WA House APP - Committee Meeting
(February 9, 2021)

Here are some observations from the Tuesday February 9th Washington State House Appropriations Committee (WA House APP) meeting.

My top 3 takeaways:

• Staff briefed committee members on the potential effects of HB 1019 and provided an update on likely fiscal impacts, while one lawmaker expressed a concern about proposed odor citations.
  • Washington State House Commerce and Gaming Committee (WA House COG) Counsel Peter Clodfelter gave a bill report, saying that HB 1019 involved “authorized home growing of adult use cannabis” which was currently “punishable as a class C felony” (audio - 3m, video).
    • He listed effects similar to the briefing he delivered during the policy committee public hearing on the bill, covering limits and requirements. He noted the legislation would create “two class III civil infractions” dealing with “the production or possession of plants or marijuana to result in marijuana being readily smelled from a public place or from the private property of another housing unit.” Clodfelter said the other infraction was for cannabis plants or flowers harvested from them being “visible within the ordinary public view, and that is a defined term in the bill.”
    • He noted that, as amended, HB 1019 would “address the forfeiture of real property in relation to cannabis. It would increase the minimum number of plants...and the minimum quantity of marijuana that would have to be possessed for commercial purposes that are unlawful under state law before real property could be forfeited.” Clodfelter explained that the limits would increase “from ‘five or more marijuana plants’ to ‘16 or more,’” while possession was changed “from ‘one pound of marijuana’ to ‘more than one pound of marijuana.’”
  • WA House APP Committee Counsel Linda Merelle went over potential budget impacts of the bill, starting with the most recent fiscal note (audio - 2m, video) .
    • She said staff for the Washington State Liquor and Cannabis Board (WSLCB), which “did not have investigation and enforcement” authority under the bill, estimated “no fiscal impact.” The agency reported the bill’s impact on cash receipts was “indeterminate,” Merelle told lawmakers, “but they estimate that it would be less than $50,000.” WSLCB staff added that HB 1019 “could impact revenue from marijuana excise taxes,” she said, giving examples that a decline of “one percent per year” in the tax would be “approximately $470,000,” and a tenth of a percent decline “would be approximately $47,000 per year.”
      • The initial fiscal note included no mention of impacts to cash receipts, and included documentation showing no impact to the Washington State Department of Health (DOH).
    • The Washington State Patrol (WSP) fiscal review was “indeterminate, though they estimate that the impact is less than $50,000,” Merelle said, adding that WSP anticipated “increased but unknown additional...investigatory time of home...marijuana grows.” Additionally, she relayed WSP’s view that “there may be a decrease in the revenue of seizures of illegal growing by individuals, and that revenue would have been used for marijuana investigations.”
      • In written comments to WA House COG, Washington State Patrol (WSP) Investigative Services Bureau Assistant Chief Rob Huss stated that “passage of this legislation would further hinder law enforcement efforts already having difficulties keeping up with the scale of the illicit market.”
    • Representative Cyndy Jacobsen said she was “worried...that it creates a new penalty if marijuana is readily smelled, is there a definition for that?” Clodfelter responded that “there’s not a definition in the bill for the smell provision” and that it would be “left up to the implementation and administration of the law.” He explained that “ordinary public view” was defined in the bill in section 1(8)(b) as “within the sight line with normal visual range of a person, unassisted by any elevating devices, visual aids, or manned or unmanned aircraft, from a public street or sidewalk adjacent to real property, or from within an adjacent property” (audio - 1m, video).

• Of speakers opposed, one felt the bill should only pass with licensing and oversight requirements; one opposed on child safety grounds; and seven representatives of law enforcement, prevention organizations, and Washington cities signed in “con.”
  • Trillium Swanson, Funhouse Commons Mentor and Volunteer Coordinator, registered as ‘other,’ saying she worked “for our local prevention coalition” in San Juan County (audio - 2m, video).
    • Her concern with the bill was an alleged “lack of ability for local law enforcement or other entities to enforce what it proposes.” Swanson understood that “a priority in our legislature is to reduce unnecessary and inequitable law enforcement interactions with citizens” but asserted that it was “possible to amend this bill to include better methods for regulation of cannabis plants and products.”
      • WSLCB created a legislatively mandated report on home growing regulatory models in 2017.
    • Swanson called for “a registration system of plants, compliance checks, required education for potential home growers, and funding this mandate so that local law enforcement or other entities have the ability to manage the increased responsibilities” of residential policing of cannabis gardens.
    • She believed “moving the enforcement of cannabis from LCB to local law enforcement is a move in the wrong direction for racial equity.”
      • Washington law enforcement has been responsible for unlicensed cannabis enforcement for decades. WSLCB Enforcement Chief Justin Nordhorn told lawmakers in September 2020 the agency only assisted with residential cannabis enforcement “when we’re requested” by local police agencies.
    • Finally, Swanson expressed concerns about underage exposure to cannabis from “guardians [who] choose to grow it in their homes.” She said social acceptance of alcohol in the home “should be considered [a] further argument that we need strong safety measures established along with the legalization of home grows” because “youth use alcohol at higher rates than cannabis partially due to easy access in the home.” Swanson pushed the committee to mitigate “potential harm...by either requiring home grows to be regulated, or by not passing this legislation.”
  • Seth Dawson, Washington Association for Substance Abuse and Violence Prevention (WASAVP) Lobbyist opposed the bill for “policy and fiscal reasons” (audio - 2m, video).
    • “Home grows will increase youth access,” he said, citing the Healthy Youth Survey (HYS) as finding “marijuana being in the home was associated with a 5.8 fold increase in the odds of an 8th grader using marijuana,” with the trend occurring with older students “to a lesser degree.”
      • While odds of youth cannabis use based on presence in a student’s home were not included in HYS’s last survey results, survey question 73 asked “During the past 30 days, how did you get marijuana?” and showed 91.8% of 8th graders hadn’t used cannabis in the past 30 days. 2.1% replied that they accessed cannabis already at home.
    • Dawson said youth were more likely to consume cannabis if “they perceive the risk of harm as decreasing” and alleged Colorado had seen increased use of cannabis by minors “unfortunately...to a large degree because of the significantly less perception of harm.” He argued that cannabis use in the state “had been normalized to the point that it is seen as being organic and healthy, and to some extent that would be true if this bill is enacted.” He warned of negative health consequences for youth from legal home cultivation, while allowing that it was “hard to precisely identify but they exist.”
      • Other evaluations of youth cannabis trends since legalization show declining treatment admissions following legalization, and 2019 data from the Healthy Kids Colorado Survey runs counter to Dawson’s assertions about use in the state.
    • Dawson highlighted research from Canada’s National Collaborating Centre for Environmental Health (NCCEH) showing “health hazards associated with home grow operations” from which he inferred “negative fiscal implications.”
    • See WASAVP's position paper opposing home cultivation in 2020. Dawson also opposed HB 1019 during its policy committee hearing.
  • Sign ins against the bill:
    • Sara Davenport-Smith, Family Policy Institute of Washington Lobbyist and SDS Municipal Consulting Founder
    • Mike Graham-Squire, WASAVP Co-Vice President
    • Ramona Leber, Cowlitz Substance Abuse Coalition Coordinator and WASAVP Treasurer
    • James McMahan, Washington Association of Sheriffs and Police Chiefs (WASPC) Policy Director
    • Megan Moore, Prevention Voices and Kitsap Public Health District Community Liaison
    • Briahna Murray, Contract Lobbyist for City of Spokane Valley and Gordon Thomas Honeywell Governmental AffairsVice President
      • Murray signed in ‘con’ at the bill’s policy committee hearing.
    • Sharon Swanson, Association of Washington Cities (AWC) Government Relations Advocate
      • Swanson signed in ‘con’ at the bill’s policy committee hearing.

• Testimony from four people urged passage of the bill, 138 people signed in favor, and others shared supportive written testimony.
  • Timothy Nadreau, WSUResearch Faculty explained the findings of his research on 2020 Contributions of the Washington Cannabis Sector (audio - 2m, video).
    • “My analysis accomplished two objectives,” Nadreau said, “first, I established a baseline contribution of the cannabis sector wherein we found that cannabis directly and indirectly supported roughly 18,700 jobs and contributed $1.85 billion” to Washington’s 2020 gross state product (GSP). Secondly, he’d looked at “how passage of Substitute House Bill 1019 would likely affect tax collections moving forward.”
    • Nadreau studied scenarios where adult cultivation was a “substitute” to legal stores, decreasing sales, and another circumstance where it was a “compliment to the current market” and increased sales. He found that the Washington state cannabis market would bring in between $520 and $585 million in 2021 and even in a “worst case scenario” the cannabis sector would be “expected to grow” between 11% and 25%.
    • Representative Mary Dye asked Nadreau if he’d taken “a long look” at costs from “mental health and healthcare issues” for cannabis consumers “and how that impacts the state in terms of revenues and, and costs.” Nadreau answered that his research hadn’t considered the “social costs to the state” and instead focused on “the tax effects from sales” (audio - 1m, video).
    • According to the Seattle Times, Nadreau’s work was funded by ScottsMiracle-Gro.
  • Lara Kaminsky, The Cannabis Alliance Government Affairs Liaison, went over her group’s perspective on how adult cultivation benefited them and consumers (audio - 2m, video).
    • Kaminsky told the committee that “the time has come for Washington state to catch up with other states that have legalized since we passed initiative 502 in 2012.” Of legal cannabis states, only Washington and Illinois didn’t allow adults the right to grow their own cannabis, she indicated. Kaminsky added that no state had prohibited legal cultivation after permitting it “indicating it does not undermine industry revenues nor does it cause increased public harm.”
      • New Jersey’s legislature legalized cannabis at the end of 2020 without home growing, but the governor had yet to sign the measure at publication time while separate legislation had been introduced to allow it.
    • “We would like to see the market and the cannabis consumer mature,” Kaminsky concluded. “Other commodities in which people can grow for themselves” demonstrated that “the ability for individuals to grow a few plants at home will have an overwhelmingly positive impact” on the legal market.
  • Phillip Singleton, FMS Global Strategies and Washington Build Back Black Alliance (WBBBA), supported the bill as “a great piece of legislation to allow medical users to grow their own medicine at home” and to “grow what they feel would be best for them” (audio - 1m, video).
    • While authorized medical cannabis patients had an affirmative defense for cultivating up to four plants, they did not have protection from arrest unless they registered with the Washington State Department of Health (DOH) patient database. However, HB 1105, a bill heard by legislators on February 4th and recommended out of committee on February 10th, could change that.
  • John Novak argued that the bill “benefits not only the citizens but also gives clear guidance to any law enforcement” while asking for improvements (audio - 3m, video).
    • Novak mentioned his “experience at running my own small garden nursery” as a business to say “I can tell you that the home growing/home gardening community makes up a very large portion” of agricultural production. He said that many plant varieties “came from home grown type gardeners who have participated” in the agricultural and commercial sectors to “establish a greater genetic diversity in the plants.”
    • Novak stated that the bill’s labeling requirement for plants were “commercial regulations that really have no place in personal use” while noting “there is no regulation for labeling of any kind on home tobacco products...none for home brewing of beer.”
    • On revenue, he expected the bill would “add to” the money collected by the State “as people want to try different products before they grow them.”
  • 138 people signed in supporting the bill:
    • Molly Allen
    • Bessie Arino
    • Amirah Baier
    • Kimberly Baker
    • Dave Baldwin
    • Kristin Baldwin
    • Mary Baugh
    • Kiaya Bender
    • Arthur Bieker
    • William Bolick
    • Damien Boyd
    • Kelly Brod
    • Robert Brown
    • Jeremy Brown
    • Teresa Bryan
    • Lisa Buchanan, Dockside Cannabis Medical Marijuana Consultant
      • Buchanan testified in favor of HB 1105 dealing with patient arrest protections on February 4th.
    • Timothy Busch
    • Kerry Cannon, Free Lance Gloor
    • Carl Cameron
    • Rita Caywood
    • Denise Clark, Lost Art Apothecary
    • Charlie Commeree
    • Tamara Connery
    • Cindy Cooper
    • Heather Dagley 
    • Christopher Dailey
    • Travis Dean
    • Diana Dickerson
    • Ramsey Doudar, Patients and Users for Reasonable Policy Founder
    • Amelia Edgeland
    • TJ Erickson
    • Elbert Evens
    • Bruce Fairbanks
    • Larry Ferguson
    • Wendy Fields-Lardie
    • Kenan Fox
    • Rachel Fox
    • Barbara Galso
    • Michael Gilbert
    • Joseph Gill
    • Andrea Goddard
    • Eric Gonzalez Alfaro, American Civil Liberties Union of Washington Legislative Director
    • Eric Goza
    • Benjamin Graham
    • Justin Gross
    • Greg Hammond
    • Rebecca Helm
    • Roderick Henry
    • Jean Hilde
    • Richard Hollenbaugh
    • Kevin Hodd
    • Michael Hoseney
    • Charles Hurlocker
    • Michael Hutcheson
    • Larry Hutchison
    • Alexander Hyman
    • Greg Jensen
    • Aaron Jesch
    • Erik Johansen
    • Micky Johnson
    • Travis Jones
    • Randolph Jorgensen
    • Ken Kakuk
    • Daniel Kassner
    • H.E. Kersting
    • John Kingsbury, Homegrow Washington Co-Founder
    • Leslie La Duke Banionis, Stella Maris LLC
    • Jason Lammers, 420WholesalePack General Manager and Cannabis Alliance Board Member
    • Jerry Lanning
    • Louis Leon
    • Millicent Leow
    • Kelly Lewis
    • James MacRae, Straight Line Analytics
    • Samuel Mantel
    • Paul Mason
    • Jerron Mead
    • Juan Mendez
    • Andrew Mendez
    • Douglas Middleton
    • Norma Middleton
    • David Miller
    • Jennifer Mital
    • Theodore Morse
    • Miguel Mulholland
    • Danica Noble, NORML Women of Washington Director 
    • Eugene Norville
    • Maurice Olivier, Digital Balance Services
    • Michael Olson
    • Stacy Ostler
    • Andrew Otwell
    • Deb Padilla
    • Benjamin Parker
    • Michael Pearson
    • Thomas Pounders
    • Carl Prothman
    • Anastasia Pyz
    • Ariana Ramirez
    • Alberto Ramirez
    • Sarah Rasor
    • Andrew Reding, Whatcom Democrats Executive Board Chair
    • Dave Roeser
    • Sharon Rooney-Morse
    • Victoria Ruby-Schultz
    • Jasiah Ruby-Schultz
    • Caitlein Ryan, The Cannabis Alliance Board President and Interim Executive Director
    • Scott Samuels
    • Kendra Sawyer
    • Nicholas Schortzmann
    • Ryan Schwake
    • Kjellsea Sequist
    • Kayla Serbus
    • Salvador Silahua
    • Don Skakie, Homegrow Washington Co-Founder
    • Christina Sleeth
    • Allen Snow
    • Nancy Southern, The Cannabis Alliance
    • Kurt Sperry
    • Robert Stockamp
    • Anne Tarlton
    • Karie Ann Taylor
    • William Thompson
    • Ryan Townsend
    • Michael Trotter
    • Chance Unterseher
    • Kyle Van Kampen
    • Joseph Veelz, NORML
    • Marilyn Vogler, citizen activist
    • Shawn DeNae Wagenseller, Washington Bud Company Co-Owner
    • Kevin Walder
    • Jennifer Ward
    • Ashley Westfall, Medicated Metals
    • Den Mark Wichar
    • Karen Wines
    • Christopher Wisnoski
    • Janelle Witter
    • Nick Youngkrantz
    • David Zarate
    • Matthew Zettley
  • Several individuals submitted written testimony in support of the bill.
    • Bailey Hirschburg, Washington chapter of the National Organization for the Reform of Marijuana Laws (WA NORML)
      • I wrote, “As other states with legal cannabis and residential agriculture sell hundreds of millions of dollars of cannabis and employ tens of thousands it’s unlikely residential agriculture practices will hinder the 502 market...The risk of measurable decline in revenue is unlikely due to the simple fact that the commercial cannabis market has already been established in Washington.”
      • “HB 1019 is less about market capture and new customer bases than respecting privacy and focusing police resources on dangerous grow operations.”
      • “Law enforcement exercises discretion in enforcing small cannabis gardens as a felony offense to focus on large and criminally-connected cultivation. Formalizing this practice by passing HB 1019 establishes clear definitions, limits, and guidance for law enforcement as well as the public on what is permitted which encourages respect for the law.”
      • “Racial justice organizations...have identified personal cultivation as an important way those with ethical objections to supporting an inequitable legal market can obtain cannabis without the criminal market. A review of Washington state cannabis cultivation arrests from 2010-2019 showed African Americans were five times more likely to be arrested for six or less cannabis plants.”
    • Matt Simon, Marijuana Policy Project (MPP) Senior Legislative Analyst (written comments)
    • Rick Steves, Travel Author and NORML Board of Directors Chair wrote “As a co-sponsor, funder, and spokesperson of [Initiative 502], I understood why we opted not to allow any home grow — some people just weren’t ready for it yet. Today, of the 15 states that have legalized marijuana use by responsible adults, Washington is one of only three that continue to penalize home cultivation...Citizens of our state have become much more comfortable with marijuana since 2012, and we don’t hear anything about small home grows causing problems in states where it is legal. Just like the home brewing of beer is no big deal today, the home growing of marijuana will be no big deal either. But first we need to allow it.”