WSLCB - Executive Management Team
(June 11, 2025) - Summary

Challenges of technology modernization; updates on public health and research; plus Enforcement and Education were among the meeting’s conversation topics.

Here are some observations from the Wednesday June 11th Washington State Liquor and Cannabis Board (WSLCB) Executive Management Team meeting.

My top 3 takeaways:

• Staff updates on the Licensing, Enforcement, Education, and Administrative Data Systems (LEEADS) implementation led to concerns around fixing software bugs as well as customer service delays in the Licensing division.
  • Formerly called the Systems Modernization Project (SMP), LEEADS had become a focus of agency officials, with discussions around the effort at meetings on March 18th and May 14th.
  • Deputy Director Toni Hood provided a LEEADS update in which she detailed stabilization efforts, planned bug fixes, along with challenges faced by staff and customers during implementation (audio - 6m, video - TVW, video - WSLCB).
    • Hood noted the involvement of Accenture “executives” in stabilization work, stating she’d been communicating with representatives from the company for several weeks to "elevate the problems we have experienced here” and identify fixes. Their contacts “said that they are going to bring back staff…to help us with our stabilization problems,” Hood told board members.
      • She elaborated how on Thursday June 12th, “we will be releasing a fix that will have 40 bug fixes in it, which, again, we hope helps the stabilization effort.”
      • Another release was planned for the week after to address "duplicative records that we have in our system, which has been a big burden on staff."
      • Hood remarked there was going to be “another release on June 25 most likely that will involve new legislation that we have to code for” which would take effect in July.
      • Accenture had developed a reputation for delays on technology projects, including their own employee promotions in 2024, as well as federal contract delays and cancellations in March 2025 which they suggested were “headwinds due to the Trump administration's focus on federal cost cutting, leading to slowed procurement and contract reviews.”
    • Hood called it "imperative for LCB that we get these additional resources from Accenture here to help us” in achieving a "proper stabilization situation.” Eventually she hoped to see benefits with LEEADS, including returning to a "60 day turnaround or better with liquor licenses’” issuance and changes. Hood acknowledged the challenge of the stabilization process, stating it was "much more complicated than I, I knew.”
      • Hood recognized the system was resulting in slower liquor license issuance, with current processing times ranging "between 90 and 120 days to issue a license right now.” This was a clear increase from the previous rate of "60 days or less,” and Hood noted the presence of a queue for liquor applications and voicemails at the service desk that needed to be answered.
      • To better understand the challenges firsthand, she met with "licensing frontline staff twice and listened to them for a good hour," highlighting the importance of preventing staff burnout. Hood called for "the public's patience as we get used to our new system and continue to iron out the bugs.”
  • Board Chair Jim Vollendroff questioned the volume of bug fixes for LEEADS and expressed appreciation for staff efforts and care during the stabilization process (audio - 3m, video - TVW, video - WSLCB).
    • Vollendroff observed that "40 fixes sounds like a lot to me,” and asked if this volume was "above and beyond what we had expected," and what the plan was to prevent similar challenges when moving into Phase Three. He saw “the heavy, heavy lift here [by staff,] and the impact to our licensees.”
    • While the number of bug fixes needed was “higher than we expected,” Hood reported how staff would be “doing a lesson learned session to figure out a better approach for Phase Three to have less bugs.” Staff had already gained insights regarding "our requirement writing and, and what we really want, making sure we're clear on our requirements, and making sure we're communicating that to Accenture." Outside of their ambitions for Phase Three, Hood underscored that "right now, we need to stabilize" before strategizing on further improvements. Hood further stressed that “we also can't go so fast that we create any unintended chaos here.”
    • Vollendroff also recognized Hood for her direct efforts to support the team, noting her work to "communicate with staff, to do surveys, to one on ones, [and] small tokens of appreciation.” He concluded that these efforts were "really critical during this time" (audio - 1m, video - TVW, video - WSLCB).
  • Director Will Lukela acknowledged the hard work of staff on LEEADS, highlighting the age of the system it replaced, and specifying how he was supporting the team in finding solutions (audio - 1m, video - TVW, video - WSLCB).
    • "First, I want to acknowledge Licensing, [Information Technology] IT, Communications, all the staff that's working so hard and diligently on this project,” Lukela established. He provided context for current challenges by pointing out that LEEADS would be replacing a system which was "40 years old.”
    • Lukela clarified his involvement in addressing the ongoing issues, explaining that he was spending "a lot of my time trying to support staff and LEEADS, working through technical solutions to some of these challenges.”
  • Director of Legislative Relations Marc Webster briefly touched upon the LEEADS project in his legislative update, noting that while the agency would likely have "budget requests around things like LEEADS," such specific requests would not require new legislation. He relayed that the lack of bills regarding "Phase Three, or traceability in cannabis" did not imply a lack of progress, but rather that “we don't need legislation to do that work" (audio - 2m,  video - TVW, video - WSLCB).
    • WSLCB received no dedicated funds for Phase Three of LEEADS in the 2025 Operating Budget—signed on May 20th—though the SMP project had received tens of millions in appropriations under prior budgets.
    • In remarks to Washington State Joint Legislative Audit and Review Committee (JLARC) legislators on May 14th, agency leaders indicated that LEEADS implementation needed to be completed before switching traceability platforms since they wanted any new vendor to integrate with that platform. A formal WSLCB response to concerns over traceability data was expected before JLARC staff present a final report, scheduled for July 16th.
  • Director of Licensing and Regulation Becky Smith gave her own update on the new system, acknowledging that the customer service team had "done an outstanding job of adjusting" to, and navigating, the new portal. She stated "since LEEADS has gone live, customer service has processed 663 special occasion applications with an average of 16 days,” which was “huge for special occasion licenses.” This was below their target window of 30-45 days, and spoke “to what LEEADS has potential of doing right.” Smith also mentioned ongoing efforts to help permit holders with the new renewal process for annual permits, since “not all of our licensees who are required to renew the permits received a letter through the portal” (audio - 2m, video - TVW, video - WSLCB).
    • Smith also detailed the challenges posed by the new system, particularly for liquor license issuance, leading to higher caseloads for liquor investigators, with an average of 40 files per investigator, compared to the previous high of 35. She noted Hood had approved the hiring of "three non-perm[anent] positions," and nine existing staff had been reassigned to help with liquor applications. 

• Research Manager Sarah Okey gave a Policy and External Affairs update which touched on the first public health roundtable as well as research initiatives underway while fielding questions from the board.
  • Okey gave an update on the first public health roundtable devoted to cannabis sector stakeholders which had been hosted earlier that day, highlighting successes, plans for future discussions, and public health initiatives which came up in the meeting (audio - 2m, video - TVW, video - WSLCB).
    • Okey reported that Public Health Education Liaison Kristen Haley and Board Member Ollie Garrett co-hosted the "first public health and cannabis community round table.” She felt, "this went wonderfully…in my opinion, I thought it was a great first, first roundtable.” The next roundtable was scheduled for October 22nd, with Board Member Pete Holmes co-hosting.
    • Garrett elaborated on her key takeaway from the roundtable: "the willingness and the open door of the cannabis industry, wanting to have meetings, not siloed with prevention and public health, and then meetings with the cannabis industry.” Her sense was that cannabis sector participants desired "more meetings of bringing both into the room together" with the aim towards more mutual understanding. “And they talked about the one meeting that they had, I think it was last year, where it was on the THC and how bringing them both in the room, and the outcome by having them both there, that they were able to come up with something for both parts,” Garrett explained.
      • WSLCB convened several focus groups between June and September 2024 specific to high tetrahydrocannabinol (THC) products. Prior to 2024, agency listen and learn forums served as venues for dialogue on THC regulation open to interested parties from both cannabis and public health sectors.
    • Okey pointed out Haley’s other work including a presentation at the Society for Prevention Research 33rd Annual Meeting in Seattle at the end of May, where she engaged with researchers on "cannabis and cannabis use in females.” This collaboration could foster "future research projects,” Okey said.
      • The program schedule for May 29th showed Haley presenting “Epidemiology and Etiology 3-016 - Cannabis Use By Females in the Pacific Northwest” along with University of Washington (UW) Associate Professor Katarina Guttmannova.
        • Guttmannova was credited by UW Professor Jason Kilmer as having contributed to a research article “Associations of cannabis retail outlet availability and neighborhood disadvantage with cannabis use and related risk factors among young adults in Washington State” during a 2022 board caucus.
    • According to Okey, Haley was tracking "many changes taking place with the prevention and public health partners across the state due to funding cuts,” as well as assisting with two Washington State Department of Health (DOH) initiatives:
      • First, to “coordinate with cannabis industry folks [and department representatives on] cannabis consumer education…campaign team…to get feedback on the final campaign brand, and initial materials.”
      • “And then second, Kristen and the Research Program assisted [in recruiting] budtenders for a focus group to inform high THC budtender training that was part of HB 2320 that passed in last year's legislative session.”
        • While the focus groups were closed to the public, Cannabis Observer heard from multiple participants that DOH and Rede Group staff were primarily concerned with gathering reactions to already drafted educational materials. Their impression was that these drafts included no input from existing cannabis credentialing organizations like accredited academic or approved medical consultant training businesses.
    • Holmes inquired whether the recent public health roundtable was recorded, and voiced interest in seeing the agency presentation. He learned that audio had been memorialized, but not by the agency (audio - 3m, video - TVW, video - WSLCB).
      • Okey responded that staff hadn’t recorded the public health roundtable, and she didn’t know if one existed.
      • Subsequently, Director Will Lukela clarified that Cannabis Observer had a recording. He expected an observation would be published by the group which could serve as "prep for the upcoming meeting" co-hosted by Holmes in October. Lukela extended his thanks to Haley and Garrett for "facilitating great conversation” (audio - 1m, video - TVW, video - WSLCB).
      • Garrett highlighted that the group had proposed four topics, but only discussed two (Stakeholder Segregation and Cannabis Hospitality) establishing two topics to be reviewed at the next roundtable.
  • Okey also provided an update around ongoing and upcoming research initiatives, including new research briefs, data dashboards, collaborative projects, and the agency's first accepted academic publication (audio - 3m, video - TVW, video - WSLCB).
    • Two research briefs were expected to be released, one focused on the "relative health risks of emerging nicotine only products to tobacco products," which stemmed from public health and prevention requests. The other dealt with "remediation and pesticide exposure for inhalable versus edible cannabis products," a subject requested by members of the cannabis industry, which Nordhorn outlined at the preceding EMT on May 14th. 
    • Following the addition of two dashboards on May 20th, two more were expected to be released, one a "liquor tax and fee dashboard" being coordinated with the Department of Revenue for approval and upload by July. Additionally, staff were excited to have a "working draft" of a "rules tracker dashboard" by the end of the month as well.
    • Okey outlined ongoing research projects, specifically work with “our [Sports Entertainment Facility] SEF partners…who have been involved in the pilot project for increased spirit service, to start collecting and sharing data with us to understand public health and safety related to increased spirit services.” Research Program staff had also begun "prepping for the social equity and cannabis evaluation" mandated by the legislature, and were analyzing International Cannabis Policy Study (ICPS) "data from last year.”
    • A budtender education survey by WSLCB was set to close at the end of the week, Okey reported. As of her last check, "we had about 350 responses," which she considered "pretty good, because these are, these are only retail employees and…licensees.” There had been interest from leaders at the Cannabis Regulators Association (CANNRA) in potentially expanding the survey nationally.
      • Vollendroff asked Okey about her satisfaction with the survey response rate. After she affirmed her satisfaction, he emphasized that budtenders were "prime individuals to help educate particularly new users around products” (audio - 1m, video - TVW, video - WSLCB).
      • CANNRA held an external stakeholder meeting on June 10th and 11th in Denver, Colorado, and announced 2025-26 board members following a member meeting on June 9th.
    • Finally, Okey shared news that the agency had its "first publication accepted in the Journal of Cannabis and Cannabinoid Research.” She lauded the milestone of having the Research Program be a published organization.
      • At time of publication, the journal editor-in-chief was Daniele Piomelli, Director of the University of California, Irvine (UCI) Center for the Study of Cannabis.
    • Okey informed the board that Haley had presented at the June 3rd-5th CannAct conference, discussing the importance of "multi-sector collaboration" among public health, prevention communities, and the cannabis sector.
      • Vollendroff praised Okey's presentation at the CannAct conference, stating, "I had the opportunity to watch the recording of your presentation…and it was terrific.” He complimented the whole team, "I just can't give you enough credit, [and] the team for the just the way that it was organized, and the information, and to demonstrate the importance of working with our industry around public health and prevention” (audio - <1m,  video - TVW, video - WSLCB).
      • Holmes inquired about the availability of the recording of Okey's CannAct conference presentation, asking Vollendroff whether he’d overlooked correspondence with the link (audio - 1m, video - TVW, video - WSLCB).
        • Vollendroff clarified that he had not yet distributed the link, "I didn't send it out, but I will.” He noted as an attendee he got access to the conference presentation materials, and promised to look into sharing the recording, “if I can share it, I'll share it with you."
      • Organized by the Rede Group, the CannAct Conference included nationwide “public health professionals, prevention specialists, equity advocates, public safety professionals, tobacco prevention professionals, partners, and other advocates together virtually to discuss the new and changing legalized cannabis landscape in our communities. The conference focus is policy, system and environmental change, and youth prevention.” Cannabis Observer previously found the group limited recording access to paying attendees.
        • In 2025, Cannabis Regulators Association (CANNRA) Executive Director Gillian Schauer returned as a keynote speaker at the event. At publication time, Rede Group had the dubious distinction of being the only organization to threaten Cannabis Observer with legal action after we observed and reported on Schauer’s keynote at the 2021 conference.

• An Enforcement and Education (E&E) update by Director Lawerence Grant covered a trade association conference, designation of a Policy and Rules Manager within his division, and testing laboratory visits before addressing a question on retail THC signage by the chair.
  • Grant described his positive experience at the spring meeting of the Washington CannaBusiness Association (WACA), noting interested parties shared gratitude for agency engagement, and sought improvement in enforcement consistency (audio - 1m, video - TVW, video - WSLCB).
    • Grant stated that senior leadership including Policy and External Affairs Director Justin Nordhorn, Lukela, and “one of the cannabis captains over in eastern Washington” were in attendance during his “first outing to meet with a large stakeholder group.” Besides their gratitude for “some of the engagements with the enforcement personnel and agency personnel overall,” WACA members “spent considerable time at individual roundtables discussing specific officers and instances where they were helpful.” Grant also noted positive feedback about the WSLCB education program including Education Manager "Matt McCallum and team.”
    • Grant further acknowledged that the group provided areas for improvement, in particular "consistency across the state, and consistency in the information that we provided.” His overall impression was that it was "a good outing and a good opportunity to meet with…a lot of the industry stakeholders.”
    • Vollendroff was similarly appreciative of the “big commitment” of staff members who traveled to the meeting in Walla Walla “during tough budget times" (audio - 1m,  video - TVW, video - WSLCB).
      • He stressed the importance of the gathering: "I think it was critical, and I think it was really important that you were there, and I just wanted to acknowledge the effort that it took for the four of you to take the time and participate in that.”
    • Lukela briefly commented on the WACA event, characterizing it as a positive experience that yielded valuable takeaways around consistency issues (audio - 1m, video - TVW, video - WSLCB).
      • He laughed about "six hours each way of glorious time where we got to work through some operational challenges.” But Lukela also highlighted areas identified for future work, including consistency in enforcement, which “we'll be talking a lot more about.”
  • Grant described an internal reorganization within his division to appoint Judy Edwards as the Policy and Rules Manager intending to enhance E&E involvement in the rulemaking process (audio - 1m, video - TVW, video - WSLCB).
    • “Edwards, who a lot of the team already knows, was working directly for [deputy chief] DC Reinke, she's moving directly under me, and she's going to become a policy and rules manager for the division,” Grant explained. This arrangement was geared towards greater support and earlier engagement in rulemaking projects. Grant explained that Edwards "has already reached out to Marc Webster” and Policy and Rules Manager Kevin Walder, and this would help Nordhorn “expand his capacity.” Edwards’ involvement in rulemaking projects, “or any of the other projects that are going on," would get the division involved "a little bit sooner in the process,” Grant said. He concluded the change "makes us better as a division when we can see those inner workings," and that since Nordhorn was receptive, Edwards would "spend a lot more time in the upcoming rules process, just getting better engaged.”
  • Grant also reported that the division had completed all cannabis testing laboratory visits “within the last week", and found no major issues (audio - <1m,  video - TVW, video - WSLCB).
    • These "educational visits" had been "coordinated on and worked on over the last few months.” He further mentioned that cannabis captains would brief Hood and Lukela in the coming weeks on "those outcomes and…our projections…on what it's going to look like going forward on those particular issues.”
  • Near the end of the meeting, Vollendroff inquired about the status of mandatory high THC warning signs at cannabis retail stores designed by the DOH Youth Cannabis and Commercial Tobacco Prevention Program (DOH YCCTPP), but Grant did not have an immediate update on the matter (audio - 1m, video - TVW, video - WSLCB).
    • Another aspect of HB 2320, Vollendroff recognized that the 2024 law "required retailers…to post signs related to high THC concentration products,” and hoped to get a briefing in the future on the current status of the signs, and "what that's looking like. Are we actually seeing those posted?" He also wanted to know when E&E would shift its focus from education to issuing violations regarding these signs.
      • As Cannabis Observer previously noted, Haley and Research Program staff contributed to the content of the DOH YCCTPP signs, but regulators did not seek cannabis sector input. Licensees then had one day to print and post signage published December 30, 2024, before they risked being out of compliance with the statutory deadline in section 4(5) of the law.