WA Legislature - Update
(April 21, 2025)

WA Legislature - Update (April 21, 2025) - Takeaways

Senators concurred with House changes to the last two cannabis-related bills eligible for movement, although budget provisos could be in the works during the final week of the 2025 regular session.

Here are some observations of the Washington State Legislature (WA Legislature) for Monday April 21st, the 99th day of the 2025 regular session.

My top 4 takeaways:

  • On Friday, senators concurred with House changes to SB 5403 regarding cannabis retail financial interests, passing the third cannabis-related bill in 2025.
    • SB 5403 - Cannabis Retail Financial Interest
      • See the bill text, bill report, and previous fiscal note for more details.
      • On Friday April 11th, the WA House amended and passed SB 5403 to clarify the scope of allowable management agreements and returned the legislation to the Senate for a concurrence, dispute, or conference vote.
      • Senator Rebecca Saldaña spoke approvingly of the House changes to her bill after calling for a concurrence vote.  She indicated the amendments “a certain type of agreement…specifically management agreements” to the list and better defined “financial interest.”  Coming to the contended point of retroactive effect, she noted that the effective date of the bill (January 1st, 2026) remained the same, “so it will give time if there are businesses that needed to change their structure or consider selling things off if they have more than 5 licenses, it will allow that off-ramp” (audio - 1m, video - TVW).
      • Senator Curtis King, the Ranking Minority Member of the Washington State Senate Labor and Commerce Committee (WA Senate LC) where the legislation was initially heard, supported the changes and the legislation (audio < 1m, video - TVW).
      • The legislation was passed 39-9-1.  One Democrat joined several Republican senators who voted against final passage of the bill.
        • Senator Matt Boehnke (R-8)
        • Republican Leader John Braun (R-20)
        • Senator Leonard Christian (R-4)
        • Senator Perry Dozier (R-16)
        • Senator Chris Gildon (R-25)
        • Senator Jim McCune (R-2)
        • Senator Bill Ramos (D-5)
          • On Saturday, Ramos passed away unexpectedly at the age of 69 prompting expressions of grief and sympathy.
          • Ramos, a freshman Senator who moved over from the House in January, had established a pattern of voting against some cannabis-related legislation.
            • After serving as an Issaquah City Council member from 2016 to 2018, Ramos was elected to the House in State District 5 and won former Senator Mark Mullet's seat in the Senate in 2024.  He was appointed as a member of WA Senate LC, the primary cannabis policy committee in the Senate.
            • While Ramos voted with the majority to recommend SB 5403 out of the WA Senate LC, he then voted against the bill on third reading and initial passage out of the Senate in addition to opposing concurrence.
        • Republican Whip Keith Wagoner (R-39)
        • Senator Jeff Wilson (R-19)
      • On Saturday, Senate President Denny Heck signed the legislation.  It would be relayed to the other chamber for Speaker of the House Laurie Jinkins to sign before delivery to the Office of the Governor for consideration.
  • Also on Friday, senators concurred with House changes to SB 5206 regarding cannabis retailer advertising, becoming the fourth cannabis-related bill passed by the Legislature in 2025.
    • SB 5206 - Cannabis Retailer Advertising
      • See the bill text, bill report, and previous fiscal note for more details.
      • On Wednesday April 16th, the Washington State House of Representatives (WA House) pulled the cannabis retail advertising bill out of the rules committee, rejected an unwelcome amendment from a Democrat, and passed the legislation in the span of eight minutes.
      • Republican Deputy Leader Drew MacEwen, the prime sponsor, was succinct in his remarks on legislation he had worked to pass for several years: “Last bill, short speech.  House tightened it up, I concur, thank you” (audio - 1m, video - TVW).
      • The legislation was passed 38-10-1.  Opposition to final passage was led by Democratic leadership accompanied by prohibitionist-leaning senators from both parties.
        • Senator Leonard Christian (R-4)
        • Deputy Majority Leader Manka Dhingra (D-45)
        • Majority Caucus Chair Bob Hasegawa (D-11)
        • Senator Marko Liias (D-21)
        • Deputy Majority Leader Liz Lovelett (D-40)
        • Senator Jim McCune (R-2)
        • Senator Bill Ramos (D-5)
          • Ramos was the only member of WA Senate LC, Democrat or Republican, to not recommend SB 5206 out of committee.  He also voted against the legislation on its third reading and initial passage out of the Senate in addition to opposing the concurrence vote.
          • County officials would be tasked with appointing a replacement for Ramos, which may result in Representative Lisa Callan or Representative Victoria Hunt being promoted to the Senate, and an additional appointment for their vacated House seat.
        • Senator Jesse Salomon (D-32)
        • Assistant Majority Whip Claire Wilson (D-30)
        • Senator Jeff Wilson (R-19)
      • On Saturday, Heck also signed SB 5206.  It would be relayed to the other chamber for Jinkins to sign before delivery to the Office of the Governor for consideration.
    • With the passage of SB 5403 and SB 5206, all cannabis-related legislation eligible for movement under the normal rules of order during the 2025 Regular Session had been considered.
      • 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.
      • Additionally, legislators may introduce cannabis-related provisos in the budgets in the final week before adjournment, a frequently used tactic to encode language which had otherwise not been advanced.
  • There were no introductions of cannabis-related legislation on Friday nor Saturday, and none staged for Monday.
    • The draft introduction reports in the House and the Senate for Saturday April 19th did not appear to include any cannabis-related legislation.
    • No legislation was staged for introduction in the House on Monday April 21st.
    • The draft introduction report in the Senate for Monday April 21st did not appear to include any cannabis-related legislation.
  • On Monday, legislators planned to convene floor sessions in advance of adjournment sine die on Sunday April 27th, although all cannabis-related bills which could be moved under the regular rules of order had been acted upon.