WA House - Session - Morning
(March 1, 2021)

Here are some observations from the Monday March 1st Washington State House of Representatives (WA House) morning session.

My top 3 takeaways:

• HB 1105 addressing arrest protections for medical cannabis patients and designated providers was brought up for its second and third reading in the WA House.
  • A policy committee public hearing on the bill was held on February 4th by the Washington State House Health Care and Wellness Committee (WA House HCW). Members approved the legislation without changes on February 10th.
  • During the floor debate, Deputy Speaker Pro Tempore John Lovick asked staff to grant the bill a second reading, observing that no amendments had been put forward (audio - <1m, video).
  • With no members registering an objection, rules were suspended allowing HB 1105 to receive its third reading and a vote by the full chamber (audio - <1m, video).

• Representative Shelley Kloba, the prime sponsor, outlined the bill and a member of the minority caucus indicated Republicans would split their votes.
  • Representative Kloba described how Washington state was “on the leading edge of cannabis legalization and we developed one of the most intensely regulated industries and systems in all of the states, and it started with medical marijuana permissions” (audio - 4m, video).
    • She called the bill a “prudent” step. As chair of the Washington State House Commerce and Gaming Committee (WA House COG), she’d gained familiarity with medical patient “experiences” as well as continuing “challenges in acquiring” medical cannabis.
      • An updated fiscal note for SB 5004 stated, “Based on data from the Liquor and Cannabis Board's (Board) traceability system, the percentage of total marijuana sales that were sales of DOH compliant marijuana products to recognition cardholders was 0.0007% during the calendar year 2020.”
    • What was clear to Kloba was “some of the patients are experiencing unequal treatment...under the law.” She reviewed what was required of qualifying patients in contrast to voluntary registration with the Washington State Department of Health (DOH). The registry afforded privileges such as “not pay[ing] a sales tax...and to possess higher limits...of slightly different products.”
    • Kloba told colleagues registration also bestowed arrest protections. “If the police were to come to your door as a patient” with both a medical authorization and a registration card, she said, “it would probably be the end of it as long as you’re following all the rules.” However, patients and designated providers who chose not to register were only granted an “affirmative defense” which couldn’t be asserted until an individual’s trial, she explained. They could still lose their plants and medicine or face criminal charges, Kloba stated - and the only difference would be “a voluntary piece of paper.” She was concerned the State could regard “a person without that recognition as a criminal.”
    • Kloba thought occurrences of people “trying to game the system” by producing medical cannabis for illicit purposes were diminished by the retail cannabis market, suggesting it had ended the State’s “need for that kind of protection” against bad actors.
    • She concluded, “our current policy subjects medical cannabis patients to a cruel level of uncertainty and vulnerability with regard to their legal status.”
  • Representative Joe Schmick spoke in opposition to HB 1105, prefacing that the Republican members of the House would be “mixed” in their votes (audio - 2m, video). 
    • Schmick said, “When we negotiated this bill originally” in 2015, an “important fact” was “we needed to see those providers who were signing up who were signing those medical marijuana cards.” He described seeing a “quite common” craigslist ad in his district which suggested “come to such-and-such a place and for so many dollars you can have your medical marijuana card.” Schmick said the patient registry was “kind of a carrot” which helped track health care professionals issuing patient authorizations.
    • He agreed registered patients and caregivers could “have more product on hand and the police won’t bother them,” but still believed there was adequate reason to limit arrest protections for qualified patients. Schmick remarked, “In my mind, there’s a reason why we did that for the registry and if people choose not to be in the registry they could run into some problems.”
    • Schmick made similar arguments during the executive session for the bill.

• Deputy Speaker Pro Tempore John Lovick initiated a roll call vote and representatives passed the bill 69-29.
  • Confirming there were no more comments, Lovick initiated an automated roll call vote on the bill. The presiding House Clerk read the final count (“69 yeas, 29 nays, zero absent or excused”) and Lovick declared HB 1105 had passed (audio - 1m, video).
  • With one exception, votes against the measure (29) were waged by Republicans:
    • Representative Peter Abbarno
    • Representative Andrew Barkis
    • Representative Matt Boehnke 
    • Representative Michelle Caldier 
    • Representative Kelly Chambers 
    • Representative Bruce Chandler 
    • Representative Chris Corry, Assistant Minority Floor Leader
    • Representative Tom Dent 
    • Representative Jeremie Dufault
    • Representative Mary Dye
    • Representative Carolyn Eslick
    • Representative Greg Gilday 
    • Representative Jenny Graham, Deputy Minority Whip
    • Representative Paul Harris, Minority Caucus Chair
    • Representative Mark Klicker
    • Representative Brad Klippert, Minority Caucus Vice Chair 
    • Representative Vicki Kraft
    • Representative Joel Kretz, Deputy Minority Leader
    • Representative Mari Leavitt, the sole Democrat opposing the bill
    • Representative Jacqulin Maycumber, Minority Floor Leader
    • Representative Bob McCaslin 
    • Representative Gina Mosbrucker, Minority Caucus Vice Chair 
    • Representative Eric Robertson
    • Representative Joe Schmick
    • Representative Robert Sutherland
    • Representative Brandon Vick
    • Representative Mike Volz 
    • Representative T.J. Wilcox, Minority Leader
    • Representative Alex Ybarra
  • Following passage, the legislation would be delivered to the Washington State Senate (WA Senate) for its first reading and committee assignment.
    • According to the legislative cutoff calendar, HB 1105 must be given a public hearing and moved by a policy committee no later than March 26th.
    • The most likely policy committee for the bill to be assigned to would be the Washington State Senate Health and Long Term Care Committee (WA Senate HLTC), the Senate counterpart to WA House HCW.