The Week Ahead
(November 28, 2022)

WA Legislature - 2023 Session - WSLCB - CANNRA - WA OAG - UW ADAI - JLARC

WSLCB, JLARC, and the Attorney General would convene on cannabis related topics as Washington State legislators met with guests and officials to prepare for the 2023 session.

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

Monday November 28th

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

Tuesday November 29th

WSLCB - Board Caucus

On Tuesday at 10am PT, the weekly Washington State Liquor and Cannabis Board (WSLCB) Board Caucus was scheduled to recur.

WSLCB - World Cafe - Canopy

On Tuesday at 1pm PT, a WSLCB World Café on the Canopy Rulemaking Project was scheduled.

  • [ Event Details, Rulemaking Project ]
  • A rulemaking project on cannabis plant canopy was opened by the board in late August in an effort to bring more consistency to the application and enforcement of production limits. On October 4th, the WSLCB Policy and Rules team hosted their first pre-proposal world café event where participants addressed three questions:
    • How should we treat floor space that is not in production?
    • How could we update the Tier system?
    • How should we measure canopy?
    • Some themes from the discussions were subsequently summarized by WSLCB staff.
  • On Tuesday, WSLCB staff planned to host a second world café event to address three new questions:
    • Would producers benefit from more flexibility in how they use the cannabis growing area?
    • Should the Tier levels be modernized to follow maximum yield limits, instead of measuring canopy area?
    • Would following annual yield limits be a better way to regulate cannabis production?
  •  Pre-registration is required to participate.

Wednesday November 30th

WA House COG - Committee Meeting

On Wednesday at 9am PT, the Washington State House Commerce and Gaming Committee (WA House COG) planned to convene.

WA ORC Task Force - Meeting

On Wednesday at 9am PT, the Washington State Organized Retail Crime Task Force (WA ORC Task Force) was scheduled to convene.

  • [ Event Details ]
  • The Washington State Organized Retail Crime Task Force (WA ORC Task Force) was formed in June 2022 by the Washington State Office of the Attorney General (WA OAG) to "improve coordination and collaboration among law enforcement agencies to address these multi-jurisdictional crimes that endanger employees and cause significant economic harm to our state." At publication time, the task force had met only once on July 7th.
  • On October 17th, the Washington State Senate Labor, Commerce, and Tribal Affairs Committee (WA Senate LCTA) hosted a work session where committee members heard about the response to organized retail crime, including from staff of the attorney general’s office and cannabis retail representatives.
  • On November 23rd, WA OAG staff published a press release reinforcing how “Attorney General Bob Ferguson…is pursuing funding from the Legislature to establish an Organized Retail Crime Unit in his office,” a subject addressed during the October 17th work session.
  • Although cannabis retail thefts have thus far been lumped into this initiative, it's somewhat unclear whether cannabis sector robberies meet the criteria for these kinds of crimes.
    • According to the press release, “Organized Retail Crime involves a group of individuals that steal products not for their own personal use, but to resell them for a profit. This does not include general retail crimes like petty theft, shoplifting or poverty-driven crimes.”
  • In cannabis retail robberies, we've heard that some cannabis products are stolen but usually the primary target is cash. Are the cannabis products provably resold for a profit? Are these "poverty-driven crimes"? In addition to the trauma, business losses, and in some cases deaths - the brutality of cannabis robberies create dramatic stories. However, to what extent the sector may benefit from the efforts of this task force and the Attorney General's push for a dedicated prosecutorial unit remain to be seen.

JLARC - Committee Meeting

On Wednesday at 10am PT, the Washington State Joint Legislative Audit and Review Committee (JLARC) was scheduled to convene.

  • [ Event Details ]
  • During the 2022 state session, legislators passed and the governor signed ​​SB 5796  ("Restructuring cannabis revenue appropriations") which changed non-binding cannabis revenue appropriations and mandated a study of those expenditures by JLARC officials be completed by December 2023.
  • Outgoing WSLCB Director of Legislative Relations Chris Thompson was approached by JLARC staffers following a September 29th presentation he made in collaboration with WA House COG Counsel Peter Clodfelter regarding “The First Decade of Washington’s Adult-Use Cannabis Experiment” at the annual Legislative Staff Academy. The staffers followed up by email on October 12th to begin a process of inquiry while clarifying “this is not an audit of LCB and we know you don’t make any decisions regarding how funds are appropriated or expended. Rather we will need to utilize LCB’s expertise and insights as we work to answer the Legislature’s questions.”
  • A few hours later at the October 12th WSLCB Executive Management Team (EMT) meeting, Thompson mentioned how JLARC staff had communicated with WSLCB representatives and he planned to schedule meetings so WSLCB officials could start “to assist them with their project.” He stated JLARC would be looking at whether the appropriations were “consistent with law, whether information about…these topics is readily available to the general public, and…whether there are ways to enhance or increase the transparency and accountability” (audio - 2m, video - WSLCB, video - TVW).
  • At the November 30th JLARC meeting, staff planned to present proposed study questions that provide more specificity on the project scope:
    • “1. How much money has been appropriated from the Dedicated Cannabis Account and for what purposes?
    • 2. How have state and local entities spent the funds they received? Are the expenditures consistent with statutory directives?
    • 3. How much from the Account has been spent in local communities?
    • 4. How is information about the Account’s appropriation and expenditures made available to the public, and are there options for improving the transparency and accessibility of information?”

Thursday December 1st

WSLCB - Work Group - Cannabinoid Science - Public Meeting

On Thursday at 10am PT, the WSLCB Cannabinoid Science Work Group (WSLCB - Work Group - Cannabinoid Science) was scheduled to convene.

  • [ Event Details ]
  • Established in November 2022, the WSLCB Cannabinoid Science Work Group was formed to build foundational understanding of the plants of the "genera Cannabis, as well as synthetic equivalents of the substances contained in the plant" as defined in RCW 69.50.204(c)(30). Thursday would be the first public meeting of the work group and its membership was not listed on the agenda.
  • During the November 9th WSLCB Executive Management Team (EMT) meeting, Director of Policy and External Affairs Justin Nordhorn credited Policy and Rules Manager Kathy Hoffman with standing up a work group that had “a very neutral and objective scope to it.” Convening the group of internal and external stakeholders could offer a chance for WSLCB officials to “be proactive in conversations around some of the science behind cannabinoids,” he hoped. With “over 30” applicants, he informed the board “12 were confirmed right now” and others would be added to “review these discussions around available data, and research regulations of these cannabinoids.” Meetings of the work group had been set for “every other month” of 2023, he stated, and staff would consider “if that needs to be continued beyond that.”

WA House CPB - Committee Meeting

On Thursday at 1:30pm PT, the Washington State House Consumer Protection and Business Committee (WA House CPB) planned to convene.

  • [ Event Details ]
  • Members planned to hear "Organized Retail Theft Updates."

Friday December 2nd

WA House COG - Committee Meeting

On Friday at 8am PT, the WA House COG planned to convene.

  • [ Event Details ]
  • Members were scheduled to hear an “Update on Cannabinoid Product Regulation and Enforcement and Summary of Research on High-THC Concentration Cannabis.”
  • As early as mid-October, WSLCB staff were speaking publicly about this planned work session.By early November, outgoing Director of Legislative Affairs Chris Thompson had a clearer conception of the topics committee members were interested in hearing about.
  • The agenda for the event listed the following speakers:
    • Justin Nordhorn, WSLCB Director of Policy and External Relations
    • Chandra Wax, WSLCB Director of Enforcement and Education
    • Joshua Bolender, WSLCB Enforcement and Education Captain (Cannabis, Westside)
    • Kathy Hoffman, WSLCB Policy and Rules Manager
    • Gillian Schauer, Cannabis Regulators Association (CANNRA) Executive Director
    • Beatriz Carlini, UW ADAI Cannabis Education and Research Program Director
    • Notably not listed were either Thompson, who had been asked to extend his employment at WSLCB sometime after his departure was first mentioned in late August, nor incoming Director of Legislative Relations Marc Webster, whose first day at the agency was November 8th.

WA Pharmacy Commission Legislative Committee - Public Meeting

The monthly Washington State Pharmacy Quality Assurance Commission Legislative Committee (WA Pharmacy Commission Legislative Committee) public meeting was cancelled.

  • [ Event Details ]
  • In the cancellation notice, WA Pharmacy Commission staff indicated “The regular 2023 session…begins January 9. PQAC will hold weekly updates each Friday beginning at noon during the legislative session.”