WA Legislature - Update
(February 2, 2024)

WA Legislature - Update (February 2, 2024) - Takeaways

A fiscal committee heard cannabis legislation Thursday, but calendars were becoming cramped ahead of the next legislative gateway on Monday - and several cannabis bills may be left out.

Here are some observations of the Washington State Legislature (WA Legislature) for Friday February 2nd, the 26th day of the 2024 regular session.

My top 2 takeaways:

  • Members of the Washington State House Appropriations Committee (WA House APP) heard two cannabis bills on Thursday regarding popular control of local cannabis business prohibitions and accreditation of testing labs by the Washington State Department of Agriculture (WSDA).
    • HB 1650 - “Requiring voter approval for local government prohibitions on cannabis businesses.”
      • Positions (testifying + not testifying - duplicates = total)
        • PRO: 1 + 4 - 0 = 5
        • CON: 2 + 10 - 0 = 12
        • OTHER: 0 + 2 - 0 = 2
      • Testifying against the legislation, Association of Washington Cities (AWC) Government Relations Advocate Lindsey Huerr abridged her policy committee comments to say, from a fiscal perspective, any potential benefits would not outweigh predicted costs. Washington Association for Substance Misuse and Prevention (WASAVP) Board Member Scott Waller appealed to legislators who had previously occupied elected seats in cities and counties to consider how they would have felt about such a "State power grab."
      • Albert Sardinas, signed in as representing FMS Global Strategies, ended his supportive remarks by declaring legislators shouldn’t let a few "NIMBYs" enforce the status quo.
      • At publication time, HB 1650 remained scheduled for an executive session on Saturday February 3rd and no amendments on the legislation had been published.
    • HB 2151 - “Reassigning the accreditation of private cannabis testing laboratories from the department of ecology to the department of agriculture.”
      • Positions (testifying + not testifying - duplicates = total)
        • PRO: 1 + 8 - 1 = 8
        • CON: 0 +  - 0 = 0
        • OTHER: 0 + 0 - 0 = 0
      • During the staff briefing, Fiscal Analyst Dan Jones described a table he had devised on the "Estimated Fiscal Impact of SHB 2151 (Cannabis lab accreditation).” The document showed the difference in expected costs between current law which has the Department of Ecology responsible for accreditation in contrast to the proposal to have WSDA take on the role.  Even with the inclusion of an additional WSDA full-time equivalent (FTE) employee focused on accreditation, the Ag proposal showed cost savings for the State.
        • However, the document glosses over the expenses to maintain the existing three-person WSDA Cannabis Lab Analysis Standards Program (CLASP) team, presumably because assisting with accreditation will only be part of their duties and/or the on-going funding may come from an appropriation elsewhere.
      • Following the briefing by Washington State House Regulated Substances and Gaming Committee (WA House RSG) Counsel Peter Clodfelter, Representative Lauren Davis made a pointed inquiry about the policy committee amendment by prime sponsor Representative Kristine Reeves. Davis asked, “about not destroying cannabis that doesn’t meet criteria, can you share if you know where that request came from to not destroy it and what would happen to undestroyed cannabis?” Clodfelter declined to directly address Davis’ request that he publicly name any source or sources for the amendment, instead referring her to the prime sponsor and the bill report.  He then provided a thorough description of the current provisions in WSLCB code which allow for products which fail an initial quality assurance test to be remediated. He then elaborated on Jones’ description of a revised fiscal note which indicated WSLCB staff chose to interpret the amendment as precluding their authority to destroy cannabis products more broadly.  Summarily, WSLCB asked for an additional Enforcement FTE to prevent diversion of rogue products.
        • The explanation from the WSLCB Enforcement division in the fiscal note states, “The workload impact from this bill is based on the change (striking section 2(4)) removing the ability for LCB to prevent unsafe products from reaching the consumer. LCB is responsible for ensuring that any products that fail certain tests do not make it to the consumer. This change would remove the ability for the LCB to seize a product lot for destruction that has failed certain tests. Not destroying failed lots will provide a major loophole for diversion.”
      • WSDA Legislative Liaison and Policy Advisor Kelly McLain offered glowing testimony on the agency request legislation punctuated with an announcement that she had brought treats from Dairy Day at the Legislature including milks, cheeses, and ice cream.  An unidentified legislator could be heard amid the excited background chatter asking if it was "cannabis ice cream."
      • At publication time, HB 2151 remained scheduled for an executive session on Saturday February 3rd and no amendments on the legislation had been published.
  • On Friday following a floor session, the Washington State Senate Rules Committee (WA Senate RULE) planned to convene in the early afternoon as finance committees continued to move bills ahead of the next legislative deadline on Monday February 5th.
    • The Washington State Senate (WA Senate) would host a floor session beginning at 9am PT.  At publication time, three cannabis-related bills were positioned for consideration by the chamber and could be included in an order of consideration.
      • SB 5363 - “Concerning cannabis retailer advertising.”
      • SB 5377 - “Concerning cannabis license ownership.”
      • SB 6271 - “Modifying the cannabis excise tax to consider THC concentration.”
    • 1pm: WA Senate RULE - Committee Meeting [ Event Details ]
      • Members would be granted one opportunity to move legislation from the WA Senate RULE White calendar to the floor in addition to votes on regular and consent packages of bills selected by committee leadership.
    • Legislative finance committees would continue to meet ahead of the House of Origin Fiscal Committee Cutoff on Monday February 5th.  Additional hearings and executive sessions had been scheduled by the WA House APP and the Washington State Senate Ways and Means Committee (WA Senate WM) - but no new cannabis bills were among the legislation up for consideration. At publication time, time was running out for the following six bills:
      • HB 2194 - “Legalizing the home cultivation of cannabis.”
      • HB 2320 - “Concerning high THC cannabis products.”
      • HB 2449 - “Concerning use of cannabis tax revenue for professional health care services.”
      • SB 5259 - “Ensuring commerce and workplaces are safe from product theft.”
      • SB 5404 - “Increasing cannabis revenue distributions to local governments.”
      • SB 6272 - “Dedicating the state share of cannabis excise tax revenue to counties and cities.”
    • SB 6220 (“Concerning high THC cannabis products”), the less rigorously reworked companion to HB 2320 which both democratic and republican leaders in the Senate policy committee agreed needed more revision, was scheduled for a public hearing on Saturday February 3rd in WA Senate WM.
      • [ Register Position ]
      • At publication time, a second proposed substitute had not been published and the legislation had not been scheduled for an executive session.