Representatives had too much to chew on from their Tuesday hearings, WSLCB leadership discussed legislative positions, and five bills could potentially be moved in Senate Rules.
Here are some observations of the Washington State Legislature (WA Legislature) for Wednesday January 17th, the 10th day of the 2024 regular session.
My top 4 takeaways:
- Members of the Washington State House Regulated Substances and Gaming Committee (WA House RSG) scheduled more than they could accomplish on Tuesday, but a great deal of testimony was heard on three very different cannabis-related bills.
- HB 2182 - “Creating a data dashboard to track use of regulated substances.”
- Positions (testifying + not testifying - duplicates = total)
- PRO: 3 + 9 - 0 = 12
- CON: 0 + 5 - 0 = 5
- OTHER: 1 + 0 - 0 = 1
- Testimony was universally supportive of requiring the Washington State Liquor and Cannabis Board (WSLCB) to publish a detailed data dashboard including information collected by the agency as well as data shared by partner agencies. WSLCB Director of Legislative Relations Marc Webster spoke enthusiastically in support of the added responsibilities. However, the agency fiscal note published ten minutes after the start of the meeting indicated staff had no estimate of the costs to be incurred by the Research Unit and Information Technology department tasked with gathering, organizing, and publishing the data.
- Positions (testifying + not testifying - duplicates = total)
- HB 2194 - “Legalizing the home cultivation of cannabis.”
- Positions (testifying + not testifying - duplicates = total)
- PRO: 13 + 102 - 2 = 113
- CON: 1 + 31 - 1 = 31
- OTHER: 2 + 0 - 0 = 2
- With the exception of the perennial opposition from representatives of the Washington Association of Sheriffs and Police Chiefs (WASPC) and the Washington Association for Substance Misuse and Violence Prevention (WASAVP), testimony was wholly supportive of entrusting Washingtonians with the right to grow six cannabis plants without the threat of having their lives upended by a class C felony.
- While the greatly simplified legislation focused almost exclusively on decriminalization, legislators had lots of probing questions for the panels of commenters reminiscent of past hearings on more complicated home grow bills. New inquiries were launched into potential threats posed by disposing of bucked cannabis stems in conventional waste or compost streams, plant density concerns should a homeowners association of high-minded cannabis enthusiasts be formed, and presumably contaminated water runoff concerns - although multiple patients testified to their desire to grow at home specifically to avoid commercial use of pesticides while leveraging organic growing techniques.
- Unfortunately, home growers would have to do so without the benefit of still undefined organic-equivalent cannabis standards mandated by the Washington State Legislature in 2017 and supplemented by funding in 2021.
- Positions (testifying + not testifying - duplicates = total)
- HB 2320 - “Concerning high THC cannabis products.”
- Positions (testifying + not testifying - duplicates = total)
- PRO: 14 + 2 - 4 = 12
- CON: 8 + 39 - 0 = 47
- OTHER: 0 + 0 - 0 = 0
- Members heard diverse points of view on the newest iteration of legislation from Representative Lauren Davis aiming to prohibit young adults from accessing cannabis concentrates via the regulated marketplace while also funding substance use prevention efforts and development of new interventions for individuals at risk from consuming cannabis products.
- Public health, prevention, and research commentators emphasized studies showing adverse outcomes from cannabis use, repeatedly establishing correlations with acute incidents of psychosis and development of lifelong schizophrenia. The goal of prohibiting cannabis concentrates to those under 25 was justified by claiming the human brain continues to develop until that age, though another testifier said into the late 20’s, while other sources say the science on brain development is not settled.
- Two national prevention advocates from Smart Approaches to Marijuana (SAM), who may have innocuously tipped the positional scales by signing up to testify five times, encouraged Washington legislators to boldly pass the legislation into “uncharted territory,” presumably a suggestion to become the first legal State to meaningfully regress access to highly regulated cannabis products.
- Representative Lauren Davis is a founding member of the Leadership Council of the Foundation for Drug Policy Solutions, a Washington, D.C.-based think tank offshoot of SAM which is operated by the same staff. Founder Kevin Sabet was caught in 2016 misleading audiences about cannabis edibles and SAM has faced accusations of perpetuating false statistics around the societal costs of cannabis legalization.
- Cannabis sector representatives, consumers, and patients decried having to address another Davis bill and question the research presented as foregone conclusions, but welcomed the increased focus on funding consumer education and expressed opposition to youth use of cannabis as well as intoxicating, unregulated, untested, and more easily accessible manufactured hemp products.
- Positions (testifying + not testifying - duplicates = total)
- HB 1341 - "Concerning cannabis license ownership."
- Co-Chair Sharon Wylie deferred activity on her legislation concerning out-of-state ownership and suspension of inactive licenses until the next meeting of the committee on Thursday morning, but positions were registered on the bill.
- Positions (testifying + not testifying - duplicates = total)
- PRO: 6 + 7 - 2 = 11
- CON: 8 + 83 - 4 = 87
- OTHER: 3 + 0 - 0 = 3
- HB 1650 - “Requiring voter approval for local government prohibitions on cannabis businesses.”
- Members also deferred the potential executive session on legislation to make cannabis business bans the purview of voters rather than their elected officials until their next meeting.
- HB 2182 - “Creating a data dashboard to track use of regulated substances.”
- Members of the Washington State Senate Labor and Commerce Committee (WA Senate LC) referred a 2023 cannabis tax revenue bill to the Senate finance policy committee.
- Chair Karen Keiser indicated Senator Keith Wagoner, the primary sponsor of SB 5404 (“Increasing cannabis revenue distributions to local governments”), had no opposition to transferring his bill to the Washington State Senate Ways and Means Committee (WA Senate WM). Members quickly moved the legislation at the end of their meeting on Tuesday morning (video - 1m).
- During the Washington State Liquor and Cannabis Board (WSLCB) Board Caucus on Tuesday morning, Director of Legislative Affairs Marc Webster provided an update which precipitated discussion about several active bills.
- HB 2182 - “Creating a data dashboard to track use of regulated substances.”
- Agency leadership and staff seemed supportive of the bill, which they claimed was "informed by Director Lukela's experience" in Colorado.
- HB 2151 - “Reassigning the accreditation of private cannabis testing laboratories from the department of ecology to the department of agriculture.”
- Chair David Postman was curious about legislator responses. Rather than expressing neutrality, leadership seemed inclined to support the shift - later referenced as a lesson in "trying to fit a round peg in a square hole."
- HB 2334 - “Transferring certain cannabis licensing activities to the department of agriculture.”
- Webster indicated Washington State Department of Agriculture (WSDA) leadership planned to say they could not accept the charge due to federal prohibition, and the Board expressed strident opposition to the proposed change.
- HB 2320 and SB 6220 - “Concerning high THC cannabis products.”
- Board Member Jim Vollendroff compared raising the age gate for concentrates to legislation which raised the minimum age for tobacco sales from 18 to 21, concluding "it bears a conversation."
- HB 1341 and SB 5377 - "Concerning cannabis license ownership."
- Postman called for a caucus deep-dive on the subject of out-of-state ownership, and Webster claimed he would be presenting the agency position in terms of ambiguous impacts on social equity licensees.
- HB 2182 - “Creating a data dashboard to track use of regulated substances.”
- There were no cannabis policy committee meetings scheduled on Wednesday, but Washington State Senate Rules Committee (WA Senate RULE) members planned to convene and would have an opportunity to calendar several bills.
- WA Senate RULE members were scheduled to convene on Wednesday at 4pm and would be granted one member pull in addition to a regular consent package of bills selected by committee leadership.
- At publication time, the following cannabis-related bills were eligible for movement:
- In addition, SB 5377 (“Concerning cannabis license ownership”), the amended Senate version of the out-of-state ownership bill, could be moved out of the WA Senate RULE x-file for further legislative action.