WSLCB - Executive Management Team
(November 8, 2023) - Summary

2023-11-08 - WSLCB - Executive Management Team - Summary - Takeaways
[ Event Details ]

Topics related to social equity applicants, research projects, and the approaching legislative session were brought up by agency leadership.

Here are some observations from the Wednesday November 8th Washington State Liquor and Cannabis Board (WSLCB) Executive Management Team (EMT) public meeting.

My top 3 takeaways:

  • Licensing and Regulation Director Becky Smith added new details around the progress of social equity applicants and responded to comments by agency leaders on local authority and disproportionately impacted area (DIA) mapping.
    • Smith previously reviewed the status of social equity program applicants on October 31st. Additionally, board members approved the start of rulemaking implementing legislative changes to the equity program earlier that day.
    • Smith reported that she’d followed through on commitment to send a letter to local government officials in jurisdictions with retail allotments about their authority around permitting equity businesses. “We have contacted and sent out letters to 208 local…authorities, and that's the cities and towns” within counties with allotments, she said, “and so that's why it's such a small amount.” Smith continued, saying all equity applicants were also sent “notification” by letters and phone calls. “We only received one inquiry,” she noted, related to clarifying “that we have allotments, and then local authorities have their allotments, and sometimes they're not the same. Sometimes they're much less than what LCB has allotted.” Overall, Smith felt “we're continuing to work through the process, which is terrific” (audio - 1m, Video - TVW).
    • Board Member Ollie Garrett shared that she was interested in the response from local officials. Smith said someone from the City of Marysville had sent back “their requirement for what's required for somebody to get licensed, and what they're really saying is that they're not going to allow anybody to get a license in that area” (audio - 2m, Video - TVW).
      • Garrett asked for any more applicant feedback, including whether “they understand what they were getting.” Smith said “the license investigator” let them know about the letter, and to “also let them know that if they have further questions or concerns in the future, like they're dealing with the local authority and they need us,” to reach out.
      • Board Chair David Postman asked that the board receive copies of communications both to equity applicants and local officials.
    • Turning to updated DIA maps, Smith relayed “even though we have received the information and the map back, I do have questions.” After conferring with staff, she planned on “going back to ask some questions” and “have a conversation with our, our attorney general just to make sure, again, that…we're hitting everything that we need to and we're required to.” She concluded that the revised maps were still not ready to be shared publicly (audio - 1m, Video - TVW).
    • Smith subsequently noted that two of the social equity applicants were already nearing “their build out/final inspection.” She explained that “one of them is in Snohomish County. The other one is in Ferry County,” and she understood “their hope is to be open before…January” 2024 (audio - 1m,  Video - TVW).
  • Director of Policy and External Affairs Justin Nordhorn went over team staffing, plus the work going on in the WSLCB Research Unit.
    • Nordhorn shared that a new Policy and Rules Coordinator would join the agency the following week, “so we're excited to get that person on, and we do have our former Rules Coordinator [Jeff Kildahl] that was out on leave starting to be able to engage and come back” (audio - 1m, Video - TVW).
    • According to Nordhorn, staff were considering a dashboard for their Research Unit that would outline what projects the team was working on. Additionally, staff had been working on “identifying resources for the research program, trying to figure out appropriate budgets moving forward,” he remarked, while trying to find out from other agencies with similar departments what “best practices” researchers should consider. He concluded with a comment that “we have our recruitment out for the research manager, so I'll be screening some of the applications this week” and “hopefully setting up some interviews the next few weeks” (audio - 1m, Video - TVW).
    • Retail outlet density, which Research Analyst Steve Ziegler talked about on October 3rd, was another topic noted by Nordhorn. He stated SB 5080 had required WSLCB to set rules to for “the number of licenses per county,” and “local authorities ha[d] the option in the statute to also create ordinances around the number that they feel is appropriate within their county” (audio - 3m, Video - TVW).
      • The final bill report for SB 5080 outlined how rulemaking by the agency, “when determining the maximum number of retail outlets licensed in counties, LCB must consider written input from an incorporated city or town, or county legislative authority when evaluating concerns related to outlet density.” The board was allowed to make rules for “identifying how local jurisdiction input on outlet density will be evaluated.” While a local “ordinance prescribing outlet density limitations” wouldn’t impact existing licenses, WSLCB had to “adopt rules establishing a threshold of the number of licenses created in the Program that can be located in each county.”
      • Nordhorn suggested that staff “thought it was prudent to be able to to look at some information in a global manner on outlet density. So [the research team] looked at things in alcohol, tobacco, and cannabis and the literature that was out there.” His goal was for WSLCB staff to have context and data to inform local government officials, but cautioned the number of licenses per county hadn’t been set. Nordhorn’s impression was that SB 5080 was passed with language that “created some complexities” which officials hadn’t recognized when the bill was going through the legislative process. He summed up how studying “outlet density [was] really going to help inform on the 5080 rule development.”
        • In particular, Nordhorn explained how rules setting the maximum number of retailers in a county wouldn’t “come into play until we ask the legislature for more, or recommend an increase in licenses.”
          • Agency leaders weren’t going to pursue legislative approval for additional cannabis licenses in the 2024 session while applicants for the existing equity retail allotments finished the licensing process.
        • Once equity licenses were situated, staff would be “creating the rules long before [retail caps] will actually be in effect,” and Nordhorn expected “limitations on the caps, there's some double roll out standards.” One standard would be for equity applicants who could “go anywhere [statewide], and then we have the caps that will come in after that,” he said,  with standards limiting the total number of cannabis shops in each county, inclusive of social equity stores.
        • Because equity licenses would be allowed to situate in any jurisdiction that would permit them, Nordhorn felt “5080 says right now that they don't have to abide by the caps in the counties,” so setting caps in rules before those applicants were required to abide by them was “where…that complexity… folds in there.” 

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