As activity wrapped for the holidays, WSLCB board members planned to complete social equity work but all other rulemaking activity would be trimmed or further delayed into 2025.
Here’s a look at cannabis-related policymaking events on the calendar in the week ahead.
Monday December 16th
WSIPP - Board of Directors Meeting
On Monday at 9:30am PT, the Washington State Institute for Public Policy (WSIPP) Board of Directors planned to convene.
- [ Event Details ]
- WSIPP is a non-partisan public research group located in Olympia which conducts research at the direction of the Washington State Legislature or the Institute's Board of Directors. In the cannabis space, WSIPP researchers were tasked with performance of a multi-decade benefit-cost analysis of the State legalization of cannabis through Initiative 502 (I-502) and ancillary studies in support of that goal.
- While no cannabis-specific items were listed on the agenda, staff regularly provide updates on active research.
Tuesday December 17th
WSLCB - Board Caucus
On Tuesday at 10am PT, the weekly Washington State Liquor and Cannabis Board (WSLCB) Board Caucus was scheduled to recur.
- [ Event Details ]
- The week prior on Tuesday December 10th, the board caucus was cancelled. That morning, Board Member Ollie Garrett offered the opening remarks to legislators during a work session on the social equity program.
- At publication time, the board remained without a Chair, the remaining two members sharing responsibilities as Acting Chair and breaking quorum in the event either cannot participate.
Wednesday December 18th
WSLCB - Board Meeting
On Wednesday at 10am PT, the bi-weekly WSLCB Board Meeting was scheduled to recur.
- [ Event Details ]
- Members planned to cram in quite a few rulemaking actions during the last board meeting of 2024, although not as many as had been previously planned. Due to the timing of State holidays, the board was not scheduled to formally convene again until Wednesday January 15th.
- Captive Insurance Companies [ Rulemaking Petition ]
- Members would hear the recommendation from Policy and Rules staff to decline to accept a petition to change the code to allow a different form of cannabis business general liability and product liability insurance. Staff cited the complexity of the subject matter, no declared interest by stakeholders, and their full rulemaking agenda as reasons to decline the petition.
- Employee Stock Ownership Plans (ESOPs) [ Rulemaking Project ]
- Policy and Rules staff would also be asking the board to withdraw the open rulemaking project on ESOPs. During the last rulemaking update on Tuesday December 3rd, Acting Policy and Rules Manager Daniel Jacobs suggested “there were statutory concerns that we weren’t able to overcome.”
- Leadership at the Washington CannaBusiness Association (WACA) filed the rulemaking petition to begin the ESOPs rulemaking project and hosted an interview with an ESOPs financier the next day during their annual winter symposium. The discussion indicated that WSLCB staff had been unconvinced that an ESOP trust which held ownership shares of a business could be considered a true party of interest (TPI) and presumed every employee assigned ESOP shares would have to be vetted. WACA leadership indicated their intention to pursue clarifying State legislation in 2025.
- SB 5080 Implementation [ Rulemaking Project ]
- WSLCB staff also planned to ask the board to adopt final rules for the long-running social equity rulemaking project to implement 2023 legislation.
- Minors on Wholesale Licensed Premises [ Rulemaking Project ]
- Members would not be presented with proposed rules on another long-running project springing from a petition filed in July 2022. Policy and Rules staff asked for feedback on draft rules in late November after having earlier announced their intention to propose rules in December. Feedback on the draft rules may have prompted a re-evaluation.
- SB 5376 Implementation [ Rulemaking Project ]
- Members would also not be presented with proposed rules on the so-called “cannabis waste” rulemaking project implementing 2024 legislation. A third iteration of draft rules was published in late November yet the date for proposing a CR-102 was pushed back again - for the ninth time.
- Lab Authority Transfer [ Rulemaking Project ]
- Perhaps more concerning for its unstated implications, a seemingly straightforward rulemaking effort to remove rules in compliance with the transfer of statutory authority over lab standards and accreditation to the Washington State Department of Agriculture (WSDA) was curiously delayed again for a fourth time.
- There had been indications that WSLCB and WSDA staff had been unable to agree on their respective scopes of authority, with WSLCB chemists asserting that WSDA rules have “gaps.” During a visit with the Cannabis Alliance during their November General Meeting, Director of Policy and Rules Justin Nordhorn acknowledged statutory precedence and claimed his staff would not keep rules in place which WSDA had not covered. However, WSLCB would retain the authority to certify—and decertify—labs which had been accredited by WSDA.
- While the statutory changes wrought by HB 2151 went into effect in July 2024, full implementation of WSDA accreditation requirements was delayed until January 2025 to accommodate a transition period for laboratories. For an unforeseeable amount of time measured in months, both the WSDA and WSLCB administrative code over labs remains on the books and potentially in conflict.
Thursday December 19th
At publication time, no cannabis-related policymaking events were scheduled.
Friday December 20th
At publication time, no cannabis-related policymaking events were scheduled.