WA Legislature - Update
(February 26, 2025)

WA Legislature - Update (February 26, 2025) - Takeaways

Opponents of home grow appeared to have been assisted by a committee staffer who fabricated revenue impacts, the DUI bill was advanced, and senators may calendar cannabis-related bills on Wednesday.

Here are some observations of the Washington State Legislature (WA Legislature) for Wednesday February 26th, the 45th day of the 2025 regular session.

My top 4 takeaways:

  • On Tuesday during the Washington State House Appropriations Committee (WA House APP) meeting, members heard an embellished staff briefing on the home grow bill’s potential revenue impacts before opponents pulled out all the stops.
    • HB 1449 - Cannabis Home Grow
      • Representative Shelley Kloba introduced legislation to allow an adult to grow six cannabis plants (combined up to 15 per ‘housing unit’) while establishing parameters and penalties around the practice.
        • For more details, see the bill report and comparatively low fiscal note compared to prior iterations of the legislation.
      • During the public hearing in the Washington State House Consumer Protection and Business Committee (WA House CPB) on January 28th, the majority of testifiers supported having Washington follow the example of 21 out of 24 other states that had legalized adult use of cannabis while also safely allowing home growing of a limited number of plants.  Four representatives of law enforcement, public health, and prevention groups testified in opposition to the legislation.
      • Representative Kristine Reeves, a Democrat whose district included Federal Way where cannabis businesses had been banned since 2013, exhibited an unusual interest in the legislative concept for the third year in a row.  She published three amendments the evening before the executive session suggesting cultivation requirements similar to those imposed on commercial producers, liability insurance coverage, and law enforcement guidelines.
      • During the executive session on Friday February 21st, members adopted the three amendments put forward by Reeves.  They were incorporated into a substitute bill which was recommended by the committee in a 9-6 vote along strictly partisan lines.
      • Due to the fiscal note on the original bill and the additional requirements imposed by the amendments, the committee report recommended and the legislation was referred to the WA House APP during the pro forma floor session on Friday February 21st just before the House of Origin Policy Committee Cutoff.
      • Late on Saturday night, legislative staff announced a fiscal committee hearing on the bill had been scheduled for Tuesday.
      • On Tuesday morning during the WSLCB Board Caucus, Director of Legislative Relations Marc Webster noted the home grow bill had been substantially revised by WA House CPB members.  He highlighted the new requirement for WSLCB to provide a traceability system for home growers to report their activities to the State as he expected it would become a significant cost driver with inferred compliance and enforcement requirements (audio < 1m, video - WSLCB, video - TVW).
        • Board Chair Jim Vollendroff asked whether Washington was an outlier among states with regulated cannabis markets and expressed skepticism that any other state imposed traceability requirements on its citizens (audio - 1m, video - WSLCB, video - TVW).
        • Members and staff turned to Board Member Pete Holmes to ask if he had comparative data on home grow programs from other states.  He suggested research into law enforcement impacts may be useful and a good subject for the agency Research Program to compile a brief on, an idea seconded by the Chair (audio - 1m, video - WSLCB, video - TVW).
      • On Tuesday afternoon before the hearing, staff at the Washington State Office of Financial Management (WA OFM) published a partial WSLCB fiscal note on the substitute bill.
        • While formally “indeterminate,” the agency discussion outlined $2M in anticipated expenses across the biennium not counting modification of CCRS or acquisition of a new traceability system.
      • Positions: testifying + not testifying = total (duplicates)
      • During the public hearing on Tuesday, WA House APP Fiscal Analyst Matt Mazur-Hart, non-partisan staff assigned from the Washington State House Office of Program Research (WA OPR) to review WSLCB-related bills, provided a fiscal briefing.  After reading from the partial WSLCB fiscal note and recounting local government expenditures prepared by WASPC representatives in a prior fiscal note, Mazur-Hart hazarded a guesstimate of revenue impacts which were not specified in any of the fiscal notes.  He suggested home grown cannabis would replace retail sales in sufficient quantities to draw down State excise tax revenue by 2%, which he warned would introduce a potential $9M shortfall (audio - 2m, video - TVW).
        • During Mazur-Hart's briefing on the home grow bill in 2023, he also provided a guesstimate of potential revenue impacts, but at that time only ventured State revenues would decline by 0.5%, which he equated to a $5M reduction per biennium.
          • 2022 dedicated cannabis account revenues totaled $515.19M, 0.5% of which would be $2.58M or $5.16M per biennium.
          • 2024 revenues totaled $458.34M, 2% of which would be $9.17M; 0.5% would be $2.29M.
          • These figures have no correlation to the bill nor any fiscal note provided by responding agencies or entities.
          • Statistician P.B. Stark coined the term “quantifauxcation” to describe the practice of introducing “a meaningless number [to] then pretend that since it's quantitative, it's meaningful.”
      • Proponents advocated for advancing the legislation while expressing concerns about changes introduced by the policy committee.
        • John Kingsbury, speaking as a patient caucus organizer for the Cannabis Alliance, pointed out the revenue estimate had no basis and asked legislators to compare the impact of home brewing on alcohol tax revenues (audio - 1m, video - TVW).
        • BEC Vice President Mike Asai called for home grow as a continuation of the State’s work addressing the generational harms of inequitable enforcement of the war on drugs (audio - 1m, video - TVW).
        • Alliance Executive Director Caitlein Ryan also testified in support of the bill and asked for removal of the language imposing traceability requirements on home growers, pointing out no such requirements were asked of patient growers in the state, and no such requirements existed in any other state which allowed home growing (audio - 1m, video - TVW).
      • Representatives of cities, law enforcement, public health, and prevention groups opposed the bill, painting public safety fears, emphasizing costs freighted onto the substitute bill, and uncannily reciting the previously unpublished $9M revenue impact guesstimate in what appeared to be prepared remarks.
        • WSPHA Executive Director Megan Moore and WASAVP Board Member Scott Waller both specifically mentioned the $9M figure in their remarks:
          • Moore: “This could negatively impact the dedicated cannabis account by estimated $9M which makes up a significant portion of the State’s budget” (audio - 1m, video - TVW).
            • Dedicated cannabis account revenue of less than $1B per biennium may not comprise “a significant portion” of the 2023-25 biennial budget which totaled $165.6B.
          • Waller:  “...this bill will reduce cannabis excise taxes because home growers do not need to buy from the regulated market.  The fiscal note did not quantify this impact, but it could be substantial, as much as $9M per year” (audio - 1m, video - TVW).
      • Taken alone, a pattern of repeated fabrications by Mazur-Hart recurring across legislative sessions on a particular legislative concept was troubling enough and called into question his impartiality as an ostensibly non-partisan staffer.  However, the appearance of opponents having advance knowledge of that fabrication amplified concerns.
      • The projection may not have been countenanced if committee staff had considered other perspectives.
        • Both committee staff and testifiers problematically assumed cannabis consumption is a zero-sum game where home grown cannabis would supplant retail purchases.  The reality may be more complicated.
        • Additionally, the speakers assumed that cannabis consumers who would choose to grow their own cannabis solely patronized the regulated market.  Recent estimates of usage of legacy cannabis markets in Washington have varied between 10% and 50% of cannabis consumers, suggesting the reality is more complicated - and home grow could create some upsides.
      • At publication time, an executive session on the legislation had not been announced.
  • Also on Tuesday, the Washington State Senate Transportation Committee (WA Senate TRAN) endorsed substitute language on the driving under the influence (DUI) bill and recommended passage of the legislation.
    • SB 5067 - Alcohol BAC Limit and DUI
      • Senator John Lovick introduced legislation focused on lowering the blood alcohol content (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.
        • See the bill report and fiscal note for more details.
        • WA Senate TRAN was the second standing committee to consider the legislation in that chamber.  As WA Senate TRAN members considered both the policy and fiscal impact of transportation-related legislation, the body was exempt from the House of Origin Policy Committee Cutoff, but legislation must be advanced by the House of Origin Fiscal Committee Cutoff at close of business (COB) on Friday February 28th.
      • On Thursday January 30th before the hearing, members convened a work session to learn about "Impaired driving impacts" from experts and families who had lost loved ones to drunk drivers.
        • When Washington Traffic Safety Commission (WTSC) External Relations Director Mark McKechnie briefed members, he contextualized State data about polysubstance impaired drivers by acknowledging that “certainly cannabis is one of the common ones but we also see anti-depressants, anti-anxiety drugs, pain medication, and others that interact with alcohol as well” (presentation).
      • During the executive session on Tuesday, after some resistant remarks presented by Republican senators, members endorsed the substitute language from the Washington State Senate Law and Justice Committee (WA Senate LAW) and recommended the bill 10-8 in a mixed vote (video - TVW).  The following members voted against the legislation:
        • Without recommendation: King, Harris, MacEwen.
        • Do not pass: Chapman, Christian, Fortunato, Holy, Krishnadasan.
      • The committee report would recommend the bill be referred to the Washington State Senate Rules Committee (WA Senate RULE) for calendaring.
  • There were no introductions of cannabis-related legislation on Tuesday, and none planned for Wednesday.
    • The draft introduction reports in the House and the Senate for Wednesday February 26th did not appear to include new cannabis-related legislation, reflecting the complications besetting introduction of legislation after the House of Origin Policy Committee Cutoff.
  • On Wednesday, the Washington State Senate Rules Committee (WA Senate RULE) planned to convene and could advance cannabis-related bills positioned for calendaring.
    • 3:45pm: WA Senate RULE - Committee Meeting [ Event Details ]
      • Members would be allotted one pull in addition to a set of gubernatorial appointment confirmations, a consent package, and a regular package of bills to be added to the chamber second reading calendar for potential amendment, debate, and chamber passage during a subsequent floor session.
      • At publication time, three cannabis-related bills had been referred to the WA Senate RULE for review:
        • SB 5403 - Cannabis Retail Financial Interest
        • SB 5700 - DOH Patient Data Sharing
        • SB 5758 - Social Equity Buffer Zones
      • One adjacent bill was also ready for calendaring:
        • SB 5290 - Pre-Hearing SUD Treatment
    • Also on Wednesday, the House planned to convene a pro forma floor session at 9:55am [ TVW ] and the Senate planned to convene a floor session at 10:30am [ TVW ].