WA Legislature - Update
(February 3, 2024)

WA Legislature - Update (February 3, 2024) - Takeaways

After passage of the excise tax study bill and movement of three others to chamber floor calendars, fiscal committees made last minute changes to their agendas for Saturday inclusive of four cannabis bills.

Here are some observations of the Washington State Legislature (WA Legislature) for Saturday February 3rd, the 27th day of the 2024 regular session.

My top 4 takeaways:

  • On Friday, legislation was passed by the Senate which would require the Washington State Liquor and Cannabis Board (WSLCB) to undertake economic studies on modifying the excise tax to discourage use of high tetrahydrocannabinol (THC) products.
    • SB 6271 - “Modifying the cannabis excise tax to consider THC concentration.”
      • The legislation was included in the second order of consideration as the second bill for the body’s attention.
      • Democrat Senator and President Pro Tempore Karen Keiser described her legislation to her peers as addressing a concern “that the proliferation of high-potency cannabis products—in some cases up to 100% THC, when a cannabis plant is only 15%—is posing a danger to consumers, especially to young people.”
      • Republican Senator Curtis King rose to support the legislation, though expressing his wish for the research timeline to be shorter.
      • SB 6271 was passed by a roll call vote of 44-5.  The following senators opposed final passage of the legislation, all Democrats:
    • The Senate Democratic Caucus subsequently published an announcement on the passage of the bill, characterized as enabling the State to “collect better data and be equipped to take steps to discourage consumption of cannabis containing high amounts of the intoxicating agent THC.”
  • Also on Friday, Senate leadership pulled two cannabis-related bills to their floor calendar regarding retail robberies and accommodations for low THC beverages.
    • SB 6133 - “Deterring robberies from cannabis retail establishments.”
      • Legislation to enhance penalties for those convicted of robbing cannabis businesses under certain circumstances was one of the bills among the regular package pulls selected by committee leadership.
    • SB 5340 - “Regarding limits on the sale and possession of retail cannabis products.”
      • Republican Senator Shelly Short used her member pull to advance SB 5340 to the floor in what appeared to be a unanimous vote by her peers.
  • As well, House leadership pulled legislation to their floor calendar which would require the WSLCB to create and publish a data dashboard on the substances they regulate.
    • HB 2182 - “Creating a data dashboard to track use of regulated substances.”
      • On Friday, WA House leadership pulled a large number of bills out of the Washington State House Rules Committee (WA House RUL) to their floor calendar, including the WSLCB data dashboard legislation.
        • To our knowledge, the WA House RUL had not been formally convened during the 2024 session.
      • HB 2182 became the first cannabis-related House bill to make it to the floor calendar in 2024, and could be brought up for a second and third reading during subsequent floor sessions.
  • On Saturday, fiscal committees in both chambers planned to hear and act on four cannabis-related bills - including the last minute addition of the House version of the high THC legislation to the Washington State House Appropriations Committee (WA House APP) agenda.
    • 9am: WA House APP - Committee Meeting [ Event Details ]
      • HB 1650 - “Requiring voter approval for local government prohibitions on cannabis businesses.”
        • At publication time, no amendments on the legislation had been published.
        • The agenda, finalized and first published the night before the hearing around 11pm, situates the executive sessions ahead of the public hearings and lists HB 1650 as the second bill for executive action.
      • HB 2151 - “Reassigning the accreditation of private cannabis testing laboratories from the department of ecology to the department of agriculture.”
        • Two amendments on the legislation were published on Friday February 2nd.
        • CLOD 278 by Representative Larry Springer would respond to a concern raised by a policy committee amendment which was questioned during the WA House APP public hearing on Thursday February 1st.  The revised language would clarify that the WSLCB may provide exceptions to the legislative statute that cannabis product lots which fail quality assurance testing must be destroyed - exceptions which already exist in the Washington Administrative Code (WAC), rules apparently devised by previous WSLCB staff at some point in the past.
        • JOND 347 by Representative Tana Senn would revert the fee structure to existing law, requiring the Washington State Department of Agriculture (WSDA) to charge labs for the entire cost of the accreditation program as well as the costs of the 3-person Cannabis Lab Analysis Standards Program (CLASP).
          • While the latter expense had been omitted from House analysis, the fiscal note from WSDA acknowledges the Department’s intent to submit a separate operating budget decision package to fund the CLASP team: “Note: The estimated costs of this fiscal note assume continued funding for WSDA’s CLASP requirements in Chapter 15.150 RCW, which are currently funded on a one-time basis in the 2023-25 biennium. In addition to the incremental staffing above, the following essential staff would be needed to maintain the CLASP and ongoing accreditation requirements in the proposed legislation (current estimated costs are $659,330 and 3.50 FTE in FY 2026 and ongoing each fiscal year thereafter). These essential positions are not included in the fiscal note tables. WSDA plans to submit a 2025-27 biennium decision package to ensure continued funding.
        • The agenda listed HB 2151 in the 20th position for executive action.
      • HB 2320 - “Concerning high THC cannabis products.”
        • [ Register Position ]
        • Late on Friday night, a public hearing on the legislation was announced by WA House APP staff.  An executive session on the bill was also scheduled for Monday February 5th.
        • The agenda listed HB 2320 in the 28th position among public hearings scheduled for consideration after executive sessions on 27 bills.
    • 9am: Washington State Senate Ways and Means Committee (WA Senate WM) - Committee Meeting [ Event Details ]
      • SB 6220 - “Concerning high THC cannabis products.”
        • [ Register Position ]
        • The agenda listed SB 6220 in the 9th position among public hearings and no executive sessions were scheduled for the event.
        • At publication time, the legislation had not been scheduled for an executive session.