WSLCB - Board Meeting
(September 2, 2020)

• Hear Policy and Rules Manager Kathy Hoffman’s presentation (audio - 4m) and see below for documentation from the TPI rulemaking project.
• Board members also received an abbreviated version of the rulemaking update heard the day before at caucus.
• And they heard public comment from an aggrieved former medical dispensary owner (audio - 4m) and a Spokane-based prevention advocate (audio - 3m).

Here are some observations from the Wednesday September 2nd Washington State Liquor and Cannabis Board (WSLCB) Board Meeting.

My top 3 takeaways:

• The Board adopted final changes to True Party of Interest (TPI) regulations, closing out a long running rulemaking project.
  • Initially opened in October 2018, revisions to TPI rules were going to move in conjunction with cannabis penalties before lengthy discussions with stakeholders, including a work group and listen and learn session, resulted in agency staff slowing the project down. The Board voted to adopt proposed changes on June 24th, and hosted a public hearing for the proposal on August 5th.
    • See Cannabis Observer’s TPI rulemaking project information set which collects documents from all rulemaking stages. We plan to build on this approach to provide persistent landing screens for every rulemaking project.
  • Policy and Rules Manager Kathy Hoffman presented the CR-103 to board members and acknowledged the “significant, protracted, and collective effort” of WSLCB staff, licensees, their representatives, and other interested parties (audio - 4m).
    • Hoffman said five comments had been received following adoption of the CR-102 in June, two at the public hearing, and three during the public comment period.
    • She explained that each comment had been addressed in the concise explanatory statement included with the CR-103 materials. “After careful review and consideration of all, the rules offered for adoption today have not changed since the original proposal,” Hoffman said.
    • The final rules would “modernize language, remove spousal vetting requirement, incorporate reference to the relevant amendments of RCW 69.50.395 regarding disclosure agreements and intellectual property, and establish a new section of rule to distinguish the requirements for financiers from that of true parties of interest.”
    • Hoffman reviewed the implementation plan included in the CR-103’s memorandum which documented “how the agency will inform and educate persons who are impacted by these rules” in addition to “how we will promote and support compliance, and how LCB staff will be trained and informed of these rules.” Moreover, the plan included how “LCB will evaluate the effectiveness of these rules.”
    • Satisfied, board members voted to approve the changes without further questions. Hoffman filed the CR-103 with the Washington State Office of the Code Reviser (OCR) later that day and the new TPI rules take effect on October 3rd.
• Staff provided an abbreviated version of rulemaking updates shared with the Board the day prior, sharing one new point of information about the Quality Control rulemaking project.
  • See all the rulemaking updates from the week’s board caucus.
  • HB 2826 Implementation (WSR 20-15-041, audio - 1m). Policy and Rules Coordinator Casey Schaufler noted that the first of two listen and learn forums on draft conceptual rules had drawn over 100 observers and participants. A second session on September 29th covering “draft conceptual rules for new proposed section 314-55-5501” and “discussion of a marijuana ingredients disclosure form” would be more formally announced by September 15th.
    • Noting the large attendance at the session, Rushford said Hoffman’s work on outreach was “impressive and appreciated” (audio - <1m).
    • Although Cannabis Observer also counted more than 100 attendees, the majority quietly observed the proceedings and only nine participants offered comments throughout the forum which adjourned ahead of schedule.
  • Quality Control (QC) Testing and Product Requirements (WSR 20-03-176, audio - 1m). Hoffman told the Board that a Supplemental CR-102 for the rulemaking project would be presented at the September 30th board meeting. She expected a public hearing would be scheduled for November 18th leading towards adoption of final rules in early 2021.
• During general public comment, a prevention advocate continued that community’s outreach to the Board.
  • Amanda Dugger, Greater Spokane Substance Abuse Council (GSSAC) Community Engagement Specialist (audio - 3m). Dugger spoke to the Board about her substance abuse experience, saying she’d been “in recovery for 15 years" and lost her mother to a drug overdose. Her “passion for prevention” led her to work with children and adults to stop "marijuana, tobacco, alcohol, vaping, and other substance" use. “Since this pandemic, I’ve had a hard time with my own sobriety, and I know many have,” she stated. Dugger urged the Board to "think about those who are struggling with addiction" before making “the curbside pickup policy” permanent.
    • GSSAC Executive Director Linda Thompson addressed the Board during general public comment on August 5th.
    • Among the many participants at the first listen and learn session for the Implementation of HB 2826 were a significant number of prevention advocates, including representatives from the Washington Association for Substance Abuse and Violence Prevention (WASAVP), Prevention Works in Seattle (Preventions WINS), TOGETHER for Youth, and staff from El Centro de la Raza Seattle’s Youth Marijuana Prevention and Education Program.
    • With the departure of researcher Trecia Ehrlich amidst a State hiring freeze, the WSLCB lost a valued internal source of public health and prevention perspectives as well as her network of connections. And Public Health Education Liaison Sara Cooley Broschart was on maternity leave until October 1st according to Rushford’s remarks during the September 1st board caucus.
    • According to a policy tracking spreadsheet from the agency's COVID - Legal/Policy/Rules team, Broschart along with representatives from DOH and the Washington State Health Care Authority (HCA) Behavioral Health and Recovery Division inquired about “data on alcohol and marijuana sales to use as an indicator of use, and to forecast the adverse behavioral health effects due to the COVID-19 pandemic” on May 22nd. The document notes the request was “resolved quickly by Sara and Brian [Smith, Director of Communications].”
    • The same day as the WSLCB board meeting, Washington State Attorney General Bob Ferguson announced a lawsuit against leading non-cannabis vapor product company JUUL, alleging that the company had been “designing and marketing its products to appeal to underage consumers and deceiving consumers about the addictiveness of its product.” At the virtual press conference announcing the lawsuit, Ferguson was joined by Campaign for Tobacco-Free Kids Western Region Director Annie Tegen.
    • The Washington State House Commerce and Gaming Committee (WA House COG) was slated to host a work session on September 15th regarding “Cannabis potency policy considerations” and “Cannabis-related scientific research.” The former subject was likely related to restrictive potency legislation, HB 2546, which was heard by the policy committee earlier this year but not advanced. At that time, Chair Strom Peterson promised that the conversation around cannabis potency policy would be continued (audio - 1m, video).