The Social Equity in Cannabis Task Force Technical Assistance and Mentorship Work Group was scheduled to discuss legislative proposals during an otherwise typical August week.
Here’s a look at cannabis-related policymaking events on the calendar in the week ahead.
Monday August 9th
At publication time, no cannabis-related policymaking events were scheduled.
Tuesday August 10th
WSLCB - Board Caucus
On Tuesday at 10am PT, the weekly Washington State Liquor and Cannabis Board (WSLCB) Board Caucus was scheduled to recur.
- [ Event Details ]
WA SECTF - Work Group - TA and Mentorship - Public Meeting
On Tuesday at 1pm PT, the Washington State Legislative Task Force on Social Equity in Cannabis Technical Assistance and Mentorship Work Group (WA SECTF - Work Group - TA and Mentorship) was scheduled to convene.
- [ Event Details ]
- Work group members last convened on July 20th.
- The task force as a whole met on July 27th during which work group leaders provided an update before fielding questions and comments from task force members and public participants (video). A handout summarizing the work group’s progress was published two days after the event.
- In a broadcast email announcing the availability of the August meeting agenda, WA SECTF staff stated:
- “The plan for this upcoming meeting is to get consensus from the workgroup on two proposals that will be offered to the full Task Force at our upcoming September meeting.
- Proposal 1: Department of Commerce to use current fiscal year funding under its authority to create a mentorship program to develop education and training resources. Additionally, any unused funds from Fiscal Year 2022 are asked to be rolled over into the next fiscal year.
- Proposal 2: Change statutory language for grant dollars to be used for Technical and Financial Assistance by social equity applicants and current license holders.
- If time allows, after the group comes to an agreement on the above proposals we will begin the conversation around Community Re-investment and what an equitable approach should look like for Washington.”
- “The plan for this upcoming meeting is to get consensus from the workgroup on two proposals that will be offered to the full Task Force at our upcoming September meeting.
Wednesday August 11th
WSLCB - Executive Management Team
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.
- [ Event Details ]
- The WSLCB EMT last convened on July 14th during which staff discussed upcoming meetings with officials, a presentation to lawmakers on synthesized cannabinoids, progress on social equity, and a new proposal on federal cannabis legalization.
- No indicators had been given about potential topics for the August EMT, but agency request legislation for the 2022 session must be delivered to the Washington State Office of Financial Management (WA OFM) by September 13th. WSLCB staff were preparing at least two potential bills for submission to the Washington State Office of the Governor (WA Governor) for approval to move forward.
- At the June 9th EMT, WSLCB Director of Legislative Relations Chris Thompson explained the process for agency staff to draft and request legislation for the following year’s legislative session.
- The Cannabis Science Task Force (CSTF) met on Thursday August 5th and hosted a presentation and discussion about two potential legislative proposals to continue the process of redesigning and shifting responsibility for cannabis testing lab accreditation. Cannabis Examiner Manager Kendra Hodgson described an agency request legislation package led by WSLCB in collaboration with the Washington State Department of Agriculture (WSDA) which would shift responsibility for lab standards to the department. A novel entity referred to as the Interagency Coordination Team (ICT)---not a new top-level regulatory body, nor a task force, but something in-between---would be defined in the department statute as well. Staffing and budget would be arranged between WSLCB, WSDA, and the Washington State Department of Health (DOH) via interagency agreements (IAAs), and a substantial, undisclosed, recurring appropriation would be sought from the legislature. The ICT would take the lab standard recommendations of the CSTF for adaptation into the WSDA Washington Administrative Code (WAC), which the Washington State Department of Ecology (DOE) would then use as the basis to implement a cannabis testing lab accreditation program by July 2024.
- However, at this same meeting, DOE staff described their own request legislation which could erase that due date and predicate implementation upon the standup of the ICT, implementation of its rules - and the creation of a new ecosystem for in-matrix cannabis proficiency testing which does not currently exist in Washington state.
- Stakeholder engagement on all request legislation bills is required, so outreach from agencies to share information and request feedback should be expected around this time.
Thursday August 12th
At publication time, no cannabis-related policymaking events were scheduled.
Friday August 13th
At publication time, no cannabis-related policymaking events were scheduled.