The Week Ahead
(March 22, 2021)

The Future of the Cannabis Industry

Several cannabis bills portend some controversy on their way through the next cutoff on Friday, where a mysterious work session on “the future of the cannabis industry” awaited.

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

Monday March 22nd

On Monday at 9:30am PT, the Washington State Senate Labor, Commerce, and Tribal Affairs Committee (WA Senate LCTA) planned to convene.

  • [ Event Details ]
  • Executive Session: HB 1210 - ‘Replacing the term "marijuana" with the term "cannabis" throughout the Revised Code of Washington.’
    • During the policy committee public hearing in the Senate on Thursday March 18th, the potential for creating confusion when changing the term ‘marijuana’ to ‘cannabis’ while not accounting for ‘hemp’ was raised, as was the potential for creating unintended consequences in relation to federal law. Creating a different or qualified term for ‘marijuana’, such as ‘high-THC cannabis’ was suggested.
    • The next day, Senator Stanford revised his amendment intended to carve out the definition of ‘hemp’ from “cannabis as defined in RCW 69.50.101” but no new terminology was suggested.
  • Executive Session: HB 1443 - “Concerning social equity within the cannabis industry.”
    • See Senator Rebecca Saldaña’s striking amendment and two amendments to the striking amendment by Senator Curtis King. Both Senators are appointees to the Washington State Legislative Task Force on Social Equity in Cannabis (WA SECTF) along with Representative Melanie Morgan, the prime sponsor of HB 1443.

Tuesday March 23rd

On Tuesday at 9am PT, the Department of Ecology (DOE) Cannabis Science Task Force (CSTF) Steering Committee planned to convene.

On Tuesday at 9:30am, the Chelan County Board of County Commissioners planned to convene.

  • [ Event Details ]
  • At 10:30am, a “Hemp Production Presentation” by Washington State Department of Agriculture (WSDA) Hemp Program Manager Trecia Ehrlich was scheduled.
  • During the previous year, the Chelan County Commissioners had been contemplating a hemp production moratorium.

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

  • [ Event Details ]
  • There were several substantive items discussed at last week’s board caucus, the first public meeting where David Postman presided as Chair.  See especially the discussion around Delta-8-THC and the approval of the Board to proceed with the plan of action to update the traceability program as recommended by agency leadership.

Wednesday March 24th

On Wednesday at 9:30am PT, the WSDA Hemp Program Webinar on pesticides and organics was scheduled to occur.

  • [ Event Details ]
  • This is the second of four planned webinars on the WSDA hemp program. See information on the first overview webinar hosted on Wednesday March 17th.
  • As the subjects of self-selection of samples and cannabis testing continue to roil to the surface in the adult use marketplace, it may be worth considering how things have been going for the WSDA hemp program, which relies on contracted agents to perform pre-harvest sampling to establish a chain of custody and reserves the right to select the destination testing lab from a list of labs contracted for that purpose. The logistical and communication challenges introduced appear to be one reason the United States Department of Agriculture (USDA) extended the hemp pre-harvest testing window from 15 days to 30 in its final rules.

On Wednesday at 4pm PT, the Washington State Legislative Task Force on Social Equity in Cannabis (WA SECTF) Work Group on Disproportionately Impacted Communities was scheduled to convene.

Thursday March 25th

On Thursday at 10am PT, the monthly WSLCB Marijuana Traceability Project (MTP) Integrator Work Session was scheduled to recur.

  • [ Event Details ]
  • At publication time, it was unclear if this meeting would occur as agency staff had not performed outreach nor responded to our inquiry.
  • However, there would be a lot for the group to discuss as many of the recommendations of the Traceability 2.0 Work Group had been incorporated into the draft plan presented to the Board the previous week, several of which would have potentially radical impacts on the systems of third party software providers gathered at these monthly meetings.

On Thursday at 1:30pm PT, the Washington State House Commerce and Gaming Committee (WA House COG) was scheduled to convene.

  • [ Event Details ]
  • Executive Session: SB 5372 - "Concerning hemp processor registration and a hemp extract certification."
    • See the interesting testimony at the House policy committee public hearing hosted on Friday March 19th.

Friday March 26th

Friday is the Opposite House Policy Committee Cutoff.

On Friday at 10am PT, the WA House COG planned to convene.

  • [ Event Details ].
  • Work Session: "Examining the future of the cannabis industry in Washington state."
  • At publication time, no agenda had been published for this event and Cannabis Observer was not aware of any invited guests. It may be that this event is reserved for the committee to hear from relevant State agencies and entities, in the same way the committee heard from agencies and State universities during its work session hosted on Thursday March 18th dedicated to "Examining the effectiveness of programs to prevent youth access to and use of alcohol, cannabis, tobacco, and vapor products."

On Friday at 1pm PT, the Washington State Senate Ways and Means Committee (WA Senate WM) planned to convene.

  • [ Event Details ]
  • Public Hearing: SB 5092 - "Making 2021-2023 fiscal biennium operating appropriations."
  • Budget season is upon us, and we’ll begin tracking the money more closely this week.

2021 Legislative Session

At the Washington State Legislature, the house of origin cutoff occurred on Tuesday March 9th at 5pm PT. Opposite chamber policy committees must hear and exec bills out by Friday March 26th, the next cutoff date.

Cannabis-related Bills - Active (12)

  • 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
    • Last Step: pro forma first reading and referral to WA Senate LAW on Thursday March 4th
    • Last Step: executive session in WA Senate LAW on Thursday March 18th
    • Next Step: calendaring by WA Senate RULE
  • 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: public hearing in WA Senate LCTA on Thursday March 18th
    • Next Step: executive session in WA Senate LCTA on Monday March 22nd
  • 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)
    • Last Step: public hearing in WA Senate LCTA on Thursday March 11th
    • Next Step: executive session in WA Senate LCTA on Monday March 22nd
  • SB 5004 - “Providing a tax exemption for medical marijuana patients.”
    • Sponsors (8): Keiser, Warnick, Conway, Das, King, Kuderer, Saldaña, C. Wilson
    • Last Step: public hearing in WA House FIN on Tuesday March 16th
    • Next Step: executive session 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
  • NEW SB 5092 - "Making 2021-2023 fiscal biennium operating appropriations."
  • SB 5327 - “Creating a confidential youth safety and well-being tip line.”
    • Sponsors (7): Brown, Frockt, Lovelett, Rivers, Short, Warnick, Wellman
    • Last Step: public hearing in WA House CYF on Thursday March 11th
    • Next Step: executive session in WA House CYF on Monday March 22nd
      • No action taken in WA House CYF on Wednesday March 17th
  • SB 5361 - “Concerning the resentencing of persons convicted of drug offenses.”
    • Sponsors (3): McCune, Warnick, J. Wilson
    • Last Step:  pro forma first reading and referral to WA House PS on Sunday March 7th
    • Next Step: public hearing in WA House PS on Tuesday March 23rd
    • Following Step: executive session in WA House PS on Thursday March 25th
  • SB 5372 - "Concerning a hemp processor registration process."
    • Sponsors (6): Stanford, Warnick, Conway, Hasegawa, Saldaña, J. Wilson
    • Last Step: public hearing in WA House COG on Friday March 19th
    • Next Step: executive session in WA House COG on Thursday March 25th
  • 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
    • Last Step: pro forma first reading and referral to WA Senate LAW on Monday March 1st
    • Next Step: public hearing in WA Senate LAW
  • 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
  • NEW SB 5475 - “Concerning knowing possession of a controlled substance.”
    • Sponsors (2): Mullet, Hobbs
    • Next Step: pro forma first reading and referral to WA Senate LAW on Monday March 22nd
    • Following Step: public hearing in WA Senate LAW
    • This bill appears to be a revision of SB 5468, filed by the same prime sponsor and original co-sponsor. The bill text is identical, with the addition of a legislative work group tasked with holding “a series of public meetings to study the impact of State v. Blake, No. 96873-0, 2021 Wash. LEXIS 107 (February 25, 2021).” The work group would “report its findings and recommendations to the appropriate committees of the legislature by June 30, 2022.”

Cannabis-related Bills - Inactive (10)

  • 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 5129 - “Concerning the possession of vapor, vapor products, tobacco, and tobacco products by minors.”
  • 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