WA Legislature - Update
(March 4, 2024)

WA Legislature - Update (March 4, 2024) - Takeaways

The patient excise tax exemption bill was modified and passed by the Senate, joining two other bills awaiting concurrence in their chambers of origin as lawmaker attention turned to budgets before sine die.

Here are some observations of the Washington State Legislature (WA Legislature) for Monday March 4th, the 57th day of the 2024 regular session.

My top 3 takeaways:

  • On Friday, the Washington State Senate modified and passed legislation to exempt registered patients from paying the 37% excise tax on medical grade cannabis products certified by the Washington State Department of Health (DOH).
    • HB 1453 - “Providing a tax exemption for medical cannabis patients.”
      • Unusually, Republican leadership resisted the calendaring of HB 1453 on Wednesday February 28th during the Washington State Senate Rules Committee (WA Senate RULE) meeting.
      • In the early afternoon on Friday March 1st, legislative staff announced HB 1453 had been added to the Senate’s fifth order of consideration - early enough to be granted a second and third reading before the Opposite House Cutoff at 5pm later that day.
      • Several hours later, the version of the legislation recommended by the Washington State Senate Ways and Means Committee (WA Senate WM) in their striking amendment was brought up for second reading on the Senate floor (audio - 14m, video - TVW).
        • Senator Curtis King motioned for consideration of his amendment published in the late afternoon the day before which “Expires the cannabis excise tax exemption for medical cannabis patients and designated providers on June 30, 2029, rather than January 1, 2034; and requires the joint legislative audit and review committee to submit a final report to the legislature by December 1, 2028, rather than an initial report by December 1, 2029.”
          • King indicated that his amendment was intended to address "the concern with this bill…with how easy or how hard it may be to get these medical certificates." Speaking for himself, "I've been told by three or four very reliable people that things have changed."
          • Senators then adopted the amendment in a voice vote.
        • The body then voted to adopt the WA Senate WM striking amendment as further amended before Senate President Denny Heck opened the floor to remarks on third reading.
        • President Pro Tempore Karen Keiser began by noting the Senate had voted to pass two prior versions of the bill she had sponsored in 2021 and 2022 before emphasizing this legislation would accomplish the same goal: precluding registered patients from paying the highest excise tax in the country on products the DOH certified as complying their standards for testing and safety.
        • King stood by Keiser and the legislation, but noted some in his party would choose to reserve judgment.  He repeated his understanding of his colleagues’ concerns and his confidence in the assurances he had received.
        • Senator Ann Rivers asked for Heck’s permission “to read from the Internet” and then dynamically exclaimed how “a Google search” had turned up the phrase “Washington medical marijuana cards, get yours in 15 minutes!”  Having “lived through the cannabis wars”—presumably a reference to her 2015 prime sponsorship of SB 5052 (“Establishing the cannabis patient protection act”) which outlawed pre-existing medical cannabis dispensaries across Washington state—Rivers was “gravely concerned about this.” Attesting to her “hope that I’m wrong,” she expected individuals would seek out fraudulent medical cannabis authorization websites and providers, causing the highly regulated marketplace in Washington state to return to the “wild, wild west” from whence it had been delivered.  Rivers warned that the $1B in excise tax revenue Washington State collected from cannabis consumers and patients “could go out the door” after legislators “once again see the proliferation of these cards that are everywhere.”
          • HB 1453 makes no changes to the guardrails put in place around the issuance of medical cannabis authorizations enacted in Rivers’ legislation, SB 5052.
        • Keiser felt compelled to respond, noting patient purchases had been estimated at 1% of total sales, compliant products were more expensive, and some CBD products had lower THC levels.  She passionately endorsed offering fiscal relief to registered patients and designated providers seeking “treatment of brain cancer, glaucoma, seizures in children.”  Keiser concluded by expressing her surprise and dismay at finding her “colleagues across the aisle opposing a tax reduction.”
        • After Heck interjected his own surprise at hearing so many “knowledgeable voices about cannabis products on the floor today,” Republican Leader John Braun followed up to also “hope I’m wrong.”  He recollected negotiations to implement Initiative 502 and similarly warned “this could put a gigantic dent” in the $500M legislators were able to appropriate each year thanks to the largesse of cannabis consumers who patronized the regulated marketplace.
        • After a roll call vote, the legislation was passed by the Senate 36-13.
        • One Democrat voted against the legislation:
        • The following Republicans voted against passage:
        • By way of contrast, the following Republicans voted for the legislation:
  • At the Opposite House Cutoff on Friday, three cannabis-related bills made it through the final gateway and awaited concurrence votes, but the retail advertising and robbery legislation fell short.
    • Two cannabis-related bills had already been passed by the Legislature and awaited executive action in the Washington State Office of the Governor (WA Governor):
      • HB 1249 - “Regarding limits on the sale and possession of retail cannabis products.”
      • HB 2151 - “Reassigning the accreditation of private cannabis testing laboratories from the department of ecology to the department of agriculture.”
    • Three cannabis-related bills made it through the Opposite House Cutoff and awaited concurrence/dispute votes in their chambers of origin:
      • HB 1453 - “Providing a tax exemption for medical cannabis patients.”
      • HB 2320 - “Concerning high THC cannabis products.”
      • SB 5376 - “Allowing the sale of cannabis waste.”
    • Two cannabis-related bills did not make it through the Opposite House Cutoff and were rendered inactive:
      • SB 5363 - “Concerning cannabis retailer advertising.”
      • SB 6133 - “Deterring robberies from cannabis retail establishments.”
    • Legislation can be declared "necessary to implement budgets" (NTIB), an informal procedure leadership can exercise around any bill with a fiscal impact.
    • Inactive bills can also have language incorporated into other legislation or be advanced as provisos in budget bills to achieve identical effects.
  • On Monday and for the remainder of the week, lawmakers would convene floor sessions to debate and vote on legislation ahead of sine die, the end of the 2024 regular session, on Thursday March 7th.
    • On Monday, the WA Senate was scheduled to convene at 10am PT and the WA House starting at 10:30am PT.
    • In addition to the three cannabis-related bills awaiting concurrence/dispute votes, lawmaker attention would turn to the budget bills in the final week of session.
      • SB 5950 - “Making 2023-2025 fiscal biennium supplemental operating appropriations.”
      • SB 5949 - “Concerning the capital budget.”
    • Several cannabis-related bills had been significantly changed since the last revisions of the operating budget legislation such that their mandates remained unfunded—and in some cases unestimated in fiscal notes—at publication time.  And there had been hints that some inactive legislation may reappear in budget bills as provisos.
    • At publication time, SB 5950 awaited its annual dispute vote before the chambers appointed delegates to a conference committee to hash out a final version of the operating budget, but negotiations at the confluence of money for most legislation passed by the Legislature seemed to be well underway already, inaccessible to public view.