King County Council LJHHS - Committee Meeting
(May 3, 2022)

Here are some observations from the Tuesday May 3rd King County Council Law, Justice, Health, and Human Services Committee (King County Council LJHHS) Committee Meeting.

My top 5 takeaways:

• Armed robberies of cannabis retailers had become a more prominent and lethal scourge in early 2022 leading to various efforts to address the situation by the legislature and regulators. 
  • During the 2022 Washington state legislative session, SB 5927, "Concerning the safety and security of retail cannabis outlets," was proposed but not passed by legislators. The bill would have mandated “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.”
    • SB 5927 was initially heard by the Washington State Senate Law and Justice Committee (WA Senate LAW) on January 31st and was passed by senators on February 10th, but momentum stopped following a public hearing and recommendation for passage by the Washington State House Public Safety Committee (WA House PS).
    • Senator Jim Honeyford, the Republican sponsor of the measure, told colleagues the incidents would “continue unless we take action.” Following the bill’s demise, a Democratic member of WA House PS was reported as saying, “Honeyford’s party chose to take part in a number of lengthy debates that prevented other legislation from being considered," to which Honeyford told KING 5 the Democratic caucuses in the legislature were “more interested in turning people out of prison and reducing penalties than they are of increasing” them. 
  • A 2022 supplemental budget proviso to fund a state task force to review cannabis retail robberies was approved by senators, but didn’t make it into the final budget passed by lawmakers on March 10th.
  • On March 19th, Tacoma budtender Jordan Brown was murdered during a robbery.
  • On March 29th, King County Councilmember Reagan Dunn pre-filed a motion to have the county “executive establish a marijuana retail security task force to develop strategies to prevent criminal activity targeting marijuana retailers and address security concerns at marijuana retail locations and to provide a report."
    • The motion was formally introduced by Dunn on April 5th and was referred to the King County Council LJHHS.
  • Also on March 29th, the Washington State Liquor and Cannabis Board (WSLCB) hosted a board caucus on the problem with licensees, legislators, and lobbyists. The group talked about banking, training, and other possible solutions and mitigations to the crimes, some of which were pursued by WSLCB officials. On May 5th, WSLCB leaders announced a partnership with the Washington State Crime Prevention Association (WSCPA) to provide training for cannabis licensees and their staff featuring best practices discussions officials described as using “crime prevention through environmental design” (CPTED).
  • The owners of Uncle Ike's shared a spreadsheet of cannabis store robberies and burglaries in Washington which showed 193 incidents in 2022 at publication time.

• During public comment at the start of the committee meeting, four representatives from the cannabis sector provided additional perspectives on the subject of business safety.
  • Councilmember and Chair Girmay Zahilay laid out the parameters of public comment, stating that remarks must be related to an item on their agenda, with an exception made for comments about “the structure or duties of the Sheriff’s Office.” He made clear that public comment could not serve as electioneering for candidates or ballot measures, nor be obscene. Speakers would have two minutes to comment, and be expected “to wrap up” at that point if still speaking (audio - 2m, video).
  • Jamie Hoffman, Craft Elixirs Owner and Founder (audio - 3m, video) 
    • Telling the committee her company had made “small batch edibles” in Seattle since 2014, Hoffman expressed gratitude for the committee’s consideration and was supportive of Dunn’s “proposal to create a county-level task force to address the recent dramatic increase in cannabis business robberies.” She relayed that her business had been the target of “robberies” and “vandalism” in the otherwise “quiet neighborhood of Wallingford.” Alleging police failed to show up “which allowed the crime to last longer on each occurence,” Hoffman reported there’d been “upwards of $50,000 in stolen goods and damage.”
    • Observing that her facilities had little cash on hand, Hoffman suggested passage of the federal SAFE Banking Act—a robbery solution supported by some licensees and officials—would “do little” to keep her staff from being victimized. Previous crimes occurred while no one was working at her business, but she feared the "threat of this happening during the day" and her employees being threatened. Hoffman added that her company was now employing armed overnight security, but couldn’t afford to keep them present full time. She hesitated to speak up publicly, finding “there are little consequences and no one will stop them.”
    • Hoffman was appreciative of “the privilege of holding a cannabis processing license” yet wanted officials to do more to keep “our industry safe from more harm.” She backed creation of a county task force as one way to find better solutions to the problem.
  • Daniela Bernhard, Uncle Ike’s Co-Owner (audio - 3m, video) 
    • Bernhard was in favor of Dunn’s proposed task force, remarking that she had tracked a “dramatic increase in cannabis business robberies.” Despite the many incidents identified, she said it was “a fact that these incidents are significantly underreported for a variety of reasons” yet was certain that the crimes had “escalated to the extent that in just the first four months of 2022 we’ve already experienced well more than twice the number of robberies for the whole of 2021.” Never having experienced this level “of criminal activity,” Bernhard noted it threatened her employees’ safety “and all of our livelihoods.”
    • Although she wanted the SAFE Banking Act to pass since existing cashless payment options couldn’t serve as “a cure-all to what we’re facing today,” Bernhard hoped for more timely solutions because "cannabis businesses are under attack now." She found that "employing full-time armed guards is the only solution" available and asserted that "it's our communities that have changed" which merited examination by a dedicated task force.
  • Shannon Vetto, Evergreen Market CEO and Washington CannaBusiness Association (WACA) Trustee (audio - 4m, video) 
    • Agreeing with previous speakers, Vetto said that while cannabis businesses were “coordinating better than ever as an industry," a task force was still needed. She hoped federal banking laws would change to reduce the amount of cash taken in by cannabis shops. Vetto indicated a robbery was attempted at one of their locations on February 9th by individuals accused of committing a spree of the crimes by authorities, including Brown’s death weeks later.
    • Vetto told the committee that her business had invested more than $100,000 in armed security since January, but she couldn’t find a company able to provide full-time security at all Evergreen Market locations. She’d also seen robberies increasingly “happening mid-day,” taking longer, and becoming more violent. Vetto said in her experience these characteristics were “unique to Washington” and were worthy of a dedicated task force effort. “We need help to get this thing resolved,” she concluded.
  • Vicki Christophersen, WACA Executive Director and Lobbyist (audio - 2m, video) 
    • Noting that previous speakers were all WACA members, Christophersen explained that they were “giving you the ‘why’ - why we need this.” Acknowledging there “is no silver bullet," she nonetheless considered the “notion of a task force” coordinating a response strategy among public officials and the industry to be a good one with a history of being “effective in addressing issues of crime.” She thanked committee members for their time and attention to the problem while asserting cannabis businesses were “an integral part of Washington's economy,” a “safe and fully regulated industry” providing revenue to state and local governments.

• A staff report was provided summarizing the proposal for a task force, as well as a briefing on two amendments to the motion wording and scope.
  • Zahilay introduced the agenda item, mentioning that it was introduced by Dunn “in response to recent criminal activity at marijuana retailers.” He indicated that in addition to Legislative Analyst Nick Bowman, Interim Undersheriff Jesse Anderson was available “to provide any comments” (audio - 1m, video).
  • Bowman presented Motion 2022-0159, explaining that it requested King County Executive Dow Constantine address “the recent increase in criminal activity targeting the marijuana retailers across King County by establishing a Marijuana Retail Security Task Force to develop strategies to prevent this criminal activity and enhance security at marijuana retail locations.” According to Bowman, the group would be made up of representatives from the Prosecuting Attorney's Office, the Sheriff’s Office, “marijuana retail shop owners, and impacted neighborhood groups and community organizations.” The task force would produce a report on security and crime prevention strategies for businesses (audio - 1m, video).
    • The Prosecuting Attorney and Sheriff’s offices were part of the Eastside Narcotics Task Force which was disbanded in 2016, in part due to cannabis legalization in Washington.
  • Bowman went over a background on cannabis legalization in the U.S., how continuing federal restrictions on cannabis banking due to the plant’s schedule 1 status led the industry to conduct commercial retail predominantly with cash despite existing cashless payment services (audio - 2m, video).
    • “While crimes against Washington’s marijuana industry have been an issue since legalization, there has been a significant increase in criminal activity in recent months,” he stated, adding that “industry trackers have identified over 80 crimes” at retailers statewide in 2022, “with nearly 40 occurring in King County.”
    • Bowman pointed out that WSLCB leaders adopted rules in 2018 that set guidelines for appropriate cashless payment services, but the board “acknowledges cashless options are limited while cannabis remains” federally prohibited.
      • Check out cannabis financial service resources from the Washington State Department of Financial Institutions (WA DFI).
      • The Washington State Department of Labor and Industries (WA LNI) has cannabis information online, as well as a general employee educational course, Late Night Retail Worker Crime Prevention Training.
    • He then mentioned that the SAFE Banking Act, or its language, had been passed multiple times by the U.S. House of Representatives. Bowman described how the bill would “keep federal regulators from penalizing financial institutions that work with marijuana businesses.” However, it had never been approved by the U.S. Senate, he commented.
      • U.S. Senate Majority Leader Chuck Schumer announced the drafting of far-reaching cannabis reform legislation in July 2021 after promising a senate bill “soon” in March and April, and again that May. In April 2022, it was announced that Schumer would wait until August to formally introduce a reform bill.
  • According to Bowman, the task force would look into security strategies for cannabis retailers, “including, but not limited to, identifying and providing resources necessary to aid law enforcement agencies in deterring criminal activity,” possibly by utilizing “marijuana excise tax revenues.” There would also be "deepening interjurisdictional coordination and data sharing to identify trends," as well as “coordinating emphasis patrols in the vicinity of marijuana retail locations across King County” (audio - 2m, video).
    • Motion 2022-0159 would require Constantine’s office to draft a “report to council” detailing safety and crime prevention efforts “that will be developed and implemented,” Bowman remarked. The report would feature a timeline for activities along with detailing of the “staff and resource needs” for the county to support a proposed strategy, he said. The report would be due by August 31st.
    • As noted in our week ahead coverage, “King County has typically received around $2.2M from the annual state cannabis excise tax fund distribution. In the state fiscal year (FY) 2022, that amount was projected to increase to roughly $2.8M to reflect an overall increase in the state distribution from $15M to $20M.  King County received the largest cannabis excise tax allotment from the state, more than double that of Pierce and Snohomish Counties, and surpassing the City of Seattle which was projected to receive roughly $1.75M in FY22…In the media release about the $12.59B King County FY21-22 biennial budget, the shift of cannabis excise tax revenues was highlighted as one of the county’s ‘Investments against racism.’
      • The approved budget represents major investments against historical racism and oppression, including around the criminal legal system. The Council approved proposals to shift $4.6 million in marijuana excise tax revenue away from law enforcement and toward community-based programs that support reversing some of the disproportionate damage the war on drugs placed on Black communities.”
  • Amendment S1 by Councilmember and Vice Chair Jeanne Kohl-Welles would modify mentions of ‘marijuana’ in the motion to ‘cannabis,’ Bowman reported, following suit with a change made by state lawmakers under expedited rulemaking at time of publication. The amendment would further expand the scope of the task force to “address crimes committed against the cannabis industry more broadly, rather than just focusing on cannabis retailers” (audio - <1m, video). 
    • Zahilay inquired as to whether there was “more detail” to the amendment’s impact. Aside from the terminology change, the amendment removed “the emphasis on marijuana retailers, and just focus on marijuana-related businesses in general,” said Bowman. The change would include “business owners and employees,” cover crimes besides robberies, and expand the scope of the task force report accordingly (audio - 1m, video). 
  • Amendment T1 was what Bowman called a “title amendment” which would “conform the title to the changes made by striking amendment S1” (audio - <1m, video).

• Committee members discussed the motion and proposed amendments before resolving to recommend creation of the task force after talking through several questions.
  • Dunn began by offering his hope for the motion to be “a bipartisan piece of legislation” which brought “the best minds together on this issue.” Alleging there were “over 70 shootings…as of last month, across the state,” he called attention to a March 16th robbery involving a fatality in his district, and a March 18th incident wherein an individual associated with a retailer in Covington shot and killed an assailant reported to be “in his late teen's or early 20's” (audio - 2m, video). 
    • “We have a situation,” Dunn stated. He was dismayed that "a lot of the perpetrators are teenagers” and felt that more could be done to raise public awareness around the situation in addition to security strategizing. A report could offer useful insight to the council in their policymaking, he reasoned, possibly leading to “best practices” for the whole state.
      • Though the county offices are nonpartisan, Dunn’s mention of bipartisan support for the motion belied his past statements about bringing a partisan perspective to his council work. A former federal prosecutor and aide in George W. Bush’s Justice Department, Dunn also touted his “real crime-fighting experience.” 
      • Dunn’s congressional campaign biography described his background as having “worked for the United States Department of Justice (DOJ) in various important roles. As Assistant United States Attorney for the Western District of Washington…He also prosecuted in other jurisdictions, serving as Special Assistant United States Attorney for the Southern District of Florida and the District of Columbia.” The page also noted Dunn’s work “as Senior Counsel to the Director for the Executive Office of United States Attorneys (EOUSA), the agency supporting the 93 United States Attorneys’ Offices…In this capacity, he was the first National Coordinator for Project Safe Neighborhoods: America’s Network Against Gun Violence” and “served DOJ as Counsel to the Assistant Attorney General for the Office of Justice Programs and Attorney Advisor for DOJ’s Office of Public Affairs.”
  • Council Chair Claudia Balducci thanked Dunn, noting “like some things that happen suddenly, you just see a surge” in a type of crime which was “dismaying to watch.” While she thought federal banking policy changes could be the biggest help "so there is less incentive" to rob cannabis businesses, she admitted "we can't wait." Balducci asked if there was "any coordinated law enforcement, or other response, going on" at a local level as a significant number of the crimes were under the jurisdiction of cities. She further observed that the “most effective responses” to a rash of crime crossing “jurisdictional boundaries” would be a “multi-jurisdictional task force,” and wondered if any collaboration between police agencies was underway (audio - 2m, video). 
    • Dunn was in agreement that “the broader a task force is, the more effective it is.” He encouraged collaboration, but warned that the council couldn’t “legislate what [other jurisdictions] do” in the way they could with the sheriff and prosecutor's offices. Dunn wanted to set up a task force in which other law enforcement agencies could participate as the group brought in community and neighborhood groups. Considering the motion to be about “where’s the leadership going to start,” he felt the county was the entity to start coordinating - then “over-include as many people as we can” (audio - 2m, video).
    • Anderson spoke up to say that as crime trends became evident, “we always collaborate with other” agencies in the region, though not necessarily in “an official task force capacity.” Often focused on identifying “persons of interest," he considered it sensible to continue this informal communication. He noted “a downward trend” in robberies in their jurisdiction but nonetheless wanted to stay “aware of and continue to collaborate” with other law enforcement agencies on the incidents (audio - 1m, video).
      • Brown’s death may have served as a watershed moment in the media and official attention on the matter. In the two weeks prior to his killing 16 armed robberies and one attempted robbery were identified in Uncle Ike's spreadsheet. Since Brown died on March 19th, only five robberies, and one “smash and grab,” had been identified at time of publication. 
    • Balducci believed the situation was reminiscent of other crime waves around car thefts, “property crimes and other types of things,” and restated her perspective that task forces should be “spearheaded” by a “regional lead on the issue.” She stressed that any task force would have a more positive impact if it included other jurisdictions, since the Sheriff’s office worked primarily in “unincorporated King County” (audio - 1m, video). 
    • Anderson followed up to say their agency was working with WSLCB Enforcement and Education staff “on crime prevention ideas.” He articulated that some work was “behind the scenes," like reaching out to retailers and encouraging staff to request identification prior to entry, "basically a checkpoint before folks enter the store" (audio - 1m, video). 
  • Councilmember Rod Dembowski commented that he’d often seen a guard “or two” outside cannabis retailers in his area. Understanding that these employees couldn’t defend against robbers operating “front loaders,” he wondered about security measures which had been implemented in banks, like “bullet resistant plexiglass” being required of retailers by WSLCB. Dembowski suggested a “hardening” of store security so they weren’t "soft targets” - especially because “the product is so valuable, and so mobile" (audio - 1m, video). 
    • Anderson agreed this could help, though he was uncertain if it was better to make it a compliance mandate or suggested improvement, noting with “crime prevention through environmental design there’s a cost involved.” He knew stores had to weigh the potential revenue lost during a robbery against the ongoing cost of implementing security measures.  Anderson indicated that if would-be robbers met “obstacles along the way, they're more likely to continue on" in search of “a softer target” (audio - 2m, video).
    • The Seattle City Council Finance and Housing Committee heard a similar endorsement for “double door security entry" at cannabis retail buildings as part of municipal zoning requirements during a meeting on February 16th.
  • Zahilay was supportive of others’ comments, still finding that the “most effective path” was for federal laws around cannabis to change, especially for banking, but until that time “we have to do whatever we can to keep our communities safe.” He then highlighted how “because of our work around charters five and six, we already have a lot of infrastructure around community engagement,” mentioning the King County Public Safety Advisory Committee as an existing entity with which a task force might engage (audio - 1m, video).
  • Dunn moved that motion 2022-0159 to be approved by the King County Council LJHHS (audio - <1m, video).
    • First, Amendment S1 was moved to be added into the motion (audio - <1m, video). Dembowski chimed in on behalf of amendment sponsor Kohl-Welles, a “longtime public policy leader in the cannabis space,” to concur with Bowman’s assessment of the language and scope changes. He felt the amendment expressed the motion in “a more comprehensive way and technically correct way” (audio - 1m, video).
      • Zahilay questioned the inclusion of producer and processor businesses within the task force scope. Dembowski responded that these licensees and their staff were “at risk of similar criminal activity” and could benefit from similar protections as retailers (audio - 1m, video).
      • Dunn made clear that he’d worked with Kohl-Welles on the “well thought out” amendment and was supportive of its inclusion (audio - <1m, video).
      • The committee voted unanimously to adopt Amendment S1 (audio - <1m, video).
    • Next, Amendment T1 was moved (audio - <1m, video) and similarly passed by the group (audio - <1m, video). 
    • Finally, the amended motion 2022-0159 was passed by all members of King County Council LJHHS with the exception of Councilmember Sarah Perry who was absent (audio - 1m, video) 

• Chair Girmay Zahilay asked about scheduling motion 2022-0159 on the consent calendar for final passage by the full council, but the group agreed the motion should be formally considered on May 17th (audio - 1m, video).
  • Dunn was against adding the motion to the consent calendar as “part of this task is to raise awareness about the kinds of progress we’re going to make on it.” Balducci remarked that council meeting agendas were “starting to get longer” though she didn’t oppose leaving the motion off the consent calendar for the time being.
  • The legislative information site for the King County Council Clerk showed the motion was scheduled for consideration during the full meeting of the council on Tuesday May 17th.