WSLCB - Board Caucus
(June 5, 2023)

Here are some observations from the Monday June 5th Washington State Liquor and Cannabis Board (WSLCB) Board Caucus.

My top 2 takeaways:

• Research Manager Kathy Hoffman led a rulemaking update for board members which covered ongoing cannabis projects, some withdrawn or placed on hold, along with a petition for rulemaking related to the agency social equity program.
  • At time of publication, Hoffman was moving from her position heading up the Policy and Rules team into managing a newly created Research Unit at the agency.
  • Cloud Storage (1m, Video - TVW, Video - WSLCB, Rulemaking Project)
    • Hoffman reported that her team would ask to withdraw the project out of a belief “we can address the concerns that were brought to the agency by way of…agency guidance.” She anticipated this would be developed “in the coming weeks, and then [staff would] have a withdrawal to you probably July 5th,” though potentially later.
  • Payment Terms (<1m, Video - TVW, Video - WSLCB)
    • Forecast to be concluded “towards the end of September” when officials briefed on “mailing checks for cannabis licenses” on May 2nd, during caucus Hoffman explained the rulemaking effort had been “on hold.”
  • SB 5367 Implementation (1m, Video - TVW, Video - WSLCB)
    • Previously projected to begin June 7th, Hoffman told board members a CR-101 to begin a rulemaking project on the THC law signed on May 16th would be presented by Policy and Rules Coordinator Cassidy West on June 21st. Hoffman suggested this involved “making a crosswalk of what needs to be changed in current rule, what kind of new rules we need to produce there,” and other considerations. West would further be “aligning that with the [product] sampling project as well because there's a lot of crossover” in subject matter.
  • SB 5080 Implementation (1m, Video - TVW, Video - WSLCB)
    • Legislative expansion of the cannabis social equity program signed on May 1st involved “some internal work on implementing that because there's a lot of moving parts there” before a CR-101 could be presented to the board by the “middle or end of July.” She pointed out that this included having the Research Unit prepare background and other materials, summarizing there were “some pretty big lifts moving…on the cannabis side.”
  • Rulemaking Petition - Social Equity Scoring Rubric (1m, Video - TVW, Video - WSLCB)
    • On May 2nd, Hoffman mentioned staff planned to make a formal presentation and recommendations on June 7th.
    • Hoffman remarked that this petition had to do specifically with “item number eight in the scoring rubric” and a response would be presented for board consideration on June 21st.
      • Item eight in the rubric involved points prioritizing applicants who “own[ed] or operate[d] a medical cannabis dispensary or collective garden, licensed as a business, prior to July 1, 2016 (10 points)? or Did you own and operate a medical cannabis dispensary or collective garden licensed as a business in a DIA (30 points)?” and further defined this as “someone who physically owned the business (which may include a sole proprietor, partnership, LLC member, etc.) or oversaw all business operations and had independent control. This does not include management or employees.”

• Hoffman also addressed a petition on raising the permitted limit for a legacy environmental pesticide which had been detected in some cannabis products.
  • Hoffman mentioned the petition submitted on dichlorodiphenyldichloroethylene (DDE) “ha[d] to do with changing [the specific] action limit.” Her team would present possible options to the board on June 7th (<1m, Video - TVW, Video - WSLCB).
    • On May 2nd, Hoffman first explained the petition had been submitted covering “243 total” pesticides, including DDE, which Washington State Department of Agriculture officials could test for beyond the “59 of those 243 in rule.”
  • Sent to the agency on April 19th by Todd Luther of Okanogan Gold, Hoffman described his petition as raising the issue of “whether the board should initiate rulemaking” for WAC 314-55-108 concerning pesticide action levels. He'd like to see the” DDE action level “that is currently set at a default level of 0.1 parts per million [ppm] to 0.5 parts per million” (4m, Video - TVW, Video - WSLCB).
    • Hoffman went over the handout for the petition, calling attention to the background which covered the entire timeline for the rule section at issue and “gives you a little bit of history on on how LCB got to that default action level of 0.1 for everything other than the 59 pesticide action levels that are listed in rule currently.” She further noted this included a “little bit of background response from our divisions within the agency” to the change in action level, mainly “from public health and prevention just pointing out that there haven't been any changes with respect to the way that we think about action levels” for DDE or other derivatives of the banned pesticide dichlorodiphenyltrichloroethane (DDT).
    • Among “three options that were provided” to board members by Policy and Rules staff, Hoffman said they could “deny the petition, deny the petition and author an alternative, or accept the petition and agree to initiate rulemaking.” She asked them to remember DDx action levels hadn’t “seen any appreciable change by the [U.S. Environmental Protection Agency] EPA, or by any other agency at this point,” though federal guidance on cannabis production wasn’t to be expected until Congress addressed the plant’s schedule 1 status. 
    • Hoffman viewed the recommendation as coming with “pretty comprehensive analysis” and supplemental materials on “why the agency went with” 0.1ppm for pesticides like DDE based on information from WSDA staff in 2015, and from the Washington State Department of Health (DOH) in 2016.
  • Cannabis Observer Founder Gregory Foster raised questions about the agency response to environmental pesticides in public remarks on May 24th, and subsequently offered commentary on Luther’s petition. Based on end product test results for items collected from various retailers by WSLCB staff, testing of Okanogan Gold oil cartridges conducted by WSDA staff detected DDE levels between 0.31-0.39ppm:
    • Bruce Banner 1G
    • Lemonaid Kush 1G
    • Watermelon Zkittles 1G