WA Legislature - Update
(March 10, 2025)

WA Legislature - Update (March 10, 2025) - Takeaways

As the third cutoff gateway of the 2025 regular session approached on Wednesday, the aperture for advancement narrowed quickly for six cannabis-related bills, only two of which were well positioned.

Here are some observations of the Washington State Legislature (WA Legislature) for Monday March 10th, the 57th day of the 2025 regular session.

My top 3 takeaways:

  • There were no introductions of cannabis-related legislation in the House on Sunday, and no relevant introductions planned in the Senate on Monday.
    • After debating legislation until 3:45am in the morning on Sunday March 9th, House staff and leadership briefly convened a pro forma session at 12pm to introduce bills before adjourning until 9am Monday morning.
    • The draft introduction report in the Senate for Monday March 10th did not appear to include new cannabis-related legislation, reflecting the complications besetting introduction of legislation after the House of Origin Policy and Fiscal Committee Cutoffs.
  • On Monday, legislators would convene floor sessions to debate and advance legislation which may include the Washington State Liquor and Cannabis Board (WSLCB) request to obtain access to Washington State Department of Health (DOH) patient data which had been calendared in both chambers; four other cannabis-related bills awaited review in chamber rules committees.
    • 9am: WA House - Session
      • [ Floor Activity Report, TVW - Morning, TVW - Afternoon, TVW - Evening ]
      • House leadership had established a pattern of pulling a package of bills out of the Washington State House Rules Committee (WA House RUL) at the end of each day’s floor activity to replenish the chamber’s second reading calendar.  After their marathon debate into the early hours of Sunday morning, House leaders pulled their version of the WSLCB request legislation to the chamber second reading calendar amongst many other bills.
        • HB 1341 - DOH Patient Data Sharing
          • While the identical companion SB 5700 had been calendared earlier and seemed the likely vehicle to advance the WSLCB agency request, HB 1341 was also calendared Sunday morning.
          • See the bill text, bill report, and fiscal note for more details.
          • At publication time, no amendments had been published and the legislation could be advanced before the House of Origin cutoff on Wednesday March 12th at 5pm PT.
      • At publication time, one cannabis-related bill remained positioned for calendaring in WA House RUL - but time was running out.
        • HB 1141 - Cannabis Production Unions
          • While advanced more rapidly than any other cannabis-related legislation at the beginning of the session—including bypassing fiscal committee consideration despite a fiscal note documenting hundreds of thousands of dollars in biennial costs—resistance from larger agricultural interests outside the cannabis sector may have helped bring this contentious legislation to a halt in WA House RUL where it remained unmoved since referral on January 24th.
          • Late on Saturday night, Majority Caucus Chair Lillian Ortiz-Self—the prime sponsor of HB 1141—published a floor amendment on her bill which was described as having the following effects:
            • “Adds a provision specifying that the bill may not be interpreted by any court to apply to or otherwise extend any rights to any employee who does not meet the definition of employee in the underlying bill, which includes any employee employed by an employer to perform the work of cultivating, growing, harvesting, or producing cannabis, including defoliating, drying, bucking, precuring, curing, drying, trimming, sorting, and loading, if performed on a farm.”
          • While the amendment seemed intended to address fears about creeping unionization of agriculture, the legislation wasn't pulled on Sunday morning and remained in WA House RUL at publication time.
          • See the bill text, bill report, and fiscal note for more details.
        • At publication time, HB 1141 was vying for prioritization amidst 235 other bills which had been referred to WA House RUL.
    • 10am: WA Senate - Session
      • [ Floor Activity Report, TVW - Morning, TVW - Afternoon, TVW - Evening ]
      • At publication time, one cannabis-related bill was positioned for floor activity in the Senate.
      • At publication time, two adjacent bills were positioned for floor activity in the Senate.
        • SB 5067 - Alcohol BAC Limit and DUI
          • At publication time, there were no published amendments on the legislation.
        • SB 5290 - Pre-Hearing SUD Treatment
          • On Thursday afternoon, Senator Jeff Holy published amendment S-2059.2 to reintroduce prosecutorial discretion to object to dismissal of relevant possession charges.
    • At Senate Lunch Break: WA Senate RULE - Committee Meeting
      • During the Washington State Senate Rules Committee (WA Senate RULE) meeting on Wednesday March 5th, Majority Leader Jamie Pedersen indicated the body would not formally convene in their meeting room again before the House of Origin cutoff.  Instead, members would briefly convene at the senate rostrum to move selected packages of legislation.
      • On Monday, the committee was scheduled to vote on a regular package of bills as the chamber went at ease for caucus and lunch.
      • At publication time, three cannabis-related bills had been referred to WA Senate RULE and awaited calendaring:
        • SB 5206 - Cannabis Retailer Advertising
          • Although not controversial within the cannabis sector, public health and prevention detractors framed the bill as expanding the presence of cannabis advertising, a change which they argued would have a deleterious influence within local communities.  While the legislation would also grant local jurisdictions authority to regulate important aspects of cannabis retail signage, opponents framed those provisions as imposing burdensome costs on cities and counties.
          • At publication time, the fiscal note indicated local jurisdictions had not been asked or had not provided an estimate of costs nor cash receipts expected.
          • See the bill text and bill report for more details.
        • SB 5403 - Cannabis Retail Financial Interest
        • SB 5758 - Social Equity Buffer Zones
      • At publication time, the three cannabis-related bills in WA Senate RULE were vying for prioritization amidst 123 other bills.
  • Most legislation must be advanced out of its House of Origin before the next cutoff gateway on Wednesday March 12th at 5pm PT.
    • The WA Legislature House of Origin Cutoff was the third cutoff gateway of the 2025 regular session.
      • To continue advancing, legislation must be calendared by or pulled out of the chamber rules committees; scheduled in an order of consideration during a floor session; potentially amended, debated, and passed by the chamber before 5pm PT on Wednesday March 12th.
      • There are exceptions.  Legislation can be designated “necessary to implement budgets” (NTIB) by chamber leaders to exempt it from the regular rules of order, loosely interpreted to mean a bill has been projected to have a measurable fiscal impact.
      • Policy and fiscal committee activity were largely suspended until after the House of Origin cutoff, with some exceptions for work sessions or impromptu movement of NTIB legislation.
    • At publication time, the WA House had 91 bills on its floor calendar ready for legislative activity.
    • At publication time, the WA Senate had 77 bills on its regular calendar ready for legislative activity.
    • See the Cannabis Observer 2025-26 biennium landing screen for a complete list of cannabis-related and -adjacent legislation being tracked.