WA Legislature - Update
(April 23, 2025)

WA Legislature - Update (April 23, 2025) - Takeaways

The Governor endorsed cannabis production unionization legislation granting collective bargaining rights to plant-touching employees, the top priority bill for “the largest union in Washington State.”

Here are some observations of the Washington State Legislature (WA Legislature) for Wednesday April 23rd, the 101st day of the 2025 regular session.

My top 3 takeaways:

  • On Tuesday, Washington State Governor Bob Ferguson signed HB 1141 into law, establishing collective bargaining rights for cannabis “agricultural workers.”
    • HB 1141 - Cannabis Production Unions
      • Majority Caucus Chair Lillian Ortiz-Self introduced the legislation in the House.
      • On Monday April 14th, the Washington State Senate (WA Senate) passed HB 1141, the second cannabis-related bill passed by the Legislature in 2025.
      • On Tuesday during the bill signing ceremony, a number of UFCW 3000 members as well as people wearing Washington Cannabis Workers Club shirts (WCWC, a “project” of UFCW 3000) were present in addition to a representative from Black Excellence in Cannabis (BEC).
        • At publication time, UFCW 3000 described itself as “the largest union in Washington State representing over 50,000 members working in grocery, retail, health care, meat packing, cannabis, & other industries across Washington state, north-east Oregon, and northern Idaho.”
        • At the beginning of the regular session, BEC disclosed a $30K donation from UFCW 3000 for the purpose of "Advocating and Consultants for the passage of House Bill 1141 Cannabis Worker Rights.”
      • Ferguson established that retail and processing employees had previously been granted similar rights before claiming, “currently, one third of workers in the cannabis industry do not have the right to collectively bargain.”  He turned to the guests to acknowledge, “we have a lot of folks here, of course, who are on the ground doing this very important work.”  He indicated Ortiz-Self had been on the House floor until 2am the night before and couldn’t make the event, but claimed she would remark on “how having all of you supporting this legislation is so key: the phone calls, the testimony, the presence that you had makes bills like this possible.  So you need legislative champions but you also need folks who put a face to a legislation and what the impacts are.  So, we so appreciate all of you for the important work that you did.”
        • On Wednesday April 9th, “Workers from the Washington Federation of State Employees [(WFSE)] and other local unions pushed for a so-called wealth tax rather than cutting their earnings or state programs to fill the estimated $16 billion budget hole,” protesting on the capitol grounds, staging a sit-in outside the Governor’s office, and loudly questioning his loyalties.  At publication time, WFSE represented “over 50,000 state and other public service workers.”
      • Ferguson singled out UFCW 3000 Chief of Staff - External Relations Sarah Cherin for one of two pens used to sign the legislation into law, the other reserved for the prime sponsor.
      • Later on Tuesday morning, the House Democratic Caucus published an announcement about the bill signing.
      • Following signature, the legislation would be referred to the Washington State Secretary of State (WA SOS) for inclusion within the Revised Code of Washington (RCW).
      • As an effective date was not specified in the legislation, the language would become operative 90 days after adjournment sine die on July 27th.
  • There were no introductions of cannabis-related legislation on Tuesday, and none staged for Wednesday.
    • There were no introductions staged in the House nor the Senate for Wednesday April 23rd.
  • On Wednesday, 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.