WA Legislature - Update
(February 19, 2025)

WA Legislature - Update (February 19, 2025) - Takeaways

Three bills were heard Tuesday; advertising and lab certification legislation was advanced; and two hearings were scheduled Wednesday in addition to the controversial social equity program evaluation bill.

Here are some observations of the Washington State Legislature (WA Legislature) for Wednesday February 19th, the 38th day of the 2025 regular session.

My top 5 takeaways:

  • On Tuesday, Washington State House Agriculture and Natural Resources Committee (WA House AGNR) members heard testimony on legislation seeking to authorize producer cooperatives, which was hopefully interpreted as a step towards State recognition of cannabis farming as an agricultural process.
    • HB 1941 - Cannabis Producer Cooperatives
      • Representative Melanie Morgan, Vice Chair of WA House AGNR, introduced legislation which would enable cannabis producers to form agricultural processing and marketing associations as defined in RCW 24.34, entities often structured as cooperatives.
        • See the bill analysis for more details.  At publication time, a fiscal note was not available.
      • Positions: testifying + not testifying = total (duplicates)
        • Pro: 1 + 9 = 10 (0)
        • Con: 0 + 36 = 36 (1)
          • None of the individuals signed in CON on HB 1941 associated themselves with a particular organization nor opted to testify about their opposition.
        • Other: 2 + 0 = 2 (0)
      • During the public hearing, representatives from the Washington Sun and Craft Growers Association (WSCA) and the Cannabis Alliance expressed their enthusiasm for the proposal but signed in “Other” signifying some reservations and certainty that the measure could go farther towards normalization of cannabis production as agriculture.  A representative from Producers NW signed in “Pro,” recollecting how the legislature chose, shortly after the passage of Initiative 502, to explicitly exclude cannabis producers from the privileges enjoyed by farmers of all other commodities such as the right to farm act, exposing them to restrictive zoning ordinances, odor complaints, and constrained hours of operation.  The legislators gathered had no questions.
      • At publication time, an executive session on the legislation had not been announced.
  • Also on Tuesday, the Washington State Senate Labor and Commerce Committee (WA Senate LC) heard divided testimony on a new bill to create different siting rules for social equity businesses and advanced the retail advertising bill.
    • SB 5758 - Social Equity Buffer Zones
    • SB 5206 - Cannabis Retailer Advertising
      • Republican Deputy Leader Drew MacEwen introduced a reprise of his 2023-24 bill SB 5363 which was not advanced by representatives prior to the opposite house cutoff in 2024.  The bill would change requirements for retail advertising signage and transfer authority over trade name signs from the WSLCB to local jurisdictions.
        • See the bill report and fiscal note for more details.
        • Curiously, WSLCB staff provided SB 5363 with a $0 fiscal note in 2023 and 2024, but expected over $150K in expenses implementing SB 5206 during the 2025-27 fiscal biennium.  Yet the bill text of SB 5206 was substantively identical to the final engrossed version of SB 5363.
      • During the public hearing in WA Senate LC on Monday February 10th, cannabis sector interests presented an uncharacteristically unified message of support for the legislation.  The bill was resisted by public health and prevention representatives who framed the measure as increasing retail advertising, overburdening local jurisdictions, and threatening normalization of cannabis retailers as legitimate businesses in communities.
        • During the WSLCB Board Caucus on Tuesday February 18th, Director of Legislative Relations Marc Webster recalled that WSLCB publicly supported SB 5363, but found “public health was pretty outraged and we’ve been neutral on it this year” (audio < 1m, video - WSLCB, video - TVW).
      • During the executive session on Tuesday, SB 5206 was passed without changes.
        • Democrat Bill Ramos representing District 5 (Enumclaw, North Bend) was the only member to vote against recommendation of the bill.  After serving in the House beginning in 2019, Ramos won former Senator Mark Mullet's seat in November 2024.  He previously served as an Issaquah City Council member from 2016-2018.
      • The committee report would be read in during a subsequent Senate floor session.  As the fiscal note in 2025 indicated operating expenditures were expected to implement the bill, it was likely the measure would be referred to the Washington State Senate Ways and Means Committee (WA Senate WM) for fiscal review.
        • During the 2023-24 biennium, SB 5363 bypassed consideration by fiscal committees in both chambers.
  • On Tuesday during the first meeting of the Washington State House Rules Committee (WA House RUL) in 2025, Representative Melanie Morgan used her member pull to calendar the WSLCB lab certification authority bill for a second reading.
    • HB 1347 - WSLCB Lab Certification Authority
      • Representative Kristine Reeves introduced legislation to more clearly tie WSDA accreditation to WSLCB certification of private cannabis testing labs while not limiting the latter agency’s subsequent enforcement responsibilities.
      • During the public hearing on January 28th, cannabis sector and lab representatives explained business concerns and suggested changes to clarify the intent of the bill.
      • During the executive session on February 11th, no amendments on the legislation were published.  Reeves spoke in favor of her legislation and Deputy Minority Leader Chris Corry called it “a good little cleanup bill” before members voted unanimously to recommend passage.
      • HB 1347 received a $0 fiscal note, so the committee report on February 13th directed the bill to the WA House RUL for calendaring.
      • During the succinct WA House RUL meeting on Tuesday, Morgan motioned for the legislation to be added to the House second reading calendar, and her peers concurred with the move.
      • The next House floor session was scheduled for Wednesday February 19th where HB 1347 would be available for consideration, potential amendment, and a vote on passage by the body.
  • There were no introductions of new cannabis-related bills on Tuesday, and none planned for Wednesday.
    • The draft introduction reports in the House and the Senate for Wednesday February 19th did not appear to include additional cannabis-related legislation, reflecting an overall continued decline in introductions of new legislation ahead of the first cutoff.
  • On Wednesday, two cannabis bills would receive initial public hearings and the social equity program evaluation bill was positioned for an executive session - potentially without amendments.
    • 1:30pm: WA House CPB - Committee Meeting [ Event Details ]
      • Public Hearing
        • HB 1884 - WSLCB Enforcement Priorities
          • Representative Kevin Waters introduced legislation which would call upon the WSLCB to work collaboratively with cannabis sector stakeholders to review rules and significantly revamp enforcement priorities to focus on preventing youth access and inversion/diversion.
          • At publication time, the legislation had been proactively granted an executive session on the morning of Friday February 21st, the same day as the House of Origin Policy Committee Cutoff.
        • HB 1940 - Out of State Ownership + Social Equity Tax Preference
          • Representative Melanie Morgan introduced legislation seeking to allow out of state ownership while also creating a five year business and occupation (B&O) tax break for operational social equity licensees.
            • See the bill analysis for more details.  At publication time, a fiscal note was not available.
          • At publication time, the legislation had also been proactively granted an executive session on the morning of Friday February 21st.
        • HB 1835 - Local Override of State Cannabis Licensing
          • Assistant Minority Whip Brian Burnett introduced legislation that would allow elected officials of local jurisdictions and federally recognized tribes to override WSLCB cannabis business licensing decisions with a written objection stating the decision would conflict with local zoning ordinances.
          • On Monday February 17th, the planned hearing on HB 1835 was rescinded.
      • Executive Session
        • HB 1551 - Social Equity Program Evaluation
          • Representative Kristine Reeves put forward legislation requiring the WSLCB and the Washington State Department of Commerce (WA Commerce) to create a report to the legislature on the first round of the social equity program for publication by December 2025, while also deferring a second round until at least July 2026.
            • See the bill analysis and fiscal note for more details.
            • The relatively modest fiscal note published late on Tuesday included a caveat which was not incorporated into the estimate:
              • “Additionally, the agency has recently contracted with a vendor to score social equity license applicants. If the social equity licensing process is paused, the contract would need to be terminated. If canceled, the agency would still be liable for payment in accordance with the terms of the contract for services rendered prior to the date of termination of up to $234,000 in FY25.”
          • During the public hearing on February 4th, one advocate representing certain initial social equity program applicants testified in support of the bill.  Several others testified against the legislation, highlighting concerns about pausing in-process first round applicants, and additional testimony emphasized ways to improve the bill.
            • When asked directly during her introduction to the bill, Reeves stated a pause on first round applicants had not been her intent but did not at that time offer to modify the bill.
          • During the WSLCB Board Caucus on Tuesday February 11th, Director of Legislative Relations Marc Webster voiced his concern that the legislation as written would “pause” further progress by remaining first round applicants and confirmed “we’ll definitely want amendments there” (audio < 1m, video - TVW).  Board Member Ollie Garrett asked if an overall pause had been Reeves’ intent, and Webster indicated Reeves had not been responsive to his inquiries (audio - 1m, video - TVW).
            • The bill analysis by non-partisan legislative staff stated, “The LCB may not open a new license application window through the Program and may not issue or reissue a cannabis license through the Program, in order for a Program evaluation to be conducted, to ensure successful implementation of the Program.”
          • During the WSLCB Board Caucus on Tuesday February 18th, Webster confirmed Reeves hadn't replied to his suggested amendment to ensure outstanding first round applicants weren't halted from licensure.  He said his counterpart at Commerce also hadn't heard back from Reeves on the bill.  Webster seemed less convinced that a complete program halt wasn’t Reeves’ intent, despite what she had publicly claimed (audio - 1m, video - WSLCB, video - TVW).
          • An executive session on the legislation had been previously planned for the WA House CPB meeting on Wednesday February 12th, but Chair Amy Walen announced all planned executive sessions had been deferred at the start of the event.
            • No amendments on HB 1551 had been published prior to that meeting.
          • And at publication time, no amendments on the legislation had been published prior to the meeting on Wednesday.
    • Also on Wednesday, the House planned to convene a floor session at 10:30am [ TVW ] and the Senate planned to convene a floor session at 12:30pm [ TVW ].
      • At publication time, one cannabis-related bill was available for debate in the House:
        • HB 1347 - WSLCB Lab Certification Authority