The Week Ahead
(March 8, 2021)

Washington State Legislature - Spring

Seven cannabis-related bills were already through the house of origin cutoff on Tuesday which would mark the halfway point of the 2021 Washington State legislative session.

Here’s a look at cannabis-related policymaking events on the calendar in the week ahead.

At the Washington State Legislature, the house of origin cutoff was scheduled for Tuesday March 9th at 5pm PT. Leadership in rule committees continued to pull particular bills and packages of legislation onto their chamber’s overall list of bills, or calendar, to consider. Chamber leadership organized those bills into manageable chunks, called orders of consideration, for the entire body to debate, amend, and vote upon - and were also empowered to pull additional bills out of rule committees. This phase of the Legislature’s work, churning through bills dynamically selected by leadership, continued over the prior weekend. The cannabis-related bills with the most momentum were already through the cutoff, but we expect one or two more may be selected for consideration by the full membership in their houses of origin through Tuesday afternoon. On Wednesday, policy committees reconvene to consider legislation from their opposite chamber peers.

Monday March 8th

At publication time, no cannabis-related policymaking events scheduled.

Tuesday March 9th

On Tuesday at 10am PT, the weekly WSLCB Board Caucus was scheduled to recur.

House of Origin Cutoff is Tuesday March 9th at 5pm PT.

Wednesday March 10th

On Wednesday at 1:30pm PT, the three-member Board and agency leadership were scheduled to convene their monthly WSLCB Executive Management Team (EMT) meeting.

Thursday March 11th

On Thursday at 8am PT, the Washington State Senate Labor, Commerce, and Tribal Affairs Committee (WA Senate LCTA) planned to convene.

  • [ Event Details ]
  • Public Hearing: HB 1443 - “Concerning social equity within the cannabis industry.”

Friday March 12th

On Friday at 10am PT, the Washington State House Commerce and Gaming Committee (WA House COG) planned to host a work session.

  • [ Event Details ]
  • At publication time, the work session was obliquely described as including “Policy issues related to alcohol, tobacco, cannabis, and gambling.”

2021 Legislative Session

House of Origin Cutoff is Tuesday March 9th at 5pm PT.

Cannabis-related Bills - Active (11)

  • 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
    • Previous Step: second and third readings in WA House on Monday March 1st
      • Bill passed by WA House (69-29)
    • Last Step: pro forma first reading and referral to WA Senate LAW on Thursday March 4th
    • Next Step: public hearing in WA Senate LAW
  • 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
    • Previous Step: chamber pull on Monday March 1st
    • Last Step: second and third readings in WA House on Saturday March 6th
      • Bill passed by WA House (77-21)
    • Next Step: pro forma first reading and referral in WA Senate
  • HB 1443 - "Concerning social equity within the cannabis industry."
    • Sponsors (13): Morgan, Wicks, Simmons, Berry, J. Johnson, Ramel, Kloba, Ryu, Peterson, Ormsby, Ortiz-Self, Harris-Talley, Macri
    • Companion: SB 5388 (inactive)
    • Previous Step: second and third reading in WA House on Tuesday March 2nd
      • Bill passed by WA House (60-37, 1 excused)
    • Last Step: pro forma first reading and referral to WA Senate LCTA on Friday March 5th
    • Next Step: public hearing in WA Senate LCTA on Thursday March 11th
  • SB 5004 - “Providing a tax exemption for medical marijuana patients.”
    • Sponsors (8): Keiser, Warnick, Conway, Das, King, Kuderer, Saldaña, C. Wilson
    • Previous Step: package pull by WA Senate RULE on Wednesday March 3rd
    • Previous Step: second and third reading in WA Senate on Friday March 5th
      • Bill passed by WA Senate (42-7)
    • Last Step: pro forma first reading and referral to WA House FIN on Sunday March 7th
    • Next Step: public hearing in WA House FIN
  • 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
    • Last Step: pro forma first reading and referral to WA House PS on Saturday February 27th
    • Next Step: public hearing in WA House PS
  • SB 5129 - “Concerning the possession of vapor, vapor products, tobacco, and tobacco products by minors.”
    • Sponsors (6): Saldaña, Darneille, Nguyen, Nobles, Stanford, C. Wilson
    • Last Step: executive session in WA Senate HSRR on Friday January 29th
    • Next Step: calendaring by WA Senate RULE or chamber
  • SB 5327 - “Creating a confidential youth safety and well-being tip line.”
    • Sponsors (7): Brown, Frockt, Lovelett, Rivers, Short, Warnick, Wellman
    • Last Step: pro forma first reading and referral to WA House CYF
    • Next Step: public hearing in WA House CYF on Thursday March 11th
  • SB 5361 - “Concerning the resentencing of persons convicted of drug offenses.”
    • Sponsors (3): McCune, Warnick, J. Wilson
    • Previous Step: calendared by WA Senate RULE on Wednesday March 3rd
    • Previous Step: second and third reading in WA Senate on Friday March 5th
      • Bill passed by WA Senate (48-0, 1 excused)
    • Last Step:  pro forma first reading and referral to WA House PS on Sunday March 7th
    • Next Step: public hearing in WA House PS
  • SB 5372 - "Concerning a hemp processor registration process."
    • Sponsors (6): Stanford, Warnick, Conway, Hasegawa, Saldaña, J. Wilson
    • Last Step: chamber pull on Friday March 5th
    • Next Step: second and third reading in WA Senate
  • SB 5468 - “Concerning knowing possession of a controlled substance.”
    • Sponsors (16): Mullet, Hobbs, Braun, Brown, Hawkins, Holy, King, Muzzall, Padden, Rivers, Salomon, Schoesler, Short, Wagoner, Warnick, L. Wilson (+14)
    • Last Step: pro forma first reading and referral to WA Senate LAW on Monday March 1st
    • Next Step: public hearing in WA Senate LAW
    • This bill was introduced after the Washington State Supreme Court decision in State of Washington v. Shannon B. Blake (No. 96873-0) which invalidated the State’s strict liability drug possession statute in RCW 69.50.4013 as discussed in the Court opinions.
  • NEW SB 5471 - “Concerning knowing possession of a controlled substance.”
    • Sponsors (2): Padden, Wagoner
    • Last Step: pro forma first reading and referral to WA Senate LAW on Thursday March 4th
    • Next Step: public hearing in WA Senate LAW
    • This bill was introduced after Republicans Padden and Wagoner signed up as co-sponsors of the Democrat-sponsored SB 5468. In addition to codifying the WA Supreme Court decision, this bill would make “unknowing possession” a civil infraction punishable by up to a $3,000 fine.

Cannabis-related Bills - Inactive (9)

  • HB 1019 - “Allowing residential marijuana agriculture.”
  • HB 1260 - “Concerning the development of the marijuana market.”
    • Last Step: pro forma first reading and referral to WA House COG on Monday January 18th
  • HB 1345 - “Concerning the regulation of products sold to adults age 21 and over.”
  • HB 1414 - “Aligning marijuana licensing decisions by the liquor and cannabis board with local zoning ordinances.”
  • HB 1463 - “Addressing serious mental health consequences of high-potency cannabis products by regulating the sale of cannabis concentrates.”
  • HB 1499 - “Providing behavioral health system responses to individuals with substance use disorder.”
  • SB 5266 - “Concerning the regulation of products sold to adults age 21 and over.”
  • SB 5365 - “Establishing a Washington state cannabis commission.”
  • SB 5388 - “Concerning social equity within the cannabis industry.”
    • Companion: HB 1443 (active)
    • Last Step: pro forma first reading and referral to WA Senate LCTA on Friday January 29th