WA Legislature - Update
(March 7, 2024)

WA Legislature - Update (March 7, 2024) - Takeaways

All cannabis bills were funded in the operating budget; the patient excise tax exemption bill was passed; a bill action was scheduled by the Governor; and lawmakers would conclude the 2024 regular session.

Here are some observations of the Washington State Legislature (WA Legislature) for Thursday March 7th, the 60th and last day of the 2024 regular session (sine die).

My top 3 takeaways:

  • On Wednesday morning, legislative staff published the conference committee report on the supplemental operating budget which included minor adjustments to appropriations for cannabis-related bills.
    • SB 5950 - “Making 2023-2025 fiscal biennium supplemental operating appropriations.”
      • Following the release of the fiscal committee chair proposals, no changes had been made to cannabis-related appropriations in subsequent versions of the supplemental operating budget.  The conference committee revision included funding for all cannabis-related bills passed or awaiting concurrence which required appropriations.
    • HB 1453 - “Providing a tax exemption for medical cannabis patients.”
    • HB 2320 - “Concerning high THC cannabis products.”
      • Funding requested by the WSLCB was included.
      • Funding for the Washington State Health Care Authority (WA HCA) to contract with the University of Washington Addictions, Drug, and Alcohol Institute (UW ADAI) was modified to reflect the $328K annually requested by university staff in both FY24 and FY25.  The final fiscal note on the legislation indicated a much larger $1.3M ask from the University awaited lawmakers in 2025.
      • The Washington State Department of Health (DOH) was allocated $200K for FY25 to implement HB 2320. Department staff asked for $162K to enact the optional budtender training and retail signage requirements of the legislation, but no special provision was made for the social marketing mandate.  In the final fiscal note, DOH staff did not provide an estimate for the social marketing request for proposals (RFP), leaving it up to lawmakers to decide how much the agency would need to solicit and fund the work, though hinting an additional full time equivalent (FTE) employee would be helpful at a cost of $149K annually.  Presumably, legislators decided the additional $38K would cover agency needs.
    • SB 5376 - “Allowing the sale of cannabis waste.”
      • Funding requested by the WSLCB was included.
    • You can see the line items Cannabis Observer has tracked across multiple revisions of the House and Senate versions of the operating budget in this spreadsheet.  The last tab marked “SB 5950 - H-3501.2” details the conference committee revision.
  • On Wednesday evening, representatives brought the patient excise tax exemption bill up for concurrence and passed the legislation which now awaits signatures and executive action.
    • HB 1453 - “Providing a tax exemption for medical cannabis patients.”
      • Deputy Speaker Pro Tempore Dan Bronoske moved that the House concur in senate changes to the legislation and opened the floor to remarks on final passage (video - TVW).
      • Representative Sharon Wylie briefly endorsed the legislation and encouraged her peers to support the Senate changes to the bill.
      • Republican Representative Ed Orcutt rose in support of the legislation and cannabis as medicine. He spoke at some length about his concern with the amendments by senators to restrict the length of the tax exemption (which had no expiration when passed by the House) and require a tax preference review (which had not been required by the House).  While not opposed to the review, Orcutt wondered if the State would have gathered enough data to judge the merits of the tax cut in time for JLARC to produce a report by December 2028.  He expected it may take some time for patients to warm to the program.
      • Lawmakers passed the bill 82-14-0-1 in a roll call vote, with Representative Bruce Chandler excused.
      • Three Democrats voted against the legislation:
      • 11 Republicans voted against the legislation:
      • 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 more than five days before adjournment of a session can be acted upon within five days.  Bills passed within five days of sine die can be acted upon within 20 days.
  • On Thursday, Governor Jay Inslee was scheduled to take action on the first cannabis bill of 2024 and lawmakers would convene final floor sessions to debate and vote on legislation before marking sine die, the end of the 2024 regular session.
    • On Thursday morning at 11am PT, the WA Governor was scheduled to take action on HB 1249 (“Regarding limits on the sale and possession of retail cannabis products”), the first cannabis bill passed by the Legislature concerning low dose tetrahydrocannabinol (THC) beverages.
      • HB 2151, Washington State Department of Agriculture (WSDA) request legislation transferring private cannabis testing lab accreditation authority to the department, was similarly delivered to the WA Governor on March 1st. It seems the executive also needs to act on that legislation on Thursday or it would become law without signature.
    • On Thursday, the WA House was scheduled to convene at 10:30am PT and the WA Senate starting at 1pm PT.
    • Lawmakers would devote some time to passing SB 5950, the supplemental operating budget bill, seeing as how “Both houses must adopt the conference committee report for the bill to pass the Legislature. If one house does not adopt the conference committee report (whether by vote or inaction), the bill has not passed.”
    • One cannabis-related bill remained awaiting a concurrence/dispute vote:
      • HB 2320 - “Concerning high THC cannabis products.”