WA Senate - Session - Evening
(February 10, 2022)

Here are some observations from the Thursday February 10th Washington State Senate (WA Senate) evening session.

My top 3 takeaways:

• Cannabis retailers had proven to be a tempting target for robbery and, following an increase in crimes, lawmakers proposed adding a sentencing enhancement for those convicted of the offense in addition to reporting and consultation requirements involving the Washington State Liquor and Cannabis Board (WSLCB).
  • Prior to legal retail of the plant in Washington and other U.S. states, cannabis ranked as the nation's and world’s most used illicit substance. One stigmatizing argument leveraged for cannabis prohibition policy in the 20th century was the allegation that use caused criminality. While theft and robbery within prohibited markets was all but impossible to quantify, it is known that use of violence in unregulated markets is commonplace, in part because parties have no legal protection or recourse.
  • While licensed businesses have responsibilities for security and insurance in order to be granted the privilege to sell cannabis, one result has been their targeting in theft and robbery, regularly involving multiple individuals. Cannabis itself is used for sale or trafficking in unregulated markets, but because retailers face federal banking and financial service barriers that push their sales almost entirely to cash transactions, troubling trends have emerged in the state.
    • An early article on licensees victimized by robberies was from April 2018.
    • In August 2019, WSLCB officials discussed cannabis business robberies. That December, they heard that an interactive map on the former agency Marijuana Dashboard made it “too easy” for bad actors to target production and processing facilities for robbery or burglary. In January 2020, agency officials took down the map.
      • Similar upticks in thefts were reported in California and Colorado during this same period.
    • In January 2020, SB 6033, “Concerning the safety and security of retail marijuana outlets,” would have required local law enforcement reporting of cannabis business robberies to the Washington State Patrol (WSP) as well as sentencing enhancements for those convicted of a robbery. The bill received a public hearing and was passed out of committee, but was not advanced further.
    • In January 2021, the owners of Uncle Ike's shared a spreadsheet documenting cannabis store robberies and burglaries in Washington dating back to February 2017 which showed 153 crimes at publication time, the two most recent events having occurred on February 14th. A third robbery that day wasn’t included in the spreadsheet but was reported at Forbidden Cannabis Club in Lacey, just over two miles from my home.
      • Q13 FOX covered the issue in a story from February 9th and a lengthy spotlight segment on ‘Pot shop robberies’ featuring an interview with wounded Dockside Cannabis budtender Huckleberry Kid.
      • Tacoma Police reported responding to five robberies since the beginning of February.
  • SB 5927, "Concerning the safety and security of retail cannabis outlets," was first heard publicly by the Washington State Senate Law and Justice Committee (WA Senate LAW) on January 31st, and approved during executive session on February 3rd without amendments. The bill was included in a Washington State Senate Rules Committee (WA Senate RULE) Package Pull on February 8th moving it to the senate floor calendar for debate.
    • The SB 5927 bill report described the legislation as creating “a sentencing enhancement for robbery in the first or second degree of a cannabis retail outlet where the perpetrator committed the robbery as a premeditated act in concert with another individual or individuals.”
      • Sentencing enhancements and mandatory sentences had been used in drug prohibition policy and shown to result in racial and social inequalities in their application by the courts. 
    • During the initial bill briefing, staff explained that SB 5927 would require licensed retailers to report “any attempts or incident of first or second degree robbery” to WSLCB “within ten days of the incident.” The head of the WSLCB Enforcement and Education Division would be required to “regularly consult” with WSP leaders “to provide details of incidents of robbery and to discuss any evidence that indicates a pattern of, or coordinated effort by a criminal enterprise.” 
    • Staff of state agencies found the bill largely had indeterminate fiscal effects, with impacts on costs for incarceration time possible.

• With no amendments put forward on the bill, Senate Speaker Pro Tempore Karen Keiser gaveled a quick second reading before a bipartisan group of speakers urged its passage.
  • SB 5927 prime sponsor, Republican Senator Jim Honeyford, moved for final debate and remarks by the chamber (audio - 1m, video). He quoted an adage about criminals going after banks “because that’s where the money is,” observing that robberies of cannabis shops occurred “because that’s where the cash is because of banking problems.” Honeyford said the bill made it “equivalent to the same as robbing a pharmacy,” and convictions would result in “an additional 12 [months]” (audio - 1m, video).
  • Democratic Majority Deputy Leader Manka Dhingra asked for passage, thanking Honeyford for the “very elegant solution to a problem that we have been seeing all over the state.” She indicated convictions “had to be proven beyond a reasonable doubt” to use the enhancement, and she believed “it made a lot of sense” (audio - 1m, video). 
  • Republican Senator Jeff Wilson was in “very strong support” of SB 5927 after, “just a day ago, in my hometown [of Longview] a local store…was robbed by three men…luckily, no one was hurt.” He viewed the bill as bringing “happy relief” to businesses and the public, making him proud “to report home that we’re going to act” (audio - 1m, video).
  • Majority Caucus Chair Bob Hasegawa contended that “the obvious solution to me is that we should be providing banking services for these folks so the money won’t be there for the robbers to get to.” He remained concerned about “the cost and the potential disparate impact” even as he planned “to be a yes on the bill.” Hasegawa added an extra 12 months on convictions would be “fairly costly for the state, maybe even cost as much as creating our own bank” (audio - 1m, video). 
    • Hasegawa had been a proponent of a state bank for years, pushing for study of the issue, in part because of potential implications for the cannabis sector. His most recent version of that legislation, SB 5188, was passed by the senate and made it as far as the house floor calendar in 2021, but was not pursued in 2022.
    • Former WSLCB Board Member Russ Hauge, a former chair of the Washington State Sentencing Guidelines Commission (SGC), voiced skepticism when considering changes to fines due to cannabis penalties in January 2020. He observed that monetary punishments have “a place in regulatory regimes like criminal justice” in his estimation, but as most businesses “aren’t planning to violate” rules, fines therefore had an uncertain deterrence value. He also stated, “if they are trying to scam us what they’re thinking about is whether they’re going to get caught, not how much the penalty is going to be.” Hauge was lauded by Thompson for his proposal to cut cannabis penalties by half at his last Board Caucus meeting on January 25th.
    • Keri-Anne Jetzer, staff to the SGC from the Washington State Office of Financial Management Forecasting and Research Division, submitted written comments on SB 5927 indicating a position of ‘other,’ and stating the “Criminal Sentencing Task Force [at Washington State University] is currently completing a comprehensive review of sentencing enhancements. Waiting to make changes after the comprehensive review is preferred to making piecemeal changes to the Sentencing Reform Act.”
      • Read the Criminal Sentencing Task Force final report from December 2021, and see their 2022 meeting schedules and materials.
  • Republican Senator Ann Rivers admitted “I can’t help myself” but speak up on “a marijuana bill” to share her only disappointment with the legislation was that “there should be a much larger enhancement for use of a firearm.” She complained that the state penalized “law-abiding firearm owners” while it “seems like we let criminals who use firearms off with a song.” While backing the bill, she wanted penalties that “send a message that using a gun to commit a crime is just unforgivable” (audio - 1m, video).

• Keiser had staff take a roll call vote resulting in unanimous passage by the full senate, sending the bill to the Washington State House of Representatives (WA House, audio - 2m, video).
  • WA House leaders referred the bill to the Washington State House Public Safety Committee (WA House PS), where it was scheduled for a public hearing on Friday February 18th and an executive session on either Tuesday February 22nd or Thursday February 24th. The committee must recommend the bill by February 24th according to the legislative cutoff calendar.