On Tuesday March 26th, the Senate Labor and Commerce Committee hosted a public hearing for HB 1094, “Establishing compassionate care renewals for medical marijuana qualifying patients.”
- HB 1094 was granted a public hearing by its House policy committee on January 25th and a substitute bill was passed during executive session on February 1st. Engrossed Substitute HB 1094 (ESHB 1094) was passed by the full House on March 12th with one amendment.
- The Senate Labor and Commerce Committee hosted a public hearing for HB 1094.
- Senior Committee Counsel Richard Rogers briefed committee members (audio – 1m, video); from the Senate bill report:
- Exempts a qualifying patient from the requirement to be physically present and have a photograph taken when seeking to renew registration in the Medical Marijuana Authorization Database and a recognition card, if a health care professional finds it would likely result in a severe hardship to the qualifying patient.
- Senior Committee Counsel Richard Rogers briefed committee members (audio – 1m, video); from the Senate bill report:
- Committee Chair Karen Keiser asked Rogers if the only difference between the bill and its companion, SB 5498, was the absence of telemedicine as an option to renew authorizations. Rogers confirmed that was correct (audio – 1m, video).
- No one signed up to testify at the public hearing.
- Keiser reported two people signed in but did not wish to testify: Seth Dawson, lobbyist for the Washington Association of Substance Abuse and Violence Prevention (WASAVP), signed in as “pro.”
- Sean O’Brien signed in as “other.”