WA House APP - Committee Meeting
(February 3, 2024)

Here are some observations from the Saturday February 3rd Washington State House Appropriations Committee (WA House APP) Committee Meeting.

My top 4 takeaways:

• Staff went over the substitute version of HB 2320,“Concerning high THC [tetrahydrocannabinol] cannabis products.”
  • HB 2320 was first heard by the Washington State House Regulated Substances and Gaming Committee (WA House RSG) on January 16th. During a January 29th executive session, members incorporated a proposed substitute and recommended passage of the legislation.
  • At the WA House APP hearing, WA House RSG Counsel Peter Clodfelter briefed from the bill language, commenting it “contains three components in the bill”  (audio - 2m, video):
    • “First, by July 1st of 2025 the Department of Health would be required to consult with a number of people…and develop optional training that cannabis retail staff may complete to better understand the health and safety impacts of high THC cannabis products.
    • “Second, by December 31st of 2024, licensed cannabis retailers would be required to post a conspicuous notice at the point of sale in retail outlets…to include at a minimum information about the potential health risks and adverse health impacts that may be associated with consuming high THC cannabis, the potentially much higher risk that may be present for younger people under age 25 as well as for people at risk for developing certain mental health conditions or psychotic disorders, or who have those, and also information about where to find help in case of negative effects as well as resources for quitting or reducing cannabis consumption.
    • “The third and final component of the bill is subject to appropriation. It's a directive to the Health Care Authority to contract with an entity to develop, implement, test guidance and health interventions for healthcare providers and patients who are at risk for developing serious complications due to cannabis consumption, and who are seeking care in…behavioral health settings. And [the] guidance would be used, also, by state poison control and recovery hotlines to promote cannabis…use reduction and cessation, and there’d be three different reports required under that Health Care Authority provision.”
  • WA House APP Fiscal Analyst Lily Smith then spoke to the fiscal note, indicating that the “note on the substitute [was] not yet available. I expect the total cost impacts from the sub to be roughly the same…although they will shift between agencies” (audio - 2m, video).
    • “Cost estimates relate[d] to the development and implementation of guidance and health interventions…subject to appropriation will shift in the sub from the University of Washington to the Health Care Authority and increase about $100,000 over the UW’s earlier estimate.
    • “Preliminary estimates…for this work are between $300[,000] and $700,000 General Fund-State (GF-S) for fiscal year 2025 depending on how quickly the RFP [request for proposals] process is complete.
    • “$750,000 per fiscal year through 2028 dropping to about half of that for 2029. The Health Care Authority’s estimate includes a FTE [full time equivalent] for contract administration, data gathering, and the reporting requirements.
    • “The Department of Health estimated costs of $150,000 general funds state for fiscal year 2025, and $420,000 through the outlook…for the development of training which assumes that the department would be hiring [one] FTE to create a statewide retailer education program. The bill does not specify the form or the delivery of the training [and it could be] an online module with possible but significantly lower ongoing costs for the updates. The department would likely increase its estimate under the sub for the development of the notice for retailers, although I expect this cost to be fairly minimal.
    • “Costs identified in the original fiscal note for the Liquor and Cannabis Board and also that for the Governor's Office of Indian Affairs would be eliminated by the substitute.”

• The bill’s primary sponsor, Representative Lauren Davis, shared why she felt the legislation was necessary to protect consumer health, particularly for young adults (audio - 1m, video).
  • “At the time Washington legalized cannabis in 2012 [it was primarily] dried flower cannabis with a potency of less than ten percent,” Davis argued. She said the legal market had given way to “all sorts of highly potent cannabis products that are 99% potent,” and felt “high potency concentrates are a very different drug than the plant.”
  • Davis described health impacts that ranged from “something called cannabinoid hyperemesis syndrome, which is a cyclic vomiting disorder, to psychosis, and also highly correlated with cannabis use disorder.” Although the bill had been “significantly scaled back,” Davis regarded it as “helping the public try to understand and be more informed of the decisions that they're making…associated with high potency cannabis products.”
  • Davis had become a critic of cannabis industry impacts on public health and youth access as a repeated sponsor of bills aimed at restricting cannabis products, legislation which had been heard but not recommended by a policy committee before 2024. She had also sponsored budget provisos to fund research into the harms of high THC products.
    • David worked as the Strategic Director of the Washington Recovery Alliance (WRA) and had a history of lobbying around substance abuse treatment.
    • Davis embraced collaboration with Smart Approaches to Marijuana (SAM) which championed action on high THC products at the US Capitol the same day as the WA House APP hearing, including SAM Government Affairs Manager Jordan Davidson who spoke in favor of HB 2320 during the January 16th hearing.
      • SAM favors decriminalizing possession while continuing criminalization of cannabis production and sale. At time of publication, the group had opposed every state cannabis legalization measure brought since 2014. Representatives of the group first testified before Washington lawmakers on Davis' previous THC bills in February 2023.
    • Davis was a founding member of the Leadership Council of the Foundation for Drug Policy Solutions, a think tank offshoot of SAM operated by the same staff.
      • She participated in SAM-hosted events with the monetary assistance of the organization according to the 2023-24 personal financial disclosure filed with the Washington State Public Disclosure Commission (WA PDC).
      • Davis sponsored a 2021 bill to expand prevention and treatment options while decriminalizing limited personal drug possession in 2021 while she also pushed for potency caps on cannabis. The following year, she was a recipient of money from the SAM political action committee, Protect Our Kids PAC, and SAM Executive Vice President Luke Niforatos called her “someone who recognizes drug addiction is something to be treated with the goal of recovery, not normalizing use or allowing commercialization.”
        • Cannabis Observer could not identify a corresponding contribution on Davis' 2022 WA PDC campaign information.

• As a late addition to the committee schedule, the bill garnered no public testimony–the sole testifier wasn’t present—and few signed in on the proposal.
  • As the legislative cutoff calendar required legislation with financial impact to be heard by a chamber’s fiscal committee by February 5th, WA House APP faced increasing pressure from members for bills to be heard and recommended before that date. This included the uncommon weekend meeting, which HB 2320 was added to the committee’s Saturday agenda after 8pm the night before.
  • Sign in for the committee meeting was closed at 8am, although the public hearing on HB 2320 didn’t start until approximately 4:45pm. Scott Waller, Washington Association on Substance Misuse and Violence Prevention (WASAVP) Board Member, signed up to testify in favor of the bill but wasn’t available when called upon.
  • All three people signed in supporting HB 2320 registered between 9-9:45pm, with one individual signing in opposed about 11:15pm (Testifying, Not Testifying).
    • PRO
      • James McMahan, Washington Association of Sheriffs and Police Chiefs Policy Director
      • Chris Ramirez, Seattle Children's Hospital Lobbyist
      • Amy Brackenbury, Washington State Public Health Association Lobbyist
    • CON
      • Jim MacRae, Straight Line Analytics

• During an executive session on Monday February 5th, committee members recommended passage of a technically altered version of the bill.
  • An amendment from Chair Timm Ormsby, Amendment SMIL 018 to add a null and void clause in the event the bill wasn’t funded by the budget, was approved by the committee and rolled into a new substitute version of the legislation. After being recommended unanimously by WA House APP, HB 2320 was delivered to the Washington State House Rules Committee (WA House RUL) for calendaring.
  • On Thursday February 8th at the end of their floor session, House leadership pulled a tranche of bills out of the WA House RUL including the “high THC” legislation. HB 2320 next required a second and third reading during a floor session by the House of Origin Cutoff on Tuesday February 13th at 5pm PT in order to continue to be advanced.