Three new cannabis bills were introduced and four were scheduled for activity while the Washington Pharmacy Quality Assurance Commission considered regulation of Epidiolex.
Here’s a look at cannabis-related policymaking events on the calendar in the week ahead.
2021 Legislative Session
- HB 1019 - “Allowing residential marijuana agriculture.”
- Sponsors (16): Kloba, MacEwen, Ryu, Wicks, Dolan, Fitzgibbon, Peterson, Goodman, Young, Vick, Ormsby, Springer, Stonier, Santos, Macri, Harris-Talley (+10)
- Last Step: public hearing in WA House COG on Friday January 15th
- Next Step: executive session in WA House COG on Friday January 22nd
- HB 1057 - ‘Clarifying the meaning of the term “enjoyment of life and property” within the clean air act.’
- Sponsors (6): Pollet, Valdez, Fitzgibbon, Ryu, Ramel, Duerr (+3)
- Last Step: public hearing in WA House ENVI on Tuesday January 12th
- Next Step: executive session in WA House ENVI
- HB 1105 - “Concerning arrest protections for the medical use of cannabis.”
- Sponsors (12): Kloba, Simmons, Fitzgibbon, Dolan, Ortiz-Self, Goodman, Vick, Ormsby, Riccelli, Santos, Macri, Davis (+9)
- Last Step: pro forma first reading and referred to WA House HCW
- Next Step: public hearing in WA House HCW
- NEW HB 1210 - ‘Replacing the term "marijuana" with the term "cannabis" throughout the Revised Code of Washington.’
- Sponsors (14): Morgan, Peterson, Kloba, J. Johnson, Ryu, Santos, Ortiz-Self, Ormsby, Simmons, Gregerson, Riccelli, Macri, Frame, Harris-Talley
- Last Step: pro forma first reading and referral to WA House COG
- Next Step: public hearing in WA House COG on Friday January 22nd
- NEW HB 1260 - “Concerning the development of the marijuana market.”
- Sponsors (2): Wicks, Dolan
- Next Step: pro forma first reading and referral to WA House COG on Monday January 18th
- SB 5004 - “Providing a tax exemption for medical marijuana patients.”
- Sponsors (8): Keiser, Warnick, Conway, Das, King, Kuderer, Saldaña, C. Wilson (+6)
- Last Step: pro forma first reading and referral to WA Senate WM
- Next Step: public hearing in WA Senate WM
- SB 5035 - “Concerning offender scoring of drug offenses.”
- Sponsors (18): Dhingra, Nguyen, Billig, Carlyle, Darneille, Das, Hasegawa, Kuderer, Liias, Lovelett, Mullet, Pedersen, Rolfes, Saldaña, Salomon, Stanford, Wellman, C. Wilson (+16)
- Last Step: pro forma first reading and referral to WA Senate LAW
- Next Step: public hearing in WA Senate LAW
- SB 5129 - “Concerning the possession of vapor, vapor products, tobacco, and tobacco products by minors.”
- Sponsors (6): Saldaña, Darneille, Nguyen, Nobles, Stanford, C. Wilson (+4)
- Last Step: pro forma first reading and referred to WA Senate HSRR
- Next Step: public hearing in WA Senate HSRR on Thursday January 21st
- NEW SB 5266 - “Concerning the regulation of products sold to adults age 21 and over.”
- Sponsors (2): Kuderer, C. Wilson
- Next Step: pro forma first reading and referral to WA Senate WM on Monday January 18th
Monday January 18th
On Monday at 4pm PT, the Washington State Senate Ways and Means Committee (WA Senate WM) was scheduled to convene.
- [ Event Details ]
- The Senate fiscal committee planned to host a public hearing for SB 5004, "Providing a tax exemption for medical marijuana patients."
- It’s notable that this bill was not referred to a policy committee first. In 2019, an almost identical bill, SB 5234, was heard and passed by the Washington State Senate Labor and Commerce Committee (WA Senate LBRC) but was never scheduled to be heard by WA Senate WM. Speaker Pro Tempore Karen Keiser was the primary sponsor of both bills, and chairs the Washington State Senate Labor, Commerce, and Tribal Affairs Committee (WA Senate LCTA).
- Just after midnight on Monday morning, a partial fiscal note was added in which Washington State Liquor and Cannabis Board (WSLCB) staff anticipated relieving patients of payment of the excise tax would diminish State revenue collections by $10M per biennium.
- WSLCB staff based their calculations on retail sales numbers collected by the Department of Revenue. “However, DOR's tax form only allows for reporting exempt sales to patients with recognition cards versus any consumer, and does not break down sales between 1a (DOH compliant) and 1b (low THC), therefore it is indeterminate what the actual revenue loss from the excise tax exemption would be.” Nevertheless, WSLCB staff used those numbers as the basis for their projection anyhow.
- This is yet another instance in which WSLCB staff chose not to rely on their agency’s own traceability data which details every retail cannabis sales transaction in the state and could provide a more sound basis for projecting anticipated revenue impacts.
Tuesday January 19th
On Tuesday at 10am PT, the weekly WSLCB Board Caucus was scheduled to recur.
- [ Event Details ]
- WSLCB Director Rick Garza was scheduled to visit with the Board again this week. On January 5th, he discussed the 2021 legislative session and noted engagements with the State’s social equity task force, prevention advocates, and the U.S. Census Bureau which had questions about the “cannabis industry space.”
- Subsequently, Marijuana Moment reported that “The U.S. Census Bureau has announced that it plans to begin collecting data on marijuana tax revenue generated by state governments around the country.”
Wednesday January 20th
On Wednesday at 10am PT, the bi-weekly WSLCB Board Meeting was scheduled to recur.
- [ Event Details ]
Thursday January 21st
On Thursday at 1:30pm PT, the Washington State Senate Human Services, Reentry, and Rehabilitation Committee (WA Senate HSRR) was scheduled to convene.
- [ Event Details ]
- The Senate policy committee planned to host a public hearing on SB 5129, "Concerning the possession of vapor, vapor products, tobacco, and tobacco products by minors."
- In 2020, Senator Rebecca Saldaña introduced a progenitor bill, SB 6489. That bill was initially referred to WA Senate LBRC before being passed along to WA Senate HSRR where it underwent revision prior to passage. The Senate Rules Committee eventually consigned the bill to its “X” file where it proceeded no further.
Friday January 22nd
On Friday at 9am PT, the Washington State Pharmacy Quality Assurance Commission (WA Pharmacy Commission) was scheduled to convene.
- [ Event Details ]
- The WA Pharmacy Commission regulates the practice of pharmacy, and the distribution, manufacturing, and delivery of pharmaceuticals within and into the state. The commission protects and promotes public health and safety by issuing licenses, registrations, and certifications to qualified persons and entities and responding to complaints or reports of unprofessional conduct. The Commission is assigned the authority to enforce and change the schedule of controlled substances in Washington state.
- Among other business, on Friday the Commission planned to “Consider re-filing emergency rules removing Epidiolex from Schedule V.”
- On November 10th, the Commission filed a CR-101 to begin a rulemaking project to consider more permanently removing Epidiolex from the schedule of controlled substances.
On Friday at 10am PT, the Washington State House Commerce and Gaming Committee (WA House COG) was scheduled to convene.
- [ Event Details ]
- The House policy committee planned to host a public hearing on HB 1210, ‘Replacing the term "marijuana" with the term "cannabis" throughout the Revised Code of Washington.’
- This bill was introduced on Friday January 15th by Representative Melanie Morgan and former WA House COG Chair Strom Peterson. Morgan sits on WA House COG and current Chair Shelley Kloba was also a co-sponsor.
- The committee also planned to host an executive session on HB 1019 - “Allowing residential marijuana agriculture.”
- Prior to a tight public hearing on Friday January 15th, the home grow bill had already been scheduled for executive session on Friday January 22nd. At publication time, four of nine members of WA House COG were co-sponsors of HB 1019.