WSLCB - Board Caucus
(January 5, 2021)

Here are some observations from the Tuesday January 5th Washington State Liquor and Cannabis Board (WSLCB) Board Caucus.

My top 3 takeaways:

• Director Rick Garza touched on the impending 2021 legislative session while discussing the agency’s budget and request legislation.
  • Budget (audio - 1m). Garza reported that WSLCB staff had been “concerned about the agency’s budget” but Governor Jay Inslee’s proposed biennium budget contained “no cuts to our agency.” Additionally, he told the Board, funding for the WSLCB systems modernization project (SMP)---the only budget increase the agency asked for---was included in the proposal. Garza stated that Chief Financial Officer Jim Morgan would discuss the budget further at a future Executive Management Team (EMT) meeting.
    • Take a look at the proposal’s Budget and Policy Highlights.
  • Agency Request Legislation (audio - 1m). In July, Garza expected no request legislation would be filed by the agency, but on December 2nd staff told the Alcohol Advisory Council (AAC) that they had been asked to “revisit” their consideration of more permanently encoding some alcohol allowances. Garza said Director of Legislative Relations Chris Thompson “has been working with staff” on draft legislation requested “from the Governor’s Office” which would “codify some of the allowances that were provided over the year” to alcohol licensees due to the coronavirus pandemic. He explained that Thompson was conducting “stakeholder work” as the request bill was developed and had received “pretty favorable responses and feedback from everyone that was sent the legislation to look at, which is all of our stakeholders and industry members.” Garza expected Thompson would brief the Board “at the next time available.” The draft was “just about in its final version” with “not a lot of variance from what you all saw.”
    • Thompson was scheduled to provide a legislative update at the WSLCB Cannabis Advisory Council meeting on January 6th.
  • 2021 Legislative Session (audio - 1m). Garza acknowledged that the 2021 legislative session would begin on January 11th when the Washington State Legislature convened. He told the board that agency staff would be “reporting to you on what’s happening” throughout the session, and Board Chair Jane Rushford would be included in internal "legislative meetings" to help keep the Board apprised of developments.
    • Take a look at prefiled bills Cannabis Observer was tracking as of January 4th and/or review all prefiled bills.

• Garza briefed on groups WSLCB had recently engaged with including the State’s social equity task force, prevention advocates invited to agency focus groups, and the U.S. Census Bureau which had questions about the “cannabis industry space.”
  • Washington State Legislative Task Force on Social Equity in Cannabis (audio - 1m). Following the task force’s December 14th meeting, Garza reported that he’d met with Board Member Ollie Garrett, Thompson, and Director of Licensing Becky Smith to “make sure that we’re staffing what [agency appointee Garrett needs] with respect to those meetings.” He said staff planned to talk with Garrett “before and after” task force meetings and organize “any kind of staff support,” including a licensing briefing requested by some task force members.
    • During her update, Garrett indicated that the next task force meeting was scheduled for January 14th (audio < 1m).
  • Prevention Roundtables (audio - 1m). Garza noted that he and Rushford attended WSLCB-hosted focus group discussions with prevention community advocates on December 17th and 18th organized by Public Health Education Liaison Sara Cooley Broschart. He credited Broschart for doing “such a nice job working with the coalitions before the meeting to make sure we’re covering the issues" that the community wanted to address. Garza added that advocates also made “presentations of the work that they do.”
    • Though the roundtables were publicly advertised and registration was permitted, Broschart told Cannabis Observer that “participation is limited to prevention and public health partners” and denied access to the webinars.
    • On December 9th, Broschart pushed back against temporary alcohol and cannabis policy allowances during her presentation at an EMT meeting. Broschart centered the perspectives of Prevention Voices, walking agency leadership through a document produced by the recently formed coalition.
    • On December 17th, the Washington State Health Care Authority Prevention Research Subcommittee (WA HCA PRSC) Co-Chair Kevin Haggerty said the research sub-group established to produce a “consensus” report on health risks associated with concentrated cannabis products was “really indebted to” Broschart and WA HCA Substance Use Disorder Prevention and Mental Health Promotion Section Manager Sarah Mariani “for really instigating this.” The report was presented as a resource for public health and prevention advocate education and lobbying efforts in the 2021 legislative session.
    • Also on January 5th, the Washington State Legislative Information Center (WA LIC) helped prepare more than 40 individuals affiliated with Prevention Voices to participate in the unprecedented virtual session. On January 7th, the full membership of Prevention Voices planned to convene for a Pre-Session Summit.
  • U.S. Census Bureau (audio - <1m). Garza remarked that representatives of the federal bureau met with WSLCB staff recently and “requested some licensing information.” He anticipated that an upcoming EMT briefing from Morgan would address the meeting, but noted that the bureau had been interested in data on the "cannabis industry space."
    • Learn more about census information for Washington State in addition to resources from Washington’s Secretary of State and the Washington State Office of Financial Management campaign Everyone Counts.

• Policy and Rules Coordinator Casey Schaufler provided a rulemaking update and previewed possible actions at the upcoming board meeting, including likely adoption of final rules for Location Compliance Certificates.
  • Schaufler’s last review of rulemaking projects was on December 22nd.
  • Quality Control (QC) Testing and Product Requirements (Rulemaking Project, audio - <1m). Schaufler commented that the “review and analysis of public comment continues” following a November 18th public hearing. Moreover, he was undertaking “planning and scheduling” more outreach events “with licensees and other interested stakeholders.”
  • Tier 1 Expansion (Rulemaking Project, audio - <1m). “I’m completing analysis of the survey” of tier 1 licensees, Schaufler reported. He expected to “bring a more robust update and discussion on this topic this month or in early February.”
  • HB 2826 Implementation (Rulemaking Project, audio - <1m). Schaufler stated that one comment had been sent about the proposed rules and that the rulemaking project was open for comment through February 3rd when a public hearing was scheduled. “I expect to file the CR-103 on February 17” provided the Board adopts the proposal, he added.
  • Emergency Rulemaking Updates - Prohibition of Vitamin E Acetate (audio - 1m). Schaufler explained that at the January 6th Board Meeting he’d present members with an extension of the agency’s emergency ban on vitamin E acetate in vapor products which was last re-filed on September 16th. “I had hoped to introduce revised emergency rules pursuant to the [Washington] State Board of Health adopting a permanent prohibition” on the ingredient, he said. “However, I was not able to get those rules updated with” the Washington State Office of the Code Reviser (WA OCR) “in time for tomorrow’s board meeting. The emergency rules being presented tomorrow are unchanged from” earlier iterations and Schaufler gave assurances that the extension was “necessary until permanent rules can be adopted.”
  • Location Compliance Certificates (Rulemaking Project, audio - 1m). The CR-103 to adopt rules codifying the “premises certificate of compliance” would be presented on January 6th, Schaufler told the Board.