WA Legislature - Update
(February 16, 2024)

WA Legislature - Update (February 16, 2024) - Takeaways

Four cannabis-related bills were heard or advanced on Thursday whereas four others were more clearly withdrawn from consideration as committee schedules for the following week continued to fill out.

Here are some observations of the Washington State Legislature (WA Legislature) for Friday February 16th, the 40th day of the 2024 regular session.

My top 5 takeaways:

  • Also on Thursday, the Washington State House Regulated Substances and Gaming Committee (WA House RSG) heard brief remarks on the advertising and low dose tetrahydrocannabinol (THC) beverages legislation, but opted to not take action on the cannabis waste bill.
    • SB 5363 - “Concerning cannabis retailer advertising.”
      • Positions (testifying + not testifying - duplicates = total)
        • PRO: 2 + 37 - 2 = 37
        • CON: 1 + 3 - 0 = 4
        • OTHER: 0 + 0 - 0 = 0
      • Washington CannaBusiness Association (WACA) Executive Director and Lobbyist Vicki Christophersen was joined by FMS Global Strategies CEO Paula Sardinas in offering responses to lawmaker questions and advocating for the bill.
      • Washington Association for Substance Misuse and Violence Prevention (WASAVP) Board Member Linda Thompson offered countervailing remarks indicating the 120 prevention community coalitions she represented did not want to countenance a potential expansion of cannabis advertising should elected officials in local jurisdictions undertake action to change their retail signage laws to increase the number and/or size of allowable trade name signs as authorized by the bill.
    • SB 5340 - “Regarding limits on the sale and possession of retail cannabis products.”
      • Positions (testifying + not testifying - duplicates = total)
        • PRO: 2 + 5 - 1 = 6
        • CON: 0 + 2 - 0 = 2
        • OTHER: 0 + 0 - 0 = 0
      • Christophersen thanked representatives for recommending and passing the House companion, HB 1249, and made herself available for questions of which there were none.
    • SB 5376 - “Allowing the sale of cannabis waste.”
      • After presenting questions and hearing positive testimony on the legislation the day before, lawmakers prepared to undertake an executive session on the cannabis waste bill.  Staff briefed on an amendment which was described as authorizing “cannabis producers and processors to provide cannabis waste free of any charge to a person who is not licensed by the Liquor and Cannabis Board if certain requirements prior to the transfer are satisfied.”
      • After returning from caucus, Co-Chair Shelley Kloba announced they had decided to defer executive action until their next meeting.
      • Later in the day, an executive session on SB 5376 was scheduled for the committee meeting on Monday February 19th.
  • Lawmakers in the Washington State Senate Labor and Commerce Committee (WA Senate LC) made short work of the substantively identical House version of the low dose beverages billon Thursday, recommending it be calendared without a public hearing.
    • HB 1249 - "Regarding limits on the sale and possession of retail cannabis products."
      • The bill was almost identical to SB 5340—the only difference being one version spelled out numerals—which had been recommended by WA Senate LC in 2023 and passed by the body in 2024.  Members opted not to host a public hearing on the legislation and referred it unchanged to the Washington State Senate Rules Committee (WA Senate RULE) for calendaring.
  • Four cannabis-related bills which had not been passed by the Senate prior to the House of Origin Cutoff on Tuesday February 13th were more clearly rendered inactive by demotion into the rules committee x-file.
    • Senate leaders added the following bills to the WA Senate RULE x-file:
      • SB 5377 - “Concerning cannabis license ownership.”
      • SB 5405 - “Modifying the liquor and cannabis board's subpoena authority.”
      • SB 5662 - “Creating the cannabis employee job retention act.”
      • SB 5791 - “Concerning the evaluation of the effectiveness of oral fluid roadside information in the enforcement of driving under the influence laws.”
    • The official Washington State Legislature "Guide to Lawmaking" notes that, “After certain cut-off dates, the Rules Committee sometimes places bills in the x-file if they are no longer available for consideration. Bills placed in the x-file are removed from all calendars and daily status sheets. While most bills remain in the x-file until the end of the biennium, some may be pulled for further consideration.”
  • The primary cannabis policy committees were not scheduled to convene on Friday, but the cannabis commission bill was lined up for action early in the following week.
    • SB 5546 - “Establishing a Washington state cannabis commission.”