Cannabis-related legislative activity appeared to be minimized during what was shaping up to be a regular session dominated by budget concerns which left little energy for efforts seen as lower priorities.
Here are some observations of the Washington State Legislature (WA Legislature) for Monday February 3rd, the 22nd day of the 2025 regular session.
My top 3 takeaways:
- On Friday, planned executive action on the House version of the driving under the influence (DUI) legislation was again deferred.
- HB 1315 - Alcohol BAC Limit and DUI
- While not identical to SB 5067, Washington Traffic Safety Commission (WTSC) request legislation in the Senate, the House version also focused on lowering the blood alcohol concentration (BAC) limit to 0.05, informing the public about the change, and a study by the Washington State Institute for Public Policy (WSIPP) which would likely be inclusive of data on impaired driving more broadly.
- Following a public hearing on January 21st in the Washington State House Community Safety Committee (WA House CS), HB 1315 had been scheduled for an executive session on January 30th, but action was deferred prior to the meeting.
- On Wednesday January 29th, the legislation was listed on the preliminary schedule for the WA House CS meeting planned for Thursday February 6th.
- On Thursday January 30th, Washington State Senate Transportation Committee (WA Senate TRAN) members learned more about impaired driving during a work session before hosting a second house of origin public hearing on SB 5067, the agency request version of the BAC limit and DUI bill.
- The next day on Friday January 31st, action on HB 1315 was again deferred.
- HB 1315 - Alcohol BAC Limit and DUI
- No new cannabis-related legislation was introduced on Friday, and no cannabis-related nor -adjacent legislation was staged for introduction on Monday during a session which seemed to be amassing a lower overall quantity of bills due in no small part to budget concerns.
- The draft introduction reports in the House and the Senate for Monday February 3rd did not appear to include any cannabis-related legislation.
- Historical data on “Introduced Legislation” indicated that, at publication time just after the halfway mark before the house of origin policy committee cutoff, legislators had introduced roughly half as many total bills in 2025 as compared to the entire 2023 session. Legislators would likely introduce fewer bills approaching the cutoff as committee efforts shifted towards amending and advancing legislation rather than hearing new bills.
- State budget concerns raised by outgoing Governor Jay Inslee ahead of the 2025 session may have caused a reevaluation, reframing, or postponement of many bills. Those concerns were reinforced by incoming Governor Bob Ferguson, who suggested $4B in cuts in his proposed budget to address an anticipated $12B shortfall.
- The unclear actions of the new federal administration to freeze funding greatly amplified already heightened state budget concerns as reported by the Washington State Standard:
- “In the fiscal year that ended June 30 last year, federal funding accounted for about $27 billion, or roughly a third, of Washington’s state budget, according to the state’s Office of Financial Management. But it’s unlikely that full amount would be covered by the Trump administration memo. For instance, about $13 billion came in the form of Medicaid reimbursements.
- “While it’s not clear exactly what is covered by the memo, it is safe to say that it would apply to billions of dollars in federal funding for Washington,” the office’s director, K.D. Chapman-See, said in an email.
- In the microcosm of cannabis legislation in Washington state, legislators had reworked active bills to reduce anticipated costs and presumably increase their chances for advancement.
- Representative Kristine Reeves put forward an amendment to her legislation HB 1066 (WSLCB Data Dashboard) which would require impacted agencies to conduct work within existing resources and explicitly prohibited additional effort to gather data that was not readily available. That amendment was adopted and the legislation was recommended out of committee.