WA Legislature - Update
(February 14, 2024)

WA Legislature - Update (February 14, 2024) - Takeaways

Commodity commission legislation was passed by Senators before the House of Origin Cutoff which left 12 cannabis-related bills active as policy committees reformed for the shorter second half of session.

Here are some observations of the Washington State Legislature (WA Legislature) for Wednesday February 14th, the 38th day of the 2024 regular session.

My top 3 takeaways:

  • On Tuesday, senators passed legislation to establish a framework for creating a Washington State Cannabis Commission.
    • SB 5546 - “Establishing a Washington state cannabis commission.”
      • Reanimated just the day before, the 2023 legislation was included at the end of the Senate’s third order of consideration for the day.
      • A striking amendment by prime sponsor Senator Sharon Shewmake was adopted after further amendment.  She extolled the virtues of agricultural commodity commissions in general, specifically highlighting how a cannabis producer and producer/processor commission could assist with sector-wide research into issues such as lighting, packaging, youth access, and odor mitigation (audio - 2m, video - TVW).
      • Republican Senator Ann Rivers rose in opposition to the legislation which she described as “a recipe for disaster” should a 40% minority of wholesalers be empowered to decide to form a commission, neglecting to clarify the bill language states a referendum would be decided by “At least 51 percent by numbers of the participants in the referendum” when “At least 40 percent of the active cannabis producers and 40 percent of the active cannabis producer/processors have been represented in the referendum.”  She called out the “precious little” assessment which would be collected from individual licensees to fund collectively shared research while also lamenting the “razor thin margin” wholesalers operated under.  Rivers couldn’t countenance passage of commission legislation before her bill allowing out-of-state ownership of licensed businesses was passed (audio - 2m, video - TVW).
        • At publication time, SB 5377 (“Concerning cannabis license ownership”) was not considered by the Senate before the House of Origin Cutoff thereby greatly diminishing chances for the bill in 2024.
      • Republican Deputy Whip Perry Dozier also offered remarks, saying he had heard “actually today” that the leadership of the Washington CannaBusiness Association (WACA) remained opposed to the legislation (audio - 1m, video - TVW).
      • The following Republicans voted against the legislation:
      • The following Democrat voted against the legislation:
  • The House of Origin Cutoff occurred at 5pm on Tuesday February 13th, and five cannabis-related bills were not advanced prior to the deadline.
    • At publication time, two cannabis bills remained calendared in the Senate:
      • SB 5377 - “Concerning cannabis license ownership.”
      • SB 5791 - “Concerning the evaluation of the effectiveness of oral fluid roadside information in the enforcement of driving under the influence laws.”
    • At publication time, three cannabis-related bills had not been moved by chamber rules committees:
      • HB 1822 - “Concerning complimentary products provided by short-term rental operators to guests.”
      • SB 5405 - “Modifying the liquor and cannabis board's subpoena authority.”
      • SB 5662 - “Creating the cannabis employee job retention act.”
    • While all five bills were technically not passed by their chambers prior to the deadline and could therefore be considered inactive, legislative leadership retained a powerful means of advancing legislation outside of the agreed upon cutoff calendar.
      • Legislation can be declared "necessary to implement budgets" (NTIB), an informal procedure leadership can exercise around any bill with a fiscal impact. The criteria for NTIB status and the decision making around the designation hadn’t been set in law or rule, allowing for a bypass of the cutoff calendar which is otherwise agreed to by both chambers through the legislative process.
    • 12 cannabis-related bills remained active at publication time, 27 having been rendered inactive by their chambers of origin in 2024:
      • HB 1249 - "Regarding limits on the sale and possession of retail cannabis products."
      • HB 1453 - "Providing a tax exemption for medical cannabis patients."
      • HB 2151 - "Reassigning the accreditation of private cannabis testing laboratories from the department of ecology to the department of agriculture."
      • HB 2182 - "Creating a data dashboard to track use of regulated substances."
      • HB 2255 - "Concerning inversion and diversion of cannabis."
      • HB 2320 - "Concerning high THC cannabis products."
      • SB 5340 - "Regarding limits on the sale and possession of retail cannabis products."
      • SB 5363 - "Concerning cannabis retailer advertising."
      • SB 5376 - "Allowing the sale of cannabis waste."
      • SB 5546 - "Establishing a Washington state cannabis commission."
      • SB 6133 - "Deterring robberies from cannabis retail establishments."
      • SB 6271 - "Modifying the cannabis excise tax to consider THC concentration."