the Pierce County Housing Authority and had “served on the board of Community Healthcare” in addition to being “a Domestic Violence and Sexual Assault Advocate.”
    • During the 2019 legislative session, Morgan raised concerns about minority license ownership during a January public hearing on HB 1236, “Concerning the ability of business and nonprofit entities to obtain a marijuana license.” Also in 2019, Morgan filed an amendment to HB 1466 which would have cancelled its billboard ban, expanded the advertising buffer around schools from 1000 to 2000 feet, and created a 2000 foot buffer between cannabis business billboards. The amendment was withdrawn prior to consideration.
    • In February 2020 during the WA House COG public hearing for HB 2870, the legislation which created the task force, Morgan asked primary sponsor Representative Eric Pettigrew whether “African Americans need to come up to the same playing field as white people do before we open it to other communities of color” (audio - 2m, video). In a WA House COG work session on September 15th, Morgan asked researchers about outreach and engagement with “the black/African American community, people of color as well in the community” (audio - 5m; video). Morgan was an appointed member of the Office of Equity Task Force which began meeting in September 2019 and was similarly situated as part of the Governor’s Interagency Council on Health Disparities and staffed by the Washington State Board of Health (SBOH).
    • During her introduction to the WA Task Force on Social Equity in Cannabis, Morgan stated that equity was a “personal commitment” and she wanted to bring “people who have been marginalized” into a place where they could be “at the table” in policymaking (audio - 3m, video). Later in the meeting, Morgan was elected Co-Chair of the Task Force (audio - 9m, video) following her advocacy speech (audio - 6m, video).
  • Senator Rebecca Saldaña, representing the Washington State Senate Democratic Caucus. 
    • Representing the state’s 37th Legislative District, Saldaña was a key Senate supporter of HB 2870. On the Senate floor, she said that the bill represented “a wise and a prudent step forward” in “creating equitable opportunity” and asked Pettigrew about the proposed staffing of the task force on March 9th (audio - 3m, video).
    • Joining the Senate in 2017, Saldaña served on her chamber’s cannabis policy committee, the Washington State Senate Labor and Commerce Committee (WA Senate LBRC). During the 2019-2020 biennium she served as Deputy Majority Leader, vice chair of the Senate Transportation Committee, and was a member of the State Government, Tribal Relations & Elections Committee. 
    • Saldaña stated that “making our state a more equitable place” should be a top priority in her September e-newsletter, and expressed support for the Black Lives Matter (BLM) movement, economic recovery, and “environmental resiliency.”
    • In 2019, Saldaña was a co-sponsor of SB 5155, cannabis home grow legislation. She also co-sponsored SB 5985 which would have raised the cap on license ownership by individuals; created residency, naming, disclosure, and transfer exceptions for cannabis licenses based upon businesses paying a fee and having a labor peace agreement in effect; amend retail signage statutes; add definitions; and require disclosure of licensee demographic information. That unusual bill, introduced after legislative cutoff deadlines had passed, was briefly designated necessary to implement the budget (NTIB) to enable consideration and not revived during the 2020 short session.
    • Saldaña was formerly Executive Director for Puget Sound Sage, a nonprofit addressing affordable housing and transportation issues, where she helped secure “$16 million in city funding for Equitable Development Initiatives in the 37th Legislative District” according to her Senate biography.
    • During her introduction to the Task Force, Saldaña shared how she’d worked “not to ruin the bill” as it moved through the Senate. Pointing to I-200, she felt the state had no problem “with affirmative action as long as it’s affirmatively advancing and consolidating opportunities for white individuals that have settled here in the state of Washington and that everyone else needs to have barriers set up for them to be able to access the fullness of their lives.” Saldaña was trying to use her position in government to “undo” some of the harms from state law “so that we can all be together” (audio - 5m, video).
  • Senator Curtis King, representing the Washington State Senate Republican Caucus.
    • King, the ranking minority member of WA Senate LBRC, represents the 14th Legislative District. He joined the legislature in 2007 and is a long serving member of the Senate Rules Committee and ranking member of the Transportation Committee.
    • King’s biographical page stated he was “a past president of the Central Washington State Fair Board and has served as an active member for 16 years. He ran a commercial cabinet shop with his father and brother, [King Brothers Woodworking] growing it into a successful company with 40 employees.”
    • In 2019, some of King’s notable amendments on cannabis legislation included:
      • HB 1094 - “Establishing compassionate care renewals for medical marijuana qualifying patients.” King successfully amended the language to make it more similar to the senate companion.
      • SB 5318 - “Reforming the compliance and enforcement provisions for marijuana licensees.” King attempted to amend additional requirements of licensees and expectations for the Washington State Liquor and Cannabis Board (WSLCB) to assist local jurisdictions concerned about resale or trafficking of legal products outside the state.
      • SB 5678 - “Creating additional training requirements for licensed marijuana retailers and their employees.” King succeeded in suspending a 5-day notification rule so that WA Senate LBRC could hear the ultimately unpassed budtender permit bill.
    • During a February 25th Executive Session on HB 2870, King proposed an unsuccessful amendment to remove all provisions in the bill in favor of an interim “study group on marijuana social equity.” On October 7th, it was publicized that King was appointed to represent Senate Republicans on the task force, the final appointment after most other members had been announced in late July.
    • King successfully pushed an amendment during the final passage of HB 2870 in the Senate and remarked that “the legislature is really giving up some of their authority here." He felt the task force as proposed would be less “focused on trying to get those licenses into the hands of minority businesses in a fair and equitable way” leaving King “very concerned that this may be used as trying to set the precedent of how we move forward and that this group may look at substantive changes to our law.” King particularly objected to representation from a labor organization on the task force before leading Senate Republicans in their unsuccessful bid against the bill despite being joined by Democrat Senators Tim Sheldon and Claire Wilson (audio - 2m, video).
    • During his introduction to the Task Force, King stated that he was “interested in this task force and this topic” and that he wanted to “understand” it better. He hoped the task force would “be fair, and I want to be fair to everybody” (audio - 2m, video).
  • Representative Kelly Chambers, representing the Washington State House Republican Caucus. 
    • Chambers had been the assistant ranking member of WA House COG since 2019 when she began serving as representative of the 25th Legislative District. She also served on the House Rules, Transportation, and Health Care and Wellness committees.
    • Chamber’s about page explains that she had served as president of the Health Care Providers Council of Pierce County and was on the board of Puget Sound Honor Flights, a nonprofit organization transporting Western Washington vets to Washington D.C. “to visit and reflect at memorials.” A former schoolteacher, Chambers and her husband own Visiting Angels, which provides “in-home support for seniors and members of the disabled community.”
    • Chambers was one of several lawmakers who questioned WSLCB Enforcement Officer John Jung during a March 2019 hearing on SB 5318 regarding staff interactions with licensees and accusations of a “toxic culture” within the agency (audio – 8m, video).
    • Chambers said she “was new to cannabis and had been taking in as much as I can” since joining WA House COG and looked forward to continuing that education with the task force (audio - 1m, video).
  • Paula Sardinas, representing the Washington State Commission on African American Affairs (CAAA).
    • Sardinas became a prominent supporter of cannabis social equity following her appointment to CAAA at the end of 2019. She shared her background on cannabis policy at Seattle’s Cannabis Equity in Our Community forum on February 22nd, during a contentious hearing on HB 2870, and throughout WSLCB’s BIPOC engagements. She’s described her familiarity with other legal cannabis state equity programs and the personal toll of having a sibling incarcerated for a cannabis offense.
    • Sardinas was also appointed to the state’s Financial Education Public-Private Partnership (FEPPP) in August 2017.
    • Sardinas is the CEO and Chief Lobbyist for FMS Global Strategies, which “specializes in #BIPOC governmental advocacy, grant, and contract procurement within municipal, state, and federal governments in Washington, Florida, Georgia, New York, California, Nevada, Puerto Rico, Texas, and Colorado,” according to her LinkedIn profile.
    • On her CAAA profile, Sardinas identified past work with business and government groups:
      • Vice President of Legislative Affairs for the Northwest Credit Union Association
      • Vice President of Innovation and Transformation at HAPO Community Credit Union
      • AT&T Florida’s Legislative & Regulatory Affairs team member
      • She had also “worked with and for the Administrations of Presidents, Clinton, Bush, and Obama on various programs to increase opportunities and access for women and children.”
    • During her introduction, Sardinas explained she endeavored to represent the views of African Americans who had “suffered 401 years of oppression” and had been excluded from cannabis and other industries. She felt that African Americans lacked “lobbyists” and “advocates...and I raised my hand” (audio - 2m, video). Sardinas was elected Co-Chair of the task force following her advocacy speech (audio - 5m, video).
  • Craig Bill, Director of the Governor’s Office of Indian Affairs (GOIA) representing that office.
    • Bill was appointed GOIA director in March 2013 where he “serves as an advisor on tribal issues and liaison between the State of Washington and Indian Tribes and tribal organizations for the Governor’s Office.”
    • Bill was formerly Director of Intergovernmental Affairs and Advisor to the Tribal Chairman for the Lummi Nation tribal government and “an enrolled member of the Swinomish Tribe and descendent of the Colville Confederated Tribes and Choctaw Nation of Oklahoma.” Bill served with Morgan on the Office of Equity Task Force.
    • Bill described his goal to “support the work that’s kind of happening,” advocate for “tribal communities,” and engage “on behalf of all American Indian/Alaskan native citizens” (audio - 4m, video).
  • Michelle Merriweather, Urban League of Metropolitan Seattle President and CEO, “representing the African American community.”
    • Before working with the Urban League, Merriweather provided consulting services to the City of Los Angeles. Prior to that she was a Business Development Manager for Starbucks.
    • Merriweather was not present during task force member introductions due to another obligation, but spoke briefly before the lunch break (audio - 1m, video).
  • David Mendoza, Progreso Board President, “representing the Latinx community.”
    • Mendoza’s previous experience included employment with the Washington House of Representatives as policy counsel and senior advisor to the Mayor’s office in Seattle tasked with addressing the “proliferation of unlicensed medical marijuana stores.” He was Front and Centered’s Lead & State Co-Chair on the Environmental Justice Task Force, another task force similarly situated with the Governor’s Interagency Council on Health Disparities.
    • Mendoza told attendees he was there because of his work facilitating “Latino civic engagement and issue advocacy,” and that while he’d had cannabis businesses employ him as a lobbyist in the past, “I’m here fully representing the Latino community” (audio - 3m, video).
      • Mendoza faced criticism from community members throughout the meeting for his work on Seattle’s program to shut down medical cannabis delivery services and dispensaries in 2014 and again in 2016 following passage of SB 5052, which attempted to merge the state’s unlicensed medical and licensed recreational markets.
      • In 2019, cannabis retailer Have a Heart employed Mendoza as a lobbyist, according to his Washington State Public Disclosure Commission (WA PDC) profile. The first state retailer to unionize, Have a Heart’s parent company Interurban Capital Group, was acquired by Arizona-based Harvest Health & Recreation for a reported $85 million in March 2020 and rebranded as “A Cannabis Store...y.”
  • Joe Solorio, a member of UFCW 21, representing “a labor organization involved in the cannabis industry.”
    • Solorio said UFCW 21 included cannabis businesses and that his priority was to have “our workers taken care of as they go and help make these cannabis shops a lot of money” (audio - 2m, video). Solorio did not otherwise speak during the first Task Force meeting.
  • Ollie Garrett, WSLCB Board Member, representing that agency.
    • Garrett talked about her previous experience and motivation to increase cannabis equity during WSLCB’s Cannabis Advisory Council (CAC) in January 2019, and again during Seattle’s equity forum and WSLCB’s BIPOC engagements.
      • In late April, the WSLCB Board agreed to recommend Garrett to legislative leadership for appointment to the task force. The first round of appointments were announced on July 29th.
    • “It has always been a passion of mine to fight for the people that was not able to speak and have a voice for themselves,” Garrett commented, going through her history working with African American businesses and how it led to her appointment to the WSLCB board. Once there, she tried to find out “what was the reason that African Americans were feeling like they were being left out of the industry.” Garrett described her upbringing in Mississippi “back during the Civil Rights movement” including having “the opportunity and honor of marching with and meeting Martin Luther King [Jr] and Medgar Evers.” She’d grown up in “a small town where blacks weren’t allowed to do certain things” and Garrett’s mother soon recognized that “‘we have to get her out of Mississippi’ because anything they say a black can’t do, I would go and try to do...and ‘this girl is going to get us killed’” (audio - 3m, video).
  • Christopher Poulos, Executive Director of the Washington Statewide Reentry Council at the Washington State Department of Commerce, representing that agency.
    • Poulos said the reentry council attempted to “improve outcomes for people who are exiting our prisons and jails.” He intended to represent both organizations.
    • Poulos explained he was also an adjunct professor at Seattle University dealing with the history and “future of drug policy” both locally and internationally. He was arrested for a cannabis offense at age 15 before serving a “multiple-year federal prison sentence” for a different “drug-related conviction.” He wanted to be sure that the task force considered people “directly impacted by cannabis laws” and to remove any barriers from their entry to the cannabis market (audio - 3m, video).
    • Kendrick Stewart, Deputy Director of the Department of Commerce, was initially appointed to represent that agency.
  • Cherie MacLeod, City of Seattle Strategic Advisor and Marijuana Regulatory Program Manager, representing the Association of Washington Cities (AWC).
    • MacLeod was one of the key organizers of Seattle’s Cannabis Equity in Our Community forum.
    • MacLeod shared how she’d worked with cannabis businesses for as long as Seattle had licensed them and had become “interested in the industry.” She pointed to Seattle’s creation of a racial equity toolkit centered on cannabis policy. MacLeod added she was happy to be part of a group that could “roll back some of the harms” from the current market (audio - 4m, video).
  • Tamara Berkley, Owner of Natural Blessings Recreational Marijuana, representing cannabis retailers.
    • Berkley’s shop, self-identified as “Washingtons First Black Owned Pot Shop,” holds a medical marijuana endorsement from WSLCB.
    • Berkley said she wanted “to see a level playing field,” have “the stigma change” around cannabis, and assist former medical dispensary owners and patients who “feel like they were put on the back burner” (audio - 2m, video).
  • Pablo Gonzalez, Owner of The Bake Shop, representing cannabis retailers.
    • Gonzalez shared that he’d grown interested in the cannabis “business as a whole” when I-502 passed and he was running for the state legislature. He was moved to “get more engaged and involved” after reading that most of the people expected to benefit from licensure were “non-minorities” (audio - 2m, video).
    • Gonzalez’s first retail shop opened in September 2015. Months later, he appealed a fine of an employee selling cannabis to a minor, saying at the time he planned to “show them this will never happen again.” He settled with the agency, agreeing to pay a lesser fine than was initially levied after instituting stronger preventative measures. Gonzalez now owns three retail cannabis stores.
  • Raft Hollingsworth, Co-Owner of Hollingsworth Cannabis and Hemp Company, representing cannabis producers and processors.
    • Hollingsworth said his business was incorporated in 2013, licensed to produce cannabis in 2014, and had sold cannabis in the 502 market “since the beginning.” He believed the market had started with “no monopolies” and relied on a “hodge-podge” of small businesses, but since then their company had become the “last black-owned cannabis farm in the state.” Because of this, HB 2870 “could not have come at a better time” as he speculated that “15 people in the entire state controlled 90% of the flow of cannabis, from producers, to processors, to retailers, to everybody in between” exercising “major control over who wins and loses” in the 502 market (audio - 5m, video).
    • Raft Hollingsworth’s sister and business partner, Joy Hollingsworth, spoke during the first and final BIPOC engagements, and testified in HB 2870’s senate hearing.
  • Monica Martinez, Owner of The Calyx Co., representing cannabis producers and processors.
    • Matrinez is a member of the Washington SunGrowers Industry Association (WSIA).
    • Martinez said that her business was “one of the first 50 growers to be licensed” in 2015 and was Latino owned. She hoped to focus on “equity within the full industry,” not just for available retail licenses (audio - 3m, video).

Review of the task force’s scope and responsibilities, draft bylaws, and operating principles elicited member perspectives on the kinds of systemic racism they would attempt to address within the state’s legal cannabis market.

  • Lead staffer Christy Curwick Hoff briefed on the group’s scope and responsibilities as defined in statute, followed by remarks from some of the legislators on the task force.
    • Hoff began with the law creating the task force, HB 2870, “just to make sure we’re all on the same page of what the scope of this task force is, and what the specific…responsibilities outlined for us are as task force members and also as community members” (audio - 15m, video, presentation).
      • Hoff reviewed each section of HB 2870 starting with the lawmakers’ intent which she said “grounded” the task force in the Legislature’s goals. She read part of the intent, calling attention to making the state’s cannabis industry “equitable and accessible to those most adversely impacted by the enforcement of drug-related laws, including cannabis-related laws” with emphasis on “promoting business ownership among individuals who have resided in areas of high poverty and high enforcement of cannabis-related laws.” However, lawmakers indicated task force action was “not to result in an increase in the number of cannabis retailer licenses” absent separate “legislative action.”
        • In the session law, the latter provision is spelled out as, “It is the intent of the legislature that implementation of the social equity program authorized by this act not result in an increase in the number of marijuana retailer licenses above the limit on the number of marijuana retailer licenses in the state established by the board before January 1, 2020.”
        • This would seem to contravene the authority vested in the Washington State Liquor and Cannabis Board (WSLCB) by the legislature in RCW 69.50.354, which states, “There may be licensed, in no greater number in each of the counties of the state than as the state liquor and cannabis board shall deem advisable, retail outlets established for the purpose of making marijuana concentrates, useable marijuana, and marijuana-infused products available for sale to adults aged twenty-one and over.”
      • Hoff said section two “creates the social equity program” at the WSLCB from “retail licenses that have been forfeited, revoked, or cancelled, or that have not been issued without exceeding the limit on the current licenses” allowed in a jurisdiction. At the time, she said that “was about 35 licenses.”
        • WSLCB Board Member Ollie Garrett, the agency’s representative on the task force, confirmed the available license count but pointed out that “quite a few of them are in ban and moratorium” areas.
        • Washington State Commission on African American Affairs (CAAA) Commissioner Paula Sardinas, who would be voted Co-Chair of the task force later in the meeting, called attention to the law’s allowance for “any other licenses that have been revoked” and asked if “from the date the act went into law, which I believe was June 12th, til today, if there are any additional licenses subject to revocation that should be included.” Hoff confirmed.
          • At publication time, one additional retail license had become available raising the total to 35.
        • Hoff said that prospective licensees had to qualify as “social equity applicants” who had resided “for at least five of the preceding ten years in a disproportionately impacted area, or an individual who has been convicted of a cannabis-related offense, or a family member of someone who has been convicted of a cannabis offense.” The law also contained “a framework” for what constituted a disproportionately impacted area including poverty and unemployment rates; high rates of “income-based federal or state programs”; or “arrests, conviction, or incarceration related to cannabis offenses.” Hoff commented that disproportionately impacted areas could “be further defined, and should be further defined by this task force.” Applicants would be expected to “submit a social equity plan” which would be “used by LCB to prioritize which applicants will receive a license” as well as by the Washington State Department of Commerce in deciding who would receive technical assistance grants. The task force was asked to define what social equity plans should include to receive increased prioritization.
      • Hoff then explained that section three dealt with the “social equity technical assistance grant program” administered by Commerce. She said this was the reason that Christopher Poulos, Executive Director of the Washington Statewide Reentry Council, was representing the department on the task force. Section four addressed the annual appropriation of “$1.1 million for that grant program.”
      • The task force itself was defined in section five, with Hoff stating WSLCB had a “timeline that the social equity program is in existence from December one of [2020] through July 1st, 2028.” She acknowledged the late start of the task force due to the coronavirus pandemic, and suggested one topic for consideration was “whether that timeline should be extended because of the delay.”
        • The task force’s function was to “make recommendations to LCB including but not limited to establishing a social equity program for existing retail licenses,” and to “make additional recommendations to LCB, beyond the social equity program” to increase equity in the industry “more broadly.” Moreover, the task force would “advise the governor and the legislature on policies related to the social equity program, and that is very broad language” Hoff observed, clarifying that further recommendations could require executive or legislative approval.
        • Hoff called attention to the 18 members on the task force and how state agencies, licensees, and community groups had been included “as appointed by the legislature.” Task force members could invite “advisory participants” who would have “the ability to inform and provide guidance” to the group. She mentioned that task force staffing would come from the Washington State Governor's Interagency Council on Health Disparities but the state’s Office of Equity would “take on that responsibility” once they were funded. 
        • Hoff was “the only dedicated staff” for the task force, but Elise Rasmussen, Project Manager for the “just finished” Washington State Environmental Justice Task Force would support the task force through the end of 2020 “to help us get started.” Judy Edwards, a WSLCB Administrative Assistant, would dedicate “20% of her time to support this task force” with technical and “administrative tasks...for the next four to six months.”
        • Hoff brought up the statutory timeline of December 1st for the task force’s report to the legislature envisioned in HB 2870, stating that “due to the delay in getting us started we’ll need to determine a more feasible timeline” in a future meeting.
      • In section six, Hoffman indicated that WSLCB had been given authority “to issue these social equity licenses.” The final section was “standard null and void language regarding if appropriations are not in the budget.”
      • Hoff offered a plan from staff that prioritized “the guidance that the task force is supposed to be providing to LCB to develop” the program since the agency “and the community” were waiting on progress. “And then after that we can take on some of the other questions and priorities that the task force is interested in,” she concluded. Hoff said required guidance included “factors that LCB must consider in distributing the licenses” and whether “any additional licenses should be issued.”
      • Lastly Hoff reminded members that the task force was only authorized through June 2022, “unless, of course, the legislature decides to extend that.”
      • See Cannabis Observer’s coverage of the law’s House policy committee public hearing and executive session; the House fiscal committee public hearing and executive session; and the House session when the chamber passed the bill. We also covered the legislation’s Senate policy committee public hearing and executive session, and observed the Senate session which resulted in a final bill rewrite before it was signed into law on March 31st.
    • Hoff then provided “an opportunity for our legislators to offer any guidance to us...since this came from their mandate.”
    • Representative Melanie Morgan, who would later be voted task force Co-Chair along with Sardinas, stated she had pushed for HB 2870 with the help of the CAAA, Black Excellence in Cannabis (BEC), and others. There were “things we need to push the envelope on” when making recommendations “and I’m willing to go there.” Morgan said issuing licenses was her primary focus, and that she was at the meeting “to start that process, ASAP...to bring the balance to the Black/African American community.” She felt that “as soon as we get everybody in an equitable position, now we can start looking at this as an overall social equity for every culture.” Morgan encouraged “innovative” ideas on the “direction” of the program if there was agreement they helped the marginalized communities represented by the task force (audio - 2m, video).
    • Senator Rebecca Saldaña found WSLCB was “set up as an enforcement and compliance, not a coach or business support” institution, and felt its structure was “racist and biased” just like “all of our drug laws” (audio - 8m, video).
      • Without attributing discrimination to individual employees, Saldaña felt “the agency itself and the way it’s structured is one that will continue to get in the way because of how it was first formed.” Saldaña credited the increased racial diversity of state lawmakers as one of the driving factors in passing HB 2870. Skepticism about the WSLCB motivated her to see that the Council on Health Disparities staffed the task force rather than the agency.
      • Saldaña described her district as having Washington’s largest African American population “despite gentrification and displacement” and wanted to see newly licensed retail shops “add value to their community.” She thanked BEC for their engagement.
      • Saldaña wanted more funding and staffing to support the task force than had been provided, but COVID-19 meant “we are in this context of the triple pandemics that are facing our communities.” Saldaña regretted that “we have been delayed” but assured everyone she would listen to impacted communities and see the task force “adequately staffed and resourced” as well as being a “partner” for “any legislation that needs to happen.”
    • Republican members, Senator Curtis King (audio - 1m, video) and Representative Kelly Chambers (audio - <1m, video) offered no additional comments on the task force’s scope or responsibilities.
  • Task Force Co-Chair Melanie Morgan and staff discussed the group’s draft bylaws.
    • Morgan began the discussion, commenting that even if the bylaws weren’t formally adopted by the task force at that time “we do want to have a robust discussion” after which staff would revise them for eventual adoption (audio - 2m, video).
    • Hoff told task force members that bylaws and operating procedures were “foundational documents” for groups like theirs and “regularly” used by staff “to make sure we know how we’re going to work.” She said the draft bylaws, derived from documents that guide the health disparities council, “describe how the task force operates and makes decisions.” In working for that council, Hoff believed they had “used our bylaws and operating principles in a way... that promote equity and social justice.” She offered “to adapt them as they made sense for this task force” (audio - 2m, video).
    • Rasmussen went over the draft bylaws (audio - 8m, video):
      • Article I: Membership - followed the language in HB 2870.
      • Article II: Officers & Workgroups - As the group had already opted to elect Morgan and Sardinas Co-Chairs, “we’ll make sure that that language is included.” Their main function would be to “represent the task force in official capacities” and the term of office would be “as long as this task force is meeting.” The task force could also elect to establish work groups, explained Rasmussen.
      • Article III: Meetings - “The task force will meet as often as necessary,” Rasmussen said, with only virtual meetings planned at the moment “due to Covid.” All the task force’s meetings were open to the public and “any decisions that the task force makes has to be done in an open, public meeting” allowing community members to “weigh in.” Meeting agendas would be “posted prior to task force meetings” and meeting minutes available “prior to the next meeting,” she said.
        • Rasumussed explained that the draft included a clause around Meetings Interrupted by a Person or Group of People because “We have had, in the past, some experiences with people who are joining our meetings with no, sort of, intention to add to the conversation but rather to detract from it.” She believed it made sense to have a procedure to remove “blatantly offensive” participants from the hosting platform.
      • Article IV: Meeting Procedures - Rasmussen went through rules for meeting quorum, order of business, public comment, motions and resolutions, manner of voting, and general rules of procedure, being “determined by these bylaws, the Administrative Procedures Act, the Open Public Meetings Act, and the Task Force’s authorizing authority, Engrossed, Second Substitute House Bill 2870.”
      • Article V: Amendments - would allow the bylaws to be amended “if anything comes up later on,” she noted.
      • Article VI: Construction of Rules - required the task force to “interpret the rules and procedures in these bylaws in a manner that best aligns with the intents of” HB 2870.
    • Morgan opened the call to discussion, and asked about reimbursement for meals during virtual events (audio - 5m, video).
  • During a discussion on the task force’s operating principles, many task force members offered their perspectives on how the organization should understand its scope and approach its responsibilities.
    • Sardinas described the task force operating principles as “what it is the task force stands for and what we’re about” (audio - 1m, video). Hoff considered the operating principles a description of “the values that the task force agrees to as a group.”
    • Rasmussen reviewed the draft operating principles and asked for “community input” on “what’s confusing, what questions do you have, what things would you like to change or add” (audio - 7m, video).
      • Embrace Equity - We embrace equity as we strive for fairness and justice to ensure that everyone has the opportunity to reach their full potential. Equity is not equality—equity acknowledges that everyone is not starting from the same place. Equity is achievable and requires unwavering commitment to prioritizing resources and supports toward communities facing inequity. Achieving equity requires us to identify, name, and dismantle institutional racism and oppression.
        • Rasmussen highlighted this principle would commit the task force to an equity-based approach instead of an equality-based approach, the difference being “equity assumes that communities are starting in different places.” 
      • Focus on Racism - We are committed to promoting equity for all communities that have been disproportionately harmed by cannabis law violations. However, we recognize that Black, Indigenous, and People of Color (BIPOC) communities (Alternate: the Black community) have experienced particularly stark inequities in the criminal legal system generally, and specifically in the enforcement of cannabis laws. We also recognize that different forms of discrimination and oppression are related to each other, and we will take the intersections of various identities into account.
        • Rasmussen said that “an alternate proposal that staff has” was to “focus on ‘anti-Black racism’ specifically” and potentially further emphasize “American-descendents of slavery, so a group within the black community.” Additionally, the language would commit the group to “considering intersectionality in its decision making processes.”
      • Center Community - We recognize that we can only achieve equity if communities impacted by inequity are at the center of our work. We acknowledge that communities know best their assets, needs, and solutions. We strive to recognize and share power and structure our meetings to foster meaningful engagement. We will strive to incorporate stories of lived experience into our reports and recommendations.
      • Commit to Bold Action - Inequities exist because of racism, economic injustice, and systemic oppression that hinder opportunities for individuals and communities to thrive. Eliminating racism, injustice, and oppression requires transformative, not incremental, change. We commit to using the authority we have and our collective influence to push for bold changes that interrupt and dismantle historical systems of oppression and create systems of fairness and justice. 
      • Be Vigilant for Unintended Consequences - Policy, program, and budget decisions can have adverse unintended consequences if equity is not intentionally and systematically considered. We, as a government entity, understand that our decisions have long-term impacts. We commit to using an equity lens in the development of recommendations as a Task Force and in our decisions as individual members.
    • Sardinas was supportive of the ‘anti-Black racism’ wording change in the Focus on Racism principle, as well as the “particular disproportionate impact” experienced by descendants of slavery (audio - 1m, video). 
    • Poulos asked that "people or individuals impacted by cannabis law violation" be included along with language around centering on communities (audio - 2m, video).
    • Pablo Gonzalez disagreed with emphasizing ‘anti-Black racism’ and wanted to include “all types of people that have been socially discriminated against” such as “women as a whole, Hispanics as a whole” (audio - 2m, video).
    • Michelle Merriwether supported adding both ‘anti-Black racism’ and wording about descendents of slavery (audio - 1m, video).
    • Monica Martinez proposed the possibility of "all minorities and women" being the frame for task force discussions and asked for “more information” around which groups were “disproportionately marginalized” due to cannabis policing. “I would just hate to see us exclude other minorities who have also seen barriers,” she stated (audio - 1m, video; audio - 2m, video).
    • David Mendoza advised moving away from “an either/or” consideration of particular subjects of racism in favor of “a both/and on this.” He suggested “we can include in the paragraph below...an emphasis on anti-Black racism” (audio - 1m, video).
    • Saldaña understood the motivation to specify ‘anti-Black racism’ while also mentioning the impact of excessive cannabis law enforcement against immigrant communities, who could not only be barred from a cannabis license but “forcibly removed from our communities” and even deported (audio - 2m, video).
    • Raft Hollingsworth was in agreement on using ‘anti-Black racism’ as it was a more prominent factor in the drug war but he didn’t believe women “were a target” to the same level as the African American community. He believed the language had value as it pertained to “restorative justice” (audio - 1m, video). 
    • Yasmin Trudeau spoke up to say that “intersectionality in community” could be recognized by “honoring the folks who brought forward this issue, honoring the community that brought forward this issue.” She supported using the term ‘anti-Black racism’ and “didn’t see any exclusion” resulting from it. To the contrary “being overly inclusive can sometimes result in not centering and honoring the folks that really need to be at the heart of the discussion” (audio - 2m, video).
    • Morgan provided final comments on the operating principles: “the people that were impacted were the indigenous native and then black Africans that were brought here into slavery… that is not to say that we discount any other type of racism that is happening.” She wondered if the language of “anti-Black racism and racism” would be preferable. Morgan then asserted that the acronym BIPOC (black, indigenous, and people of color) used in the draft language was "just another name that is being put on us." She noted that African American democrats in Tacoma “pushed back against that, and we wrote a resolution” opposing the term. Moreover, she felt the acronym led to “forgetting the word that we introduced in the first paragraph, which is ‘equity’” (audio - 3m, video).
    • Given the diversity of views on the Focus on Racism principle, a vote on adopting the document was not contemplated and task force staff committed to revise the language for consideration at the task force’s next meeting. At publication time, subsequent meeting dates had not been declared on the task force website.

Task force members received a data briefing to assist in elaboration of qualifying criteria for cannabis social equity applicants residing in “disproportionately impacted areas.”

  • University of Washington researchers provided a data presentation on areas disproportionately impacted by enforcement of cannabis prohibition to help task force members specify geographic zones of eligibility for prospective cannabis retail equity applicants
    • The task force must recommend a clearer definition for disproportionately impacted areas, one set of qualifications for applicants to the social equity program at the Washington State Liquor and Cannabis Board (WSLCB).
    • In the late afternoon during the first meeting of the task force, Co-Chair Melanie Morgan, representing House Democrats, introduced a “data briefing and discussion” about disproportionately impacted areas. She said the presenters, University of Washington (UW) Professor of Sociology Alexes Harris and UW graduate student Michele Cadigan, had assessed “cannabis-related convictions data and have offered to assist this task force with mapping convictions and other criteria” so that the group could “identify and define communities disproportionately harmed by this cannabis enforcement” (audio - 1m, video).
    • Harris greeted the task force members, saying she’d been invited to help “think through data-related issues to identify the disparate impact areas” (audio - 23m, video).
      • Harris said she and Cadigan were “researchers who care about social justice and equity, and we’re just here to support the task force in trying to figure out how you all want to define and clarify the focus of the equity program.” As a sociologist, Harris specialized in “social stratification and inequality” and studied “monetary sanctions, the fines and fees that people are sentenced to” by the criminal justice system. In 2017, she authored A Pound of Flesh: Monetary Sanctions as Punishment for the Poor.
      • Cadigan said she studied “cannabis markets throughout the U.S.” with support from the Washington Center for Equitable Growth and the Horowitz Foundation for Social Policy Research. In 2018, Harris and Cadigan published Becoming an Expert Cannabis Connoisseur: Toward a Theory of Moralizing Labor.
      • Other equity programs. Cadigan first examined other legal cannabis jurisdictions’ “equity, or lack of, approach.” She noted:
        • In California, whose voters backed legalization in 2016, “after the measure was implemented...they went back and established a statewide program” with the purpose of “ensuring that persons most harmed by cannabis criminalization and poverty be offered assistance to enter this industry.” She reviewed municipal programs implemented by Oakland, Los Angeles, and Long Beach, which all had some version of disproportionate impact areas.
        • In Massachusetts, their 2016 legalization initiative “was the very first to explicitly call for a market that tried to repair harms done to communities of color.” Cadigan reported policymakers created a program requiring “black or Latinx...majority ownership” in “areas disproportionately impacted” and required a “positive impact plan.” Additionally, she explained, the state had a multi-tiered training program which covered ancillary businesses, management, and “business ownership.”
        • In Illinois, Cadigan pointed out their 2019 legalization was the first accomplished via a legislature “with an explicit focus on racial equity” including creation of an equity program. She highlighted the City of Evanston’s reparations tax fund from cannabis sales as a way “to improve the black community in Evanston.”
        • All the programs had limits “to be considered,” she argued, for instance “lag time” between applying and receiving licensure as well as financial, regulatory, and “real estate issues, too.” Cadigan said programs also saw “too many applications versus available licenses.”
      • “the Washington equity program as outlined in the statute”
        • Harris reported that Initiative 502 (I-502) in Washington drew support from people who recognized that “Washington’s cannabis laws are enforced disproportionately against African Americans.” Harris said Kathleen Taylor, former American Civil Liberties Union of Washington (ACLU WA) Executive Director, observed that cannabis prohibition before I-502 was “ineffective, unreasonable, and unfairly enforced, they have done much damage to civil liberties.” Harris framed the 2012 initiative’s broader intent as “redressing injustices for the African American community.”
        • Harris credited Cadigan for leading their review of I-502’s impact on laws and regulation, and determined that existing Washington policy posed “legal barriers that bar access to populations with criminal records and low income individuals” making it “difficult to secure employment and ownership” within the regulated marketplace. Moreover, “it appears that there was a co-opting of the social justice movement, namely rhetoric suggesting I-502 would redress African Americans in Washington state, to justify ownership and employment to predominantly white individuals,” she stated.
        • Harris spoke to the program’s requirements that qualifying social equity applicants may have resided “for at leave five of the preceding ten years in disproportionately impacted area[s], or have been convicted of a marijuana or cannabis offense, or [be] a family member of such an individual.” She described the program’s definition of disproportionately impacted area as “a census tract or comparable geographic area that satisfies the following criteria”
          • (i) The area has a high poverty rate;
          • (ii) The area has a high rate of participation in income-based federal or state programs;
          • (iii) The area has a high rate of unemployment; and
          • (iv) The area has a high rate of arrest, conviction, or incarceration related to the sale, possession, use, cultivation, manufacture, or transport of marijuana.
      • “Data on poverty, employment, and cannabis arrests.”
        • Harris acknowledged “a lot of difficulty with the measurement,” and a need to determine the “level of data”: counties, municipalities, census tracts, or even city blocks. She cautioned that it became harder to “figure out all these overlapping characteristics at smaller units of analysis.” Harris went over basic racial demographic data and statistics identified in the definition, such as median income and employment.
        • Cadigan discussed cannabis enforcement, saying that after the federal Weed and Seed program in the early 1990s, Washington saw “exponential growth in arrests for possession of cannabis.” She indicated that King, Pierce, Snohomish, and Spokane counties had the highest “numbers of people” arrested, whereas the highest “ratios” of cannabis possession arrests relative to the population between 2001 and 2010 were in Whitman, Kittitas, and Benton counties.
        • Arrests for possession of cannabis targeted African Americans disproportionately, Cadigan noted, “despite equivalent use of all races.” She said that hispanic populations were arrested at a higher rate as well, “but not to the extent that black individuals are.” Cadigan indicated that this disproportionality has persisted “post-legalization.”
          • In 2019, Washington State University (WSU) researchers shared a presentation on post I-502 cannabis arrests in Washington, finding a 14% decrease in the disproportionality of African Americans arrested for cannabis possession between 2009 and 2015. However, the same data revealed a 127% increase in the proportion of African Americans arrested for cannabis sales. The WSU findings were similar to a 2018 report from UW researchers which also identified continuing racially disparate enforcement.
        • Cadigan told the task force that she and Harris were attempting to pull “case level data” for cannabis conviction outcomes from the Washington State Administrative Office of the Courts (AOC), “and then we can put them in a geographic context.” Cadigan said she and Harris had already looked at poverty rates based on census tracts and planned to add layers for other factors in the disproportionate impact area definition.
      • “Outline a few open areas of questions or issues.”
        • Cadigan asked, “what kind of criteria do we overlay” to map disproportionate impacts, before openly wondering how the task force would measure “cumulative disadvantage.” She also felt rural areas “can be a little more difficult” as they often had larger census tracts.
        • Cadigan said the next issue was income-based program usage because “individuals with drug convictions...aren’t eligible” for those federal programs. She felt that factor could “work against what we’re trying to accomplish here.”
        • Harris spoke to a final question around “timing” of residency and how long someone lived in a disproportionately impacted area. She said “gentrification” made people “question what years of data are appropriate to look at” and noted “the large gap between existing and potential property values” that drew in “wealthier residents” had made Seattle “the third most quickly gentrifying city in the U.S.” Further complicating calculations, gentrification happened over different periods of time in different parts of the city.
        • Harris said the operating principles for the task force could go a long way in defining who should be most helped by the program as well as forecasting “what does success look like” when the program was evaluated.
  • Task force members and citizens had feedback and questions about how the group could further clarify the definition.
    • Morgan commented that “in going forward with your research, I would love to see research on these counties” which may “look like they’re sleepy towns” but have highly disproportionate enforcement. “A sneaking one coming up on our heels is Snohomish County,” she claimed. Morgan encouraged Harris and Cadigan to review more data for that area and track the movement of communities of color due to gentrification (audio - 1m, video).
    • Curtis King, representing Senate Republicans, wanted to ensure that he could get copies of the data researchers had already shown during their presentation. Task force staffer Christy Curwick-Hoff confirmed she would share the presentation with members (audio - 1m, video).
    • Cherie MacLeod, representing the Association of Washington Cities (AWC), said the City of Seattle had lacked the capacity “to review thousands and thousands of cases,” and applauded Harris and Cadigan for their “amazing work.” Additionally, she agreed that gentrification had changed the makeup of Seattle and communities had been “displaced, disinvested.” MacLeod hoped gentrification could be accounted for to “allow people to participate” in the equity program (audio - 1m, video).
    • Christopher Poulos, representing the Washington State Department of Commerce, wanted to know about WSLCB’s “vast exclusions” as cannabis convictions were literally counted against applicants during prior licensing application windows. He didn’t understand how that could “fit together” with a goal to not penalize applicants with cannabis convictions. Hoff responded that before the passage of HB 2870, which created both the social equity program and task force, WSLCB was given discretion to consider criminal records under RCW 69.50.331(1)(a). Poulos was grateful for the clarification, predicting “this won’t be the last time I speak on this” (audio - 4m, video).
    • Raft Hollingsworth, representing cannabis producers, asked if there was information on the “outcomes of those restorative justice programs” in California. Cadigan replied that they had “very little data” on that as applicants were still “clogged up” so it was “a little too early to tell.” She said Los Angeles’ zip code-based system appeared to be “not working” to help disadvantaged groups “accessing the licenses.” Hollingsworth inquired about rural counties with small minority populations still experiencing disproportionate cannabis enforcement, and asked if that meant that African Americans were “six, seven, eight times” more likely to receive cannabis policing. Cadigan said disproportionality could change “within neighborhood even, even getting more granular.” Hollingsworth viewed the licenses as “a form of reparations” that should be going to people and communities “disproportionately impacted by the war on drugs” (audio - 4m, video).
    • Aaron Barfield, member of Black Excellence in Cannabis (BEC), offered criticism of other social equity programs and said that “nobody is being held accountable” at WSLCB for earlier bias. He felt “that leads to us getting here over and over again” and asked for accountability to be one benchmark in judging the effectiveness of the program (audio - 1m, video).
    • MacLeod asked about the “location of the conviction” versus the “residential address provided by the person who was convicted.” Cadigan said that state case records specified an individual’s “residential address that they provide the court” (audio - 1m, video).
    • Rebecca Saldaña, representing Senate Democrats, was supportive of “more granular data” and careful consideration of what years to look at in judging disproportionately impacted areas. She also believed the data methodology could be adapted to reflect demographic migration to enhance the program’s effectiveness at achieving equity (audio - 2m, video).
    • Monica Martinez, another representative of licensed producers, echoed Saldaña’s call for additional information, particularly on disproportionate arrests in rural counties, and asked for clarification on the state’s overall rates for cannabis arrests of African Americans compared to other racial groups (audio - 2m, video).
  • A proposal was made to establish the first work group within the task force to focus on the definition of disproportionately impacted areas.
    • Morgan advised creation of a work group. Hoff then proposed that the work group members develop a recommended definition for the entire task force to consider. “There’s a lot of tension,” she said, “between doing this work quickly” so WSLCB could begin rulemaking to structure the program, and designing criteria “thoughtfully and intentionally.” Hoff explained the work group would partner up with Harris and Cadigan to “refine these categories” (audio - 2m, video).
    • David Mendoza, representing the Latinx community, supported establishing the new work group (audio - 1m, video).
    • Co-Chair Paula Sardinas, representing the Washington State Commission on African American Affairs (CAAA), also backed creation of a new sub-group, provided “there’s equity on that other work group and that there’s minority representation” (audio - <1m, video). 
    • After a motion to establish the work group from WSLCB task force representative Ollie Garrett, seconded by Michelle Merriweather, a representative of the African American community, the task force members voted unanimously to create a data-focused work group. Hoff said the work group meetings would be open to the public and reaffirmed that “no decisions will be made at the work group,” rather, its members would “provide guidance” for consideration by the entire task force (audio - 3m, video).

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