The cannabis waste bill was passed by the Legislature; the supplemental operating budget was nearing completion; and two cannabis-related bills awaited concurrence votes in the last three days of session.
Here are some observations of the Washington State Legislature (WA Legislature) for Tuesday March 5th, the 58th day of the 2024 regular session.
My top 3 takeaways:
- On Monday, senators concurred with House changes to the cannabis waste bill and passed the legislation, which became the third cannabis-related bill passed during the 2024 regular session.
- SB 5376 - “Allowing the sale of cannabis waste.”
- Senator Derek Stanford, the prime sponsor of the legislation, asked that his peers concur with amendments made in the House clarifying reporting requirements on sales or giveaways of cannabis waste. The concurrent resolution was adopted in a voice vote (video - TVW).
- On final passage, senators voted unanimously to pass the legislation 48-0-0-1 with Majority Caucus Vice Chair Rebecca Saldaña excused.
- Following final passage, legislation must be signed by the leaders of both chambers then delivered to the Washington State Office of the Governor (WA Governor). If the Governor fails to act on the bill, it may become law without a signature. Bills passed within five days of sine die can be acted upon within 20 days.
- SB 5376 - “Allowing the sale of cannabis waste.”
- Also on Monday, senators registered their “do not concur” vote on the supplemental operating budget as modified by the House, and called for a conference committee to formalize negotiations on the legislation which had already neared completion.
- SB 5950 - “Making 2023-2025 fiscal biennium supplemental operating appropriations.”
- Senator June Robinson, the Chair of the Washington State Senate Ways and Means Committee (WA Senate WM), called for the resolution and the creation of a conference committee. She said a group of senators and staff had worked through the weekend to reach an agreement with “House budget writers,” indicating staff were ironing out details. The chamber adopted the resolution in a voice vote (video - TVW).
- Senate President Denny Heck appointed Robinson, Senator Joe Nguyen (WA Senate WM Vice Chair, Operating Budget), and Senator Lynda Wilson (WA Senate WM Ranking Member, Operating Budget) as the Senate conferees for the committee. His appointments were endorsed by the chamber in a voice vote.
- In the limited time left before the close of the regular session, the House would accept the Senate resolution and register their conferees before the committee completed its work to produce a conference report containing the likely final revision of the supplemental operating budget. Then, both chambers would be required to adopt the conference report without change to effect passage of the legislation.
- Several cannabis-related bills had been significantly modified since the last revisions of the operating budget legislation such that their mandates remained unfunded and in some cases unestimated in fiscal notes.
- There had also been hints that some inactive legislation may reappear in budget bills as provisos.
- SB 5950 - “Making 2023-2025 fiscal biennium supplemental operating appropriations.”
- On Tuesday and for the remainder of the week, lawmakers would convene floor sessions to debate and vote on legislation ahead of sine die on Thursday March 7th, the end of the 2024 regular session.
- On Tuesday, the WA Senate was scheduled to convene at 10am PT and the WA House starting at 10:30am PT.
- Two cannabis-related bills were awaiting concurrence/dispute votes:
- Lawmakers were also reworking relevant budget bills: