WA House HCW - Committee Meeting
(February 10, 2021)

Here are some observations from the Wednesday February 10th Washington State House Health Care and Wellness Committee (WA House HCW) meeting.

My top takeaway:

• Legislation to expand arrest protections to all medical cannabis patients was heard and considered by its policy committee.
  • Previous legislation merged the Washington adult use and medical cannabis markets with privileges for medical cannabis patients who not only obtained an authorization but chose to register in a database run by the Washington State Department of Health (DOH). Registered patients were shielded from arrest; were allowed to possess more cannabis and plants; and were exempted from paying sales tax on retail cannabis purchases.
  • HB 1105 - "Concerning arrest protections for the medical use of cannabis" was heard by WA House HCW members on February 4th. The bill would:
    • Provide criminal and civil protections, rather than an affirmative defense, to qualifying patients and designated providers who have a valid authorization for the medical use of marijuana.
    • Specifies the marijuana possession limit for a person who is both a qualifying patient and a designated provider for another qualifying patient.
  • Vice Chair Jessica Bateman moved that the committee pass the legislation, and Chair Eileen Cody observed there were no proposed amendments to it (audio - <1m, video).

• The majority and minority caucus leaders of the committee debated the value of limiting arrest protections for some cannabis patients as an incentive for registration with the State.
  • Ranking Minority Member Joe Schmick communicated that he planned to oppose the bill’s passage since “when we negotiated [medical cannabis laws] originally the affirmative defense was actually given as, kind of a ‘carrot’ to those who would sign up for the registry” (audio - 1m, video). 
    • While Schmick acknowledged that some patients had concerns about signing up, he was under the impression that “one of the main purposes of that registry is to be able to monitor the doctors...to see where, who they are, and if, are they just writing prescriptions? Because we just, it’s not known.”
    • Schmick also said “the registry gave the law enforcement a way to check and to make sure that the card wasn’t bogus.” He expressed reluctance to grant arrest protections “to authorized users that haven’t gone through the system.” 
  • Cody told Schmick and committee members that she did “share some of your concerns” and found it “hard to treat” cannabis as medicine when adult-use was also permitted. While she had supported the bill creating arrest protections for those in the DOH database in 2015, “at this point I think that we have moved forward with, with how we are dealing with cannabis, and so I do not really want to see more people being arrested” for possessing cannabis as medicine. Cody asked her colleagues “for a yes vote, but I do share your concerns and I understand them completely” (audio - 1m, video).

• HB 1105 was recommended out of committee during a roll call vote of committee members resulting in ten ‘yes’ votes, and five ‘no’ votes.
  • During the committee vote (audio - 2m, video), three Republican members voted no, “do not pass”:
    • Representative Joe Schmick
    • Representative Michelle Caldier
    • Representative Jacquelin Maycumber, Minority Floor Leader
  • Two Republican members voted no, “without recommendation”:
    • Representative Paul Harris, Minority Caucus Chair
    • Representative Alex Ybarra
  • Representative Skyler Rude broke ranks with his Republican colleagues and supported passage of the bill.
  • A fiscal note was never requested for HB 1105. Following passage by WA House HCW, the bill was sent to the Washington State House Rules Committee (WA House RUL). At publication time, the bill awaited calendaring for that chamber’s order of consideration. According to the legislative session cutoff calendar, March 9th would be the last day for bills to be passed by the chamber of origin.