WSLCB - Board Caucus
(August 28, 2018)

Here are some observations from the August 28th Washington State Liquor and Cannabis Board (WSLCB) Board Caucus.

My top 3 takeaways:

• Board Member Ollie Garrett reported on her research into consistency of enforcement actions (transcript, audio).
  • Garrett is looking for patterns, including regional variation, in the Administrative Violation Notice (AVN) data provided to her by WSLCB Enforcement.
  • Garrett highlighted conversations with “smaller retailers” who sometimes receive AVNs for non-public safety violations such as employees not having a badge on.
  • In contrast, Garrett found some public safety violations, such as selling to minors, can result in warnings rather than automatic issuance of AVNs.
  • Garrett brought up “District Manager” positions the WSLCB staffed before liquor privatization. These employees visited licensees when non-public safety violations were observed by Enforcement and were said to educate licensees constructively.
  • This is an ongoing discussion developing the WSLCB’s “interest in having a, a liaison function, that’s [WSLCB Division] neutral,” according to Board Chair Jane Rushford.
• Garrett reported progress on research into minority ownership of license holder businesses (transcript, audio).
  • The study has been assigned to WSLCB Marijuana Licensing Supervisor Frank O’Dell.
  • In addition to the majority-minority share (51%) of license holders, Garrett also wants to confirm the percentage of minority-minority share ownership (under 51%) within each business.
  • On August 7th, we learned the Board Office is hiring a full-time, limited-duration staffer to help perform this work (transcript, audio).
• Policy and Rules Coordinator Joanna Eide’s new position with the Washington State Department of Natural Resources came as a surprise to the Board (transcript, audio).
  • This was first discussed at the August 21st Board Caucus meeting (transcript, audio) and also announced at the August 22nd Board Meeting (transcript, audio).