Three cannabis bills were passed by their chambers of origin, two were calendared, and hearings on two were scheduled as representatives recovering from a 15 hour work day prepared for another on Saturday.
Here are some observations of the Washington State Legislature (WA Legislature) for Saturday February 10th, the 34th day of the 2024 regular session.
My top 4 takeaways:
- In a marathon session lasting well past midnight on Friday, WA House representatives passed three cannabis bills (“high THC”, inversion/diversion, patient excise tax exemption) and calendared another (WSDA lab accreditation).
- HB 2320 - "Concerning high THC cannabis products."
- After being pulled to the House floor by chamber leadership on Thursday evening, legislators brought HB 2320 up for its second and third reading in the early afternoon on Friday.
- Representative Lauren Davis, the primary sponsor, began by crediting her own persistence in bringing similar legislation forward over the past five years, 2024 being the first year her efforts would be considered beyond initial policy committee hearings. Her remarks recounted similar themes and statistics while deploying new claims that, due to legislative inaction, “we are currently growing a schizophrenia epidemic among Generation Z” (audio - 3m, video - TVW).
- Testimony from Minority Caucus Vice Chair Kelly Chambers and Representative Sharon Wylie was more measured in tone, both explicitly declaring that the "science is not settled." Chambers asserted correlation is not causation (audio - 1m, video - TVW) while Wylie, the author of the substitute language recommended by the policy committee, acknowledged any indications of harm required action (audio - 1m, video - TVW).
- Republican Representative Mary Dye offered final supportive remarks on the bill, pointing to the citation of a study by discredited author Alex Berenson in his book titled, “Tell Your Children: The Truth About Marijuana, Mental Illness and Violence” (audio - 2m, video - TVW).
- "Tell Your Children" was the original title of the film Reefer Madness and, by his own admission, was purposefully selected by Berenson.
- In response to the citation of her studies by Berenson and his publication of a controversial opinion piece in the New York Times in 2019, UCLA Researcher Ziva Cooper asserted that “we now know that genetic risk for schizophrenia predicts cannabis use, shedding some light on the potential direction of the association between cannabis use and schizophrenia.”
- The following legislators voted against passage of the bill, all Republicans:
- Representative Greg Cheney
- Representative Joel McEntire
- Minority Caucus Vice Chair Eric Robertson
- Representative Jim Walsh
- At publication time, Walsh was the elected Chairman of the Washington State Republican Party.
- Representative Alex Ybarra
- HB 2255 - "Concerning inversion and diversion of cannabis."
- Representative Kevin Waters, the prime sponsor of the legislation, introduced his amendment which “Requires the Liquor and Cannabis Board (LCB) to regularly ensure that all cannabis licensees and third-party testing laboratories comply with any reporting requirement of the LCB to report data or events to the LCB through the Cannabis Central Reporting System.” He claimed that upwards of 30% of licensed businesses were not regularly reporting their activity to the agency.
- The body incorporated the amendment in a voice vote and unanimously passed the legislation with the exception of Representative Bruce Chandler who had been frequently excused and seemingly absent from the legislature for some time.
- HB 2151 - "Reassigning the accreditation of private cannabis testing laboratories from the department of ecology to the department of agriculture."
- Towards the end of the evening, House leaders pulled another package of bills out of the Washington State House Rules Committee (WA House RUL) for addition to their floor calendar including the Washington State Department of Agriculture (WSDA) request legislation on the transfer of lab accreditation authority.
- HB 1453 - “Providing a tax exemption for medical cannabis patients.”
- As part of their final order of consideration just before midnight, legislators brought up the 2023 legislation they had reanimated the night before which would provide a tax exemption for registered patients on medical cannabis purchases.
- Representatives voted to pass the legislation 85-12-0-1, with Chandler excused.
- The following Republicans voted against passage of the bill:
- Representative Stephanie Barnard
- Representative Michelle Caldier
- Representative Leonard Christian
- Representative Tom Dent
- Representative Mary Dye
- Representative Jenny Graham
- Representative Spencer Hutchins
- Representative Gina Mosbrucker
- Representative Mike Volz
- The following Democrats voted against passage of the bill:
- Representative Frank Chopp
- Chopp served as Speaker of the House from 2002-2019.
- Representative Lauren Davis
- Representative Tana Senn
- Representative Frank Chopp
- HB 2320 - "Concerning high THC cannabis products."
- Also on Friday, opposite house policy committee public hearings were announced on the WSLCB data dashboard bill and the retail robberies legislation, both scheduled for the morning of Thursday February 15th.
- 8am: Washington State House Community Safety, Justice, and Reentry Committee [ Event Details ]
- SB 6133 - “Deterring robberies from cannabis retail establishments.”
- 8am: Washington State Senate Labor and Commerce Committee [ Event Details ]
- HB 2182 - “Creating a data dashboard to track use of regulated substances.”
- 8am: Washington State House Community Safety, Justice, and Reentry Committee [ Event Details ]
- Also on Friday, the Washington State Senate Rules Committee (WA Senate RULE) advanced legislation which would authorize the Washington State Patrol (WSP) to undertake a pilot program to test roadside technology intended to help identify impaired drivers.
- SB 5791 - “Concerning the evaluation of the effectiveness of oral fluid roadside information in the enforcement of driving under the influence laws.”
- According to the bill report, the legislation would require the WSP “to establish a pilot program to evaluate the outcomes and effectiveness of oral fluid roadside information used as part of driving under the influence law enforcement.”
- In an update sent to members of the Washington Impaired Driving Advisory Council (WIDAC) on February 1st, Washington Traffic Safety Commission (WTSC) Director of External Relations Mark McKechnie indicated the legislation “would direct WSP to pilot the use of voluntary roadside oral fluid test devices with drivers stopped for suspected impairment. The devices screen for the presence of a panel of impairing substances that include cannabis, cocaine, amphetamine, methamphetamine, opiates, and benzodiazepines. They do not detect the specific drug type or amount. These devices are currently used in several other states, including Michigan and Indiana.”
- During the committee meeting, Senator Ann Rivers used her member pull to move the legislation and was endorsed by her peers.
- Senators could take up the legislation for second and third reading during a subsequent floor session. At publication time, there were no floor amendments on the bill.
- SB 5791 - “Concerning the evaluation of the effectiveness of oral fluid roadside information in the enforcement of driving under the influence laws.”
- On Saturday, representatives would continue their floor sessions a little later in the morning ahead of the next cutoff on Tuesday February 13th.
- The WA House was scheduled to convene at 10am PT. The House would announce and publish orders of consideration throughout the day listing bills planned for floor activity. At publication time, two cannabis bills were positioned for floor activity:
- The WA Senate was not scheduled to reconvene until Monday February 12th at 10am PT.
- The House of Origin Cutoff would occur on Tuesday February 13th at 5pm PT.