WA House COG - Committee Meeting
(January 28, 2022)

Here are some observations from the Friday January 28th Washington State House Commerce and Gaming Committee (WA House COG) Committee Meeting.

My top 3 takeaways:

• Staff briefed on HB 2022, "Concerning social equity in the cannabis industry," which incorporated recommendations to the legislature from the Washington State Legislative Task Force on Social Equity in Cannabis (WA SECTF).
  • WA SECTF, formed under RCW 69.50.336, required a series of recommendations to the Washington State Office of the Governor (WA Governor), the Washington State Legislature (WA Legislature), and the Washington State Liquor and Cannabis Board (WSLCB). During their September and November 2021 meetings, task force members adopted several recommendations around assistance grants, license prioritization, and the expansion of licenses for the program. These included use of fiscal year (FY) 2022 funds allocated for the technical assistance grant program towards a pre-applicant mentorship program, adding financial assistance as a use of funds, and increasing money available for grant allotments.
    • In mid-December 2021, Governor Jay Inslee released his proposed supplemental operating budget for 2022 which featured $125 million of cannabis tax revenue annually for Community Reinvestment Grants. Representative Melanie Morgan and Senator Rebecca Saldaña, legislative appointees to the task force, subsequently sponsored companion bills HB 1827 and SB 5706 aimed at “Creating the community reinvestment account and community reinvestment program.”
    • The Washington State Governor's Interagency Council on Health Disparities (WA Governor Council on Health Disparities) discussed the recommendations on January 3rd, after a presentation at the December 2021 meeting, and voted unanimously to endorse them.
  • WA House COG Counsel Peter Clodfelter shared the bill analysis with the committee (audio - 4m, video):
    • “Requires the Liquor and Cannabis Board to issue 38 new cannabis retailer licenses and 25 new cannabis producer/processor licenses each year between 2022 and 2029 to social equity applicants.”
      • This would amount to 304 new retail and 200 new producer/processor licenses total through 2029.
    • “Limits the issuance of cannabis producer, processor, retailer, and any new license types created through 2029 so licenses may only be issued to social equity applicants and, beginning in 2030, requires 50 percent of new cannabis licenses issued to be to social equity applicants.
    • Authorizes cannabis licenses issued through the social equity program to be mobile and for premises in any local jurisdiction that permits the business activity. 
    • Reduces and eliminates certain distance restrictions in cannabis licensing for social equity licenses through 2029, and for all cannabis licenses beginning 2030. 
    • Changes the definition of "social equity applicant," waives the annual licensing fee for cannabis social equity licensees, eliminates the requirement to submit a social equity plan, and modifies cannabis excise tax distributions.”
      • The revised definition in the bill would cover applicants with “at least 51% ownership and control by at least one individual who’s a racial minority, that available data shows was disproportionately harmed by the war on drugs as evidenced by rates of arrest for cannabis possession offenses,” and covered those who lived “at least five years out of the last 60 years” in disproportionately impacted areas (DIAs).
      • Taxes appropriated for technical assistance would be increased from $1.65 million to $15 million in “grants for social equity licensees, $7.5 million for low-interest loans, and $1.1 million for technical assistance.”
  • Applicants would no longer be required to submit a “social equity plan” to be considered for an equity license, stated Clodfelter. The Washington State Department of Commerce (WA Commerce) and Washington State Office of Equity (WA Equity) would be empowered to pick a “3rd party contractor to prioritize social equity cannabis license applications based on a scoring rubric recommended by the task force and approved by the office of equity,” he said, “with input from community organizations.” WSLCB licensing staff would then “review applications based on the priorities set by the 3rd party contractor.”
    • The scoring rubric WA SECTF proposed for prioritizing equity applicants was amended by WSLCB officials and discussed by task force members on January 24th.
    • Representative Eric Robertson dug deeper into buffer distances, referencing their statute RCW 69.50.331(8) as not allowing licensed premises within “one thousand feet of the perimeter of the grounds of any elementary school or secondary school, playground, recreation center or facility, child care center, public park, public transit center, or library, or any game arcade admission to which is not restricted to persons aged twenty-one years or older.” He noted the bill “shrinks it to 500 feet for the elementary school and secondary schools,” and had Clodfelter confirm buffers would otherwise be eliminated entirely for social equity licenses, which he called “the only game in town here until 2030" when buffers would be eliminated for all cannabis businesses. Clodfelter confirmed Robertson’s reading of the bill, but included that “for context about current law, local governments can currently reduce the distance restrictions through an ordinance from one thousand feet to not less than 100 feet for all the entities except for elementary and secondary schools and playgrounds” (audio - 3m, video).
      • The Seattle City Council voted in 2016 to adopt reduced buffer zones under ordinance 124969.
    • Morgan, also the chair of WA SECTF, checked with Clodfelter on the buffer distances for “stores that sell alcohol and cigarettes.” He responded that distance requirements were “written a little bit differently than in cannabis licensing,” but alcohol retail licensing uses a “500 distance as part of the analysis,” as well as notification to “churches and public institutions within 500 feet” (audio - 1m, video).
  • The initial fiscal note did not estimate the changes in revenue which could result from passage of the bill, but expenditures projected by state agencies included:
    • WA Governor
      • FY 2021-23 - $510,000 
      • FY 2023-25 - $950,000
      • FY 2025-27 - $950,000
    • WSLCB
      • FY 2021-23 - $3,003,835
      • FY 2023-25 - $5,990,535 
      • FY 2025-27 - $6,886,616
    • Washington State Department of Revenue
      • FY 2021-23 - $70,400 
      • FY 2023-25 - $35,200
      • FY 2025-27 - $35,200
    • WA Commerce and the Washington State Office of the Attorney General (WA OAG) staff did not contribute to the fiscal note, but could be impacted by the bill’s effects.

• 87 people signed in or testified in favor of the bill, including 16 speakers from communities and state agencies, but Republican caucus members expressed skepticism about revision of buffer distances for a differentiated class of licensees.
  • Vice Chair Emily Wicks, the primary sponsor, noted the WA SECTF goals to “make recommendations promoting business ownership among individuals disproportionately impacted by the war on drugs” and to “remedy the harms from the uneven enforcement of cannabis-related laws.” She said the bill continued the work “required to address the decades of harm inflicted on communities of color” (audio - 3m, video).
    • While WSLCB staff monitored “26,600 liquor licenses, 5,900 tobacco and cigarette licenses, and more than 3,900 vapor product licenses,” Wicks pointed out that cannabis was “restricted to being sold in 500 stores across” the state. This was “1.4% of total licenses” overseen by the agency, she indicated.
    • “Back when [Initiative-]502 was being implemented, the priority was simple: quickly process the applications for licenses,” Wicks remarked, but she felt nothing was done “to ensure the limited number of licenses that were distributed, were distributed in a way that restored the lives of families of those most targeted.” Instead, she argued that "licenses went to those with existing capital and resources, the connected and the wealthy." Reading from the 2012 legalization measure that voters “intend to stop treating adult marijuana use as a crime,” Wicks suggested this promise had not been fulfilled for “those it harmed the most.” She encouraged passage of HB 2022 “because restricting those harmed from entering this now-legal economy is in direct conflict with the intent of the people” in passing the original initiative.
    • Wicks commended the task force’s recommendations, stating that additional licenses for equity applicants “is the clearest path towards righting this historic wrong.”
  • Morgan, speaking as task force chair, thanked Wicks for her sponsorship and support of that group’s “hard work.” She observed that task force appointees “and the community were able to reach a consensus of recommendations,” feeling it demonstrated “inclusion.” Morgan clarified that she had not signed on as a co-sponsor of HB 2022 as “a matter of procedure…I had missed the cutoff date to sign on.” She said the measure had the support of the full task force, pointedly mentioning Representative Kelly Chambers, a task force appointee for the house minority caucus and a WA House COG member - although Chambers voted against recommendations around licensing, the technical assistance grant program, and did not attend many task force meetings (audio - 2m, video).
    • Robertson, returning to buffer restrictions, said the existing statute was about “protecting our young people, protecting communities,” and “protecting the impact to the jurisdiction's civil regulatory enforcement, criminal law enforcement, public safety and public health.” He was uncomfortable having cannabis retail near any place children might be - as well as creating “two tiers of safety provisions for the retailers” (audio - 3m, video).
      • Wicks replied that the legislation put cannabis “within parity” of other substances, saying “children walk by liquor stores, they walk by liquor in grocery stores” and were “exposed to vapor products and cigarettes” in public. Additionally she said “it’s very hard to find a location that is not next to” a restricted entity in densely populated communities, making revision of buffer restrictions an important part of getting social equity applicants into the cannabis sector. Restrictions in her bill were “above and beyond,” Wicks asserted, and retained “distancing from schools” while “providing those opportunities for [equity licensees] to be successful.” She mentioned that the statute was previously used as a loophole by retailers “to prevent others from moving next to them.” 
      • Chair Shelley Kloba observed a city in her district, Kirkland, “reduced the buffers just because…people were having a hard time finding a place” as the city was “well stocked with parks and school and daycares.” She concluded that it “seemed to work out OK.”
    • Ranking Member Drew MacEwen wondered “how do you reconcile the legality of one class of license having a different set of standard[s] than another class of license?” Wicks said the nuance of how applicants were defined was still being worked on by “the Governor's office and the LCB," but would “be within the rights of people” and done “correctly” to reach “the right people that deserve these licenses” (audio - 1m, video). 
    • Morgan spoke up to say the purpose of the legislation was parity “in the cannabis industry with Black and Brown people” regardless of the specific policy changes (audio - 1m, video). 
  • Rick Anderson, WA Commerce Policy Advisor (audio - 1m, video)
    • Anderson reported he was “deeply supportive of the goals of creating…social equity” in the cannabis industry. He discussed “administrative challenges” the department expected to face as a result of the bill under section 8 of the legislation, saying he’d spoken with Wicks and believed “they can be resolved.” Anderson added that he was in agreement with WSLCB leadership remarks on “authority to prioritize social equity applicants.”
    • In June 2021, Anderson told the task force that the Office of Economic Development and Competitiveness would be responsible for the assistance grant program as part of their “broader ecosystem of small business support” with dedicated Economic Development and Business Assistance programs.
  • Sheri Sawyer, WA Governor Senior Policy Advisor (audio - 2m, video)
    • "It's big, and it's bold, and it's time," Sawyer said of the bill, bringing the endorsement and gratitude of Governor Jay Inslee to Wicks for sponsoring the proposal, and to the task force for their work developing the recommendations. She did advise a change mentioned by Anderson to section 1(3) that “currently directs the department of commerce to prioritize the applicants,” while officials felt it was “imperative” that the WSLCB retain that power, provided they exercised it “in consultation with the equity office and, of course, the community members, through a third-party vendor.”
    • Sawyer acknowledged that the bill proposed using a scoring rubric developed by the task force, and though the governor’s office “agree[s] on the intended outcome, we support the alternative scoring rubric” that was offered by WSLCB representatives and “modeled from the initial recommendations of” WA SECTF.
    • MacEwen noted, “many of us do have a concern about” buffer zones for licensees and asked whether Inslee was “OK with the siting of licensees near schools and daycare centers…in conflict with existing law?” Sawyer observed that there wouldn’t be a conflict “if you changed the law,” and seconded remarks that “this is all about bringing equity and parity to the cannabis industry." She found the distances left under the bill were “similar to alcohol” (audio - 1m, video). 
    • MacEwen followed up to inquire about changing buffer distances “across the board for all licensees.” Sawyer indicated that the governor’s staff would “be open to” a proposal to remove buffer zones entirely, but was unsure how it would “be helpful for existing licensees” who already had store locations. She deferred that kind of change to Wicks as bill sponsor (audio - 2m, video). 
  • Chris Thompson, WSLCB Director of Legislative Relations (audio - 3m, video).
    • Thompson testified that agency leadership “strongly support the goals of social equity in our cannabis industry and the intent behind this legislation.” He indicated that equity had featured in the board’s long term planning and staff requested HB 2870, the legislation establishing WA SECTF in 2020. Agency officials wanted an equity program that was both “impactful and can withstand legal challenges,” Thompson said, but were concerned that the bill language would keep WSLCB staff from being “able to issue social equity licenses.” He commented that the WSLCB scoring rubric had “much in common with” the task force version, and viewed changes by agency staff as “more robust and protective of the goals of social equity and the program.” Adopting the bill would lead the board to initiate rulemaking with public input.
    • Thompson added that agency staff were opposed to use of a third-party contractor in prioritizing applicants, finding that authority “should be retained by the LCB” in consultation with WA Equity staff. There were also smaller changes “for more operational or technical reasons,” he said he’d detail later “if the committee is interested.”
    • Kloba offered Thompson the opportunity to detail further changes, he instead promised to follow up with specifics (audio - 1m, video). 
    • Chambers tried to ask if WSLCB leaders supported reducing cannabis buffer distances, but Kloba felt the question had been previously “asked and answered” (audio - <1m, video). Chambers instead inquired if cannabis parity should be extended to allowing sales in “family restaurants” and whether the “end goal is to treat cannabis exactly the same as alcohol.” Thompson responded that “a lot of these issues are not for us to decide” as there were differences between the substances, including some “disadvantageous for the cannabis industry.” He mentioned there was a long history around buffer zones and he couldn’t speak to the overall intention behind the law, but “we do think that it is a challenge for the cannabis industry.” Thompon pointed out that while Mercer Island had been allotted two retail locations, “there isn’t a property in that jurisdiction” which complied with all the buffer distances, leaving him to conclude changes to the policy were a “legitimate issue” that agency officials weren’t “opposed to reexamining.” Sawyer added the view of Inslee’s office that cannabis shouldn’t be “sold in restaurants with children present” as cannabis was an “adult use only product” (audio - 2m, video). 
    • Robertson wanted to know if Thompson could provide a “side-by-side matrix” of buffer zones for “liquor, cigarettes, cannabis as it stands right now, and then, if this bill were enacted.” He said his concerns came out of the “real uptick in armed robberies at cannabis retailers" and that he was sponsoring legislation, ​​HB 2029, “to address that.” Robertson knew of 34 armed robberies “in one month,” which gave him “pause when I think of [cannabis businesses] next to daycare centers, or a park, or something like that.” Kloba welcomed additional info, suggesting it include “some of the cities who have changed those buffer zones as well” (audio - 1m, video).
      • The companion bill, SB 5927, was heard by the Washington State Senate Law and Justice Committee (WA Senate LAW) on January 31st and was scheduled for executive session on Thursday February 3rd.
      • At publication time, retailer Uncle Ike’s was compiling a spreadsheet of reported robberies of cannabis businesses.
  • Micah Sherman, Raven Co-Owner, Washington Sun and Craft Growers Association (WSCA) Board Member, and WA SECTF appointee (audio - 2m, video)
  • Dorian Waller, Washington State Commission on African American Affairs (CAAA) Chair and WA SECTF appointee (audio - 2m, video) 
  • Jim Makoso, Flowe Technology CEO, Lucid Lab Group Director, and WA SECTF appointee (audio - 3m, video)
    • Makoso indicated he was chair of the National Cannabis Industry Association (NCIA) Scientific Advisory Committee and was a licensed processor. Noting the cannabis sector had “thrived,” contributed “$550 million in taxes for the state,” and was “still growing,” he supported the opportunity for economic empowerment among “individuals that historically have been left out, or in some cases pushed out, or just plain forgotten.” Makoso told the committee passage of HB 2022 would result in “63 new businesses this year alone” in impacted communities, as well as “job creation, wealth creation,” and “potentially restoration in these communities that have been disproportionately impacted by the war on drugs.” He asked for support of the bill along with “other proposed legislation that aim[ed] to accomplish a similar purpose.”
  • Darrell Powell, Seattle King County National Association for the Advancement of Colored People (NAACP) Treasurer and Area Conference Second Vice President (audio - 3m, video)
    • Powell informed the board that his NAACP chapter included “minority communities that have been disproportionately harmed by the war on drugs” including “the seven largest counties in the state.” He noted that “advancing racial equity and justice” was a stated priority of the Democratic Majority Caucus for the legislative session, and that the bill would “allow African Americans and other members of the BIPOC [Black, Indigenous, and people of color] community to have an opportunity to participate.” Powell pointed out that of all the wealth generated through cannabis sales, only “two to three percent” went to African Americans according to retail license ownership data, and that no stores in Seattle were African American owned, leaving communities out of a “wealth building opportunity.”
  • Jim Buchanan, Washington State African American Cannabis Association (WSAACA) President (audio - 2m, video)
    • Buchanan stated “Black and Brown people have suffered from discrimination” and he supported the bill as a way to “start the process of making the wrong right.” Licensing opportunities could lead “to generational wealth” in DIAs, he said, which had endured “police brutality” and economic “starvation.” Buchanan argued that beyond institutional racism in the justice system, “Black medical marijuana store owners also have experienced brutal discrimination and are currently experiencing psychological and economic trauma.” With cannabis legalization, he insisted these same groups were “locked out of the flourishing, profitable industry.” Buchanan cited reporting that “current retailers that feel that it’s their industry, they don’t want to allow social equity.” Kloba interrupted him to ask that comments focus on the bill, and not groups with other positions on it.
    • Robertson asked about WSAACA membership, which Buchanan said included “ten different organizations” including NAACP, Africa Town, and between 250 and 300 people that may become social equity applicants. Robertson sought clarification on how many were already licensed as cannabis retailers. Buchanan said he was, but others got “locked out.” Kloba and Morgan observed this “illustrates the point” (audio - 1m, video). 
  • Philip Petty, WSAACA Vice President (audio - 3m, video) 
  • Julius Caesar Robinson (audio - 3m, video)
    • Robinson described himself as a “community organizer and political fundraiser here in Seattle” and was in agreement with all of Wicks’ remarks, joking she “stole my whole playbook.” He commented from “an emotional point” about "what this does to us as a community, being locked out of a system" that "we felt the biggest brunt of for over 30 years." Being allowed to buy a product, but having no avenue to invest in it “after decades of being arrested, harassed, and imprisoned over the same thing” had “an emotional impact on us," Robinson argued.
    • "We want to build our own generational wealth" and be positive examples in their community, asserted Robinson. He requested committee members not be “bogged down in…this stuff of where they’re going to be located” and focus on addressing inequity in the cannabis sector.
  • Damarys Espinoza, Community Health Board CoalitionCo-Chair (audio - 2m, video)
    • Espinoza explained that the coalition represented “17 health boards across communities that are led by Black, Indigenous, and people of color,” and supported the legislation as part of an “aspiration to be an anti-racist state.” She viewed cannabis equity as “just one aspect of addressing historical wrongs," and there were other strategies. 
    • Addressing the Republican focus on buffer zones, Espinoza declared "there is no buffer zone for structural racism, and so our youth, our communities are directly impacted by policies and procedures that have been enacted throughout the generations."
  • Lukas Hunter, Harmony Farms Director of Compliance (audio - 3m, video)
    • Claiming that HB 2022 was “just a start” at bringing “social equity into our space,” Hunter called attention to the “increase of almost 15% of Washington State residency” according to the U.S. Census Bureau, and called to raise the cap on licensed retailers. He argued that “nothing in statute…prevents [WSLCB] from re-opening licensure.” The bill would permit “targeted new licensure…to attempt to bring equity into” the cannabis industry, Hunter said.
      • An “Assessment of LCB rulemaking authority for cannabis retail licenses” revealed in May 2021 indicated WSLCB staff preferred to defer to WA SECTF input, concluding that while “LCB has the legal authority to engage in rulemaking to increase the overall license cap pursuant to RCW 69.50.3[4]5(2), any policy change of this nature may hinder the goals of the social equity taskforce, and create further disproportionate industry representation in relation to social equity. To ensure social equity goals are achieved, the LCB should not consider rulemaking to increase the statewide cannabis retail license limits until such time as a recommendation is received from the social equity taskforce, with corresponding legislative approval pursuant to RCW 69.50.336(11) to increase the license cap for the desired purpose.”
    • Hunter pointed out “some discrepancies” with advertising zoning, which remained “based on a 1,000 foot basis and would make these lower buffer zones challenging for people to advertise their businesses.”
  • Mark Seegmueller, Mad Mark Cannabis Farms Owner (audio - 2m, video)
    • Signed in as ‘other,’ Seegmueller complained the bill didn’t go far enough.
  • Paul Brice, Happy Trees Owner, WA SECTF Advisory Member (audio - 3m, video)
    • Brice said he’d received a “double felony charge” in college and had been in “the cannabis industry ever since,” even called a “pioneer.” While backing the bill, he suggested there should be “something for the cannabis pioneers” like himself, who had gotten into a cannabis sector “which did everything possible to push and get me out.” He commuted to another jurisdiction where his business was sited and became “the number one seller” in Cle Elum, but it had taken years to become profitable.
  • K. Wyking Garrett, Africa Town Community Land Trust CEO and King County Equity Now (audio - 2m, video)
    • Garrett described himself as a “third generation community builder from the Central District of Seattle” who felt the cannabis “industry has continued to perpetuate Jim Crow apartheid." He believed HB 2022 was a step “in the direction of reparation and restoration and economic inclusion." He considered a key aspect of equity to be “ownership,” something that was clearly lacking in cannabis licensing after “the harm was disproportionately distributed to our communities, and to balance that" there needed to be “bold steps.”
  • Raft Hollingsworth, Hollingsworth Cannabis and Hemp Company Co-Owner and WA SECTF appointee (audio - 2m, video)
    • Hollingsworth testified that as a “strong advocate for this industry” he was mindful of “market consolidation,” believing that all cannabis retail locations in the state were owned by “200-250 or so people…and that number is shrinking.” He said industry ownership had to become more diverse before “it’s prohibitively expensive for Black and Brown people to try to enter and compete.” Hollingsworth recounted attending an “industrywide golf tournament” where a retailer asked him if he knew another licensee who “kinda look[ed] like a gorilla." Shocked by the offensive comparison, Hollingsworth considered the remark a clear sign "this industry needs a shot in the arm of diversity...of inclusion."
    • Chambers brought up whether Hollingsworth or Brice had perspectives on the impact of “flooding the market” with new production and processing licenses. Hollingsworth estimated that new producer/processor businesses cost between $500K-700K to start and said, “I don’t think someone with that amount of money is waiting for one of these licenses to become available” (audio - 2m, video). 
  • Signed in as ‘Pro’ or ‘Other,’ but not called to testify (10):
    • Mike Asai, Emerald City Collective Gardens (ECCG) Founder
    • Taelor Dinson
    • Elmer Dixon, Seattle Chapter of the Black Panther Party Founding Member  
    • Renee Fanelli 
    • Joy Hollingsworth, Hollingsworth Cannabis and Hemp Company Co-Owner
    • Christopher King (Signed in as ‘Other’)  
    • Jerome Petty 
    • Victor Rodriguez, WA Governor Council on Health Disparities Vice Chair
    • Sami Saad (Signed in as ‘Other’)
    • Emijah Smith 
  • Signed in as ‘Pro’ or ‘Other,’ but not testifying (61):
    • Sabrina Ali  
    • Kevin Allen
    • Carey Anderson, First African Methodist Episcopal Church Pastor
    • Chris Atkins  
    • Timothy Batson 
    • Braia Benjamin 
    • Dawn Bennett, African American Leadership Forum
    • Keith Boyce, New Day Cannabis 
    • Benjamin Chotzen  
    • Colton Christian  
    • Vicki Christophersen, WACA Executive Director and Lobbyist (Signed in as ‘Other’)
    • Jessica Daprile 
    • Lauren Du Pree  
    • Mallory Eakes 
    • Renee Fanelli 
    • Kim Gaffi 
    • Rick Garza, WSLCB Director
    • Sadie Gilliom
    • Samantha Grad, UFCW 21 Political and Legislative Organizer
    • Laurence Leveen 
    • Lara Kaminsky, The Cannabis Alliance Legislative Liaison
    • Herb Krohn, SMART Transportation Division/United Transportation Union 
    • Aaron Krumholz 
    • Renee Lamberjack 
    • Nate Lewis, Oyster Bay Farm 
    • Daniel Luebke  
    • Robert Marino 
    • Monica Martinez, The Calyx Co. Owner and WA SECTF appointee
    • Bryan McConaughy, WSCA Lobbyist
    • David Mendoza, Progreso Board President and WA SECTF appointee
    • Maurice “Chuck” Olivier
    • Evan Olsen 
    • Elsbeth Perry  
    • Julie Peterson, Foundation for Healthy Generations  
    • Kelonda Petty   
    • Carolyn Pinkett  
    • Nicole Plastino 
    • Jason Poll, Gorge Gold CEO
    • Paul Potasnik  
    • Rebeca Potasnik  
    • Mary Frances Potasnik
    • Ed Prince, CAAA Executive Director 
    • Spafford Robbins 
    • Molly Robertson  
    • Christopher Rosso  
    • Caitlein Ryan, The Cannabis Alliance Interim Executive Director
    • Alan Scheidecker  
    • Chris Schneider  
    • Ryan Sevigny, Landrace Brands President and board member for the Cannabis Alliance and WSCA
    • Mallorie Shellmer
    • Megan Sheridan  
    • Kelsey Smith  
    • Daniel Solaro, Aspen Hollow
    • David Stein
    • Greg Thiessen
    • Kelsey Timmer  
    • Shawn DeNae Wagenseller, Washington Bud Company Co-Owner and WSCA Board Member 
    • Johanna Willingham 
    • Jesse Wineberry, Washington Equity Now Alliance (WENA)
    • Kendl Winter  
    • Wesley Wonder   

• 21 people spoke or signed in as opposing the legislation, with all supporting the intentions of social equity in the cannabis sphere, but critical of the proposal’s ability to deliver.
  • Adán Espino, Craft Cannabis Council (CCC) Executive Director (audio - 2m, video)
    • Espino offered CCC members’ commitment to social equity in cannabis, but said they considered the bill “the wrong approach” to addressing it. He mentioned his own family’s background confronting drug cartel violence in Mexico, including cousins whom four months earlier had been “kidnapped, and they have yet to be found.” Espino’s impression of the bill’s impact reminded him of his family’s dramatic escape from the cartels in Mexico, saying “the last thing they wanted to hear from our state government was that they’re going to rectify those horrors by exclusively providing cannabis retail and production licenses to them.”
    • Espino emphasized how people in DIAs and prospective equity applicants were “struggling” to access capital “to get a leg up to start a business of their choosing.” He then mentioned HB 1827 and SB 5706, “Creating the community reinvestment account and community reinvestment program,” insisting those bills would do more to help “our struggling neighbors.”
    • Wicks asked for clarification as to whom Espino was representing (audio - 1m, video) before Morgan asked him how many CCC member businesses were majority owned by licensees “that are Black and Brown.” Espino replied, “as of this date, it would be zero” (audio - 1m, video).
    • Espino was quoted in December 2021 by Marijuana Venture as saying CCC members “flat out” opposed additional cannabis licensing for social equity and “felt very strongly that the cannabis industry should provide some sort of reinvestment to people who, frankly, got screwed by the War on Drugs.”
  • Sheley Anderson, Craft Cannabis Coalition (CCC) Deputy Director and NAACP Area Conference First Vice President (audio - 2m, video)
    • Though CCC "strongly supports social equity," Anderson compared her position on the bill with a high school experience at “a protest preventing a gun store from opening near the campus.” She compared adding equity retailers to “liquor stores, predatory lending centers, and gun stores…taking over the neighborhood.” Anderson said she was speaking on behalf of CCC members “against flooding Black neighborhoods with pot shops” or allowing them “next to our parks, Black churches and youth centers,” insisting that reduced buffer zones would never be accepted “near White schools or near White communities.”
    • To “heal the harms from policies that created barriers to entry” and increase licensee diversity, Anderson supported making cannabis licensure exclusive to social equity applicants, assigning “unused licenses exclusively to social equity applicants,” increasing access to capital, and “increas[ing] Black participation in all industries.” More retailers “saturating the market when consumption has not changed” and removing buffer distances “our local communities value” would harm DIAs, she claimed, and asked lawmakers to “put the needs of the community first.”
      • With adoption of equity license mobility in the bill, stores could be situated in any jurisdiction that allowed them, not necessarily DIAs. Mike Graham-Squire, Washington Association for Substance Abuse and Violence Prevention (WASAVP) Co-Vice President, in testimony on different legislation on January 25th, suggested equity businesses “don’t necessarily have to be located in communities that have been most impacted by the war on drugs,” and might instead be placed in jurisdictions “least impacted.”
  • Pablo Gonzalez, The Bake Shop Owner and WA SECTF appointee (audio - 4m, video)
    • Gonzalez, owner of three retail licenses, said he also owned a store in neighboring Oregon where the cannabis market was “saturated.” He believed “more licenses doesn't create more equity," but instead “creates more instability." He was of the view that “now that people see more money involved, everyone wants to get into it” even as his experience suggested it could take years of operation to turn a profit. Gonzalez was also concerned equity applicants would face “predatory behavior by capitalists and people who have a lot of money.”
    • “As a father and a retail store owner, I don’t believe that reducing” buffer distances near schools was appropriate, Gonzalez commented, as some customers “start lighting up joints as soon as they leave the establishments.” He worried minors would “be more prone to smelling cannabis or seeing it being used.”
    • Gonzalez further doubted WSLCB staff could process the applications under the rubric recommended by the task force as he didn’t feel it was “equitable to everyone that's been left out." Instead, he believed new license types for cannabis delivery and consumption lounges, in addition to a smaller increase in existing license types, was preferable in order to “not affect the current market.” Gonzalez suggested that equity applicants would be unprepared for the high tax rates the industry faced, or competing with established businesses “with a lot of money,” leading to “price wars” that hurt stores like his.
  • Julianna Roe, Washington State Association of Counties (WSAC) Policy Director (audio - 2m, video)
    • Roe didn’t oppose additional cannabis licensing or the intent, but believed the bill would “exacerbate an ongoing problem that counties have had with the LCB,” namely issuance of state cannabis licenses regardless of local zoning restrictions and jurisdictions with bans and moratoriums. This “causes confusion and frustration for everyone,” she said, and predicted it would continue to be a problem “if this goes forward as written.” Roe asked for an amendment, based upon language in HB 1414, barring WSLCB staff from “issuing licences to an applicant in a location where a city or county has provided a written objection to the location based on zoning prohibitions.” She said WSAC was also against changes in buffer zones allowing retailers where “children and others congregate, and especially in light of the fact that these businesses are frequently targets for robberies and theft.”
    • Kloba indicated there’d been a bank robbery near an elementary school in her district, and asked Roe whether local governments had buffer zones for other cash-heavy businesses. Uncertain, Roe promised to check with other WSAC staff and get back to Kloba (audio - 1m, video). 
    • Morgan asked Roe if her organization opposed HB 2022 as a way of “holding people of color hostage” from reaching equity in the cannabis sector “because of an agency.” Roe replied that counties could “submit letters to the LCB explaining why, or why not, they…would allow a license…to be located in a certain place,” but WSLCB officials “historically ignored our letters and…granted licenses in areas where counties have determined that they cannot be located.” This situation was difficult for both license holders and local officials, she insisted, and the group hoped to “clear that up…for both local governments and those who are applying for licenses.” Morgan called attention to a theme she detected in testimony of “comparing crime and the robbery in cannabis industry [and] relate it back to social equity, and I think that’s offensive” (audio - 3m, video). 
  • Joseph Sewell, Seattle Bubbleworks (audio - 2m, video) 
  • James Shelton signed in opposed, but was not called to testify. 
  • Signed in “Con” but not testifying (15):
    • Aaron Bennett, The Reef Cannabis
    • Kc Franks, Lux Pot Shop Owner and CCC Co-Founder
    • Eric Gaston, Evergreen Market Co-Founder and CCC Member
    • Molly Honig, Higher Leaf / Green Theory
    • Heidi Hynes 
    • Jacquelyn Hynes 
    • Patrick Hynes
    • Shea Hynes, Lux Pot Shop Co-Owner
    • Jon Ima  
    • Svjetlana Ima
    • Rodney Krafka, RLK LLC
    • David Mills 
    • Bill Schnall
    • Cate Schultz  
    • Greg White