WA Legislature - Update
(April 3, 2025)

WA Legislature - Update (April 3, 2025) - Takeaways

Seven cannabis bills made it through Wednesday but two didn’t make the cut as activity renewed in fiscal committees where adjacent revenue legislation and one cannabis-related bill were scheduled.

Here are some observations of the Washington State Legislature (WA Legislature) for Thursday April 3rd, the 81st day of the 2025 regular session.

My top 4 takeaways:

  • Wednesday marked the Opposite House Policy Committee Cutoff, the fourth cutoff gateway of the 2025 regular session, and two cannabis-related bills were rendered inactive.
    • To continue being advanced, legislation had to be heard, have an executive session scheduled, potentially be amended, debated, recommended, and reported by a policy committee before close of business on Wednesday.
      • There are exceptions.  Legislation can be designated “necessary to implement budgets” (NTIB) by chamber leaders to exempt it from the regular rules of order, loosely interpreted to mean a bill was projected to have a measurable fiscal impact.
    • Two cannabis-related bills were not advanced prior to the cutoff and would effectively be rendered inactive for the remainder of the 2025 regular session:
    • At publication time, seven cannabis-related bills remained active:
      • HB 1141 - Cannabis Production Unions
      • HB 1341 - DOH Patient Data Sharing
      • HB 1347 - WSLCB Lab Certification Authority
      • HB 1551 - Social Equity Program Evaluation
      • SB 5206 - Cannabis Retailer Advertising
      • SB 5403 - Cannabis Retail Financial Interest
    • One cannabis-related bill introduced after the House of Origin Cutoff may have been designated NTIB and could potentially be moved.
      • HB 2037 - Out of State Ownership + Social Equity Tax Preference + Cooperatives + Financial Interest
    • After Wednesday, fiscal committees would take up referred legislation for consideration before the Opposite House Fiscal Committee Cutoff at close of business on Tuesday April 8th.
    • One cannabis-related bill was referred to a fiscal committee for consideration:
  • Late on Wednesday, legislative staff published the preliminary schedules for the following weekin the Senate and the House.
    • As publication of the schedules coincided with a cutoff, the fiscal committee schedules were more provisional than usual.  Changes were expected.
    • Monday April 7th
      • 1:30pm: WA House APP - Committee Meeting
      • 1:30pm: WA Senate WM - Committee Meeting
    • Tuesday April 8th
      • 1:30pm: WA House APP - Committee Meeting
      • 1:30pm: WA Senate WM - Committee Meeting [ Event Details ]
        • Executive Session
          • HB 1141 - Cannabis Production Unions
      • COB: WA Legislature - Opposite House Fiscal Committee Cutoff
    • Starting Wednesday, legislator activity would center on daily floor sessions, including some weekend days, as attention turned to the final Opposite House Cutoff on Wednesday April 16th ahead of Sine Die, the end of the 2025 regular session on Sunday April 27th.
  • There were no introductions of cannabis-related legislation on Wednesday, and none staged for Thursday.
    • There were no introductions planned in the Senate for Thursday April 3rd.
    • The draft introduction report in the House for Thursday April 3rd did not appear to include any cannabis-related legislation.
  • On Thursday, an initial public hearing on an adjacent bill regarding the end of State support for businesses transitioning to employee stock ownership plans (ESOPs) and related business models was scheduled.