Two more cannabis bills were pulled out of Senate Rules, interstate was passed by senators, the schedule for next week has some surprises, and floor activity continues.
Here are some observations of the Washington State Legislature (WA Legislature) for Thursday March 2nd, the 53rd day of the 2023 Regular Session.
My top 4 takeaways:
- On Wednesday March 1st, Washington State Senate Rules Committee (WA Senate RULE) members pulled two cannabis bills to the Senate second reading calendar.
- SB 5340 - "Regarding limits on the sale and possession of retail cannabis products."
- Legislation seeking to alter possession constraints to better enable low dose cannabis beverages was included in the regular package of bills by committee leadership.
- SB 5367 - "Concerning the regulation of products containing THC."
- Co-sponsor Senator Karen Keiser moved consideration of the Washington State Liquor and Cannabis Board (WSLCB) request legislation intended to address hemp consumable products, exercising the first of her two member pulls to do so. She commented that she was amenable to amending the bill to get the THC limit on single servings of less regulated hemp cannabinoid products “down to zero,” eliciting the approval of Senator Ann Rivers.
- Cannabis Observer has previously remarked that legislating hemp consumables contain literally zero percent THC would test the bounds of existing chemical separation techniques. Such a law would likely put private analytical testing labs in legal jeopardy given scientific limits on the detection of any compound, could be contested in court, and may prove unenforceable.
- SB 5340 - "Regarding limits on the sale and possession of retail cannabis products."
- Later on Wednesday, SB 5069 ("Allowing interstate cannabis agreements") was passed by the Washington State Senate (WA Senate).
- Rivers, the prime sponsor, moved that her bill be advanced out of concern that the Washington state cannabis sector “could be left in the dust if we’re out of town and unable to take action” in the event of federal legalization. Senator Derek Stanford seconded her remarks.
- Senator Bob Hasegawa registered his objection, raising similar concerns about out-of-state corporate control as he expressed during the passage of the bill by the Washington State Senate Ways and Means Committee (WA Senate WM).
- The legislation was passed without amendment 40-8-1 with Senators Fortunato, Hasegawa, Kaufmann, Lovelett, Padden, Randall, Salomon, and Trudeau voting against the bill. It would be referred to the Washington State House of Representatives (WA House) for consideration by their peers.
- Wednesday evening, legislative staff published the calendar for the following week which included three notable events on Thursday March 9th marking the renewal of policy committee activity after the house of origin cutoff.
- Legislators would continue to meet in session during the first half of the week leading up to the house of origin cutoff on Wednesday March 8th. On Thursday March 9th, three committees planned to host work sessions and public hearings on cannabis legislation and themes.
- The Washington State House Regulated Substances and Gaming Committee (WA House RSG) planned to host a work session to hear an “Update from the Washington State Institute for Public Policy on the Initiative 502 (2012) Evaluations.”
- The Washington State Senate Labor and Commerce Committee (WA Senate LC) planned to host public hearings on confirmation of the gubernatorial appointments of all three WSLCB board members.
- The agency profile hosted by the Washington State Office of the Governor (WA Governor) previously indicated that Garrett’s term of appointment to WSLCB ended on January 15th. However, at time of publication it showed Garrett had been reappointed to a term which began on February 1st and ends January 15th, 2029.
- WA Senate WM planned to host a public hearing on SB 5259 (“Ensuring commerce and workplaces are safe from product theft”), a senate bill which was not moved prior to the fiscal committee cutoff and had been considered inactive, earning the distinction of being the first cannabis-related “zombie bill” of the 2023 regular session as it was apparently designated “necessary to implement budgets” (NTIB) by legislative leaders.
- On Thursday March 2nd—day 53 and the halfway point of the 105 day regular session—the Washington State House of Representatives (WA House) and the Washington State Senate (WA Senate) planned to reconvene to read, debate, amend, and vote on bills.
- WA House members planned to convene at 9am PT. At publication time, no cannabis bills had been advanced to the house floor calendar.
- WA Senate members planned to convene at 9am PT. At publication time, two cannabis bills had been advanced to the senate floor calendar: