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

Tuesday May 3, 2022 9:30 AM - 11:00 AM Observed
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The King County Council Law, Justice, Health, and Human Services Committee considers and makes recommendations on policies relating to law, safety, and criminal justice, as well as policies related to health and housing services.

Motion

  • "A MOTION requesting the King County executive establish a cannabis business security task force to develop strategies to prevent criminal activity targeting cannabis businesses and address security concerns at cannabis businesses and to provide a report."

Observations

The committee heard about a motion to create a cannabis security task force to address robberies in the area, amending wording and scope before recommending it to the full council.

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:

  • 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).
    • 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). 
    • 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). 
    • 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.

Engagement Options

Webinar

Webinar ID: 850 0890 3714

Livestream

Also available on King County TV Channel 22 (Comcast Channel 22 and 322(HD), Wave Broadband Channel 22)

Phone

Number: +1 253.215.8782
Webinar ID: 850 0890 3714

Information Set