WA Legislature - Update
(March 12, 2025)

WA Legislature - Update (March 12, 2025) - Takeaways

Representatives passed the production unionization bill on Tuesday night whereas four cannabis-related bills were well positioned in the Senate on Wednesday but at risk from the House of Origin Cutoff at 5pm.

Here are some observations of the Washington State Legislature (WA Legislature) for Wednesday March 12th, the 59th day of the 2025 regular session.

My top 3 takeaways:

  • On Tuesday, the Washington State House of Representatives (WA House) brought up the cannabis production unions bill and changed it slightly while rejecting identical Republican amendments as presented in committee before passing the legislation.
    • HB 1141 - Cannabis Production Unions
      • Majority Caucus Chair Lillian Ortiz-Self introduced legislation to extend collective bargaining rights to plant-touching employees of cannabis producers.
      • On January 15th, HB 1141 was one of the first bills heard in the Washington State House Labor and Workplace Standards Committee (WA House LAWS) and supported by claims it may help worker conditions, but opposed by those who felt the cannabis sector was singled out.
      • One week later on January 22nd, WA House LAWS members adopted a proposed substitute by the prime sponsor and proceeded to reject five potential Republican amendments.  The somewhat heated final discussion revealed hard lines between the majority and minority parties whose comments on the legislation had little to do with cannabis as compared to larger agricultural interests and union power.
      • 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 after referral on January 24th.  Or, that seeming inactivity may have been a ruse by Democratic leaders who strongly co-sponsored the bill for their own purposes.  No other cannabis-related legislation in 2025 has garnered a similar array of support and opposition.
      • Late on Saturday night, Ortiz-Self published a floor amendment to HB 1141 which seemed intended to address fears about creeping unionization of agriculture.
      • At the close of business in the House late on Monday, chamber leaders pulled a package of bills out of the Washington State House Rules Committee (WA House RUL) which included HB 1141.
      • On Tuesday afternoon, the five Republican amendments which had been previously rejected during the committee executive session on the legislation were renewed for the House floor.
        • Amendment MCCB 052 by Assistant Minority Whip Brian Burnett:
          • “Allows employees to revoke their authorization for payroll deductions of union dues through a written, electronic, or recorded voice revocation, instead of only allowing written revocations.”
          • The language was identical to amendment MCCB 005 which was unsuccessfully introduced by Representative Suzanne Schmidt in committee.
        • Amendment MCCB 053 by Representative Carolyn Eslick:
          • “Incorporates the provisions of the statute relating to exclusive bargaining representative access to new employees instead of incorporating the provisions by referencing the statute.
          • “Allows employers to not pay employees for the time the employees are meeting with the exclusive bargaining representative.”
          • The language was identical to amendment MCCB 006 which was unsuccessfully introduced by Minority Caucus Vice Chair Alex Ybarra in committee.
        • Amendment MCCB 049 by Schmidt:
          • “Specifies that exclusive bargaining representative elections be done by secret ballot.
          • “Removes the cross-check process used for determining the exclusive bargaining representative of a bargaining unit with no incumbent representative.”
          • The language was identical to amendment MCCB 002 which was unsuccessfully introduced by Schmidt in committee.
        • Amendment MCCB 051 by Schmidt:
          • “Removes restrictions on when employees may vote on a new exclusive bargaining representative.”
          • The language was identical to amendment MCCB 004 which was unsuccessfully introduced by Representative Joel McEntire in committee.
        • Amendment MCCB 050 by Washington State Republican Party Chairman Jim Walsh:
          • “Allows employees to opt out of having their information shared with the exclusive bargaining representative who represents the employees' bargaining unit.”
          • The language was identical to amendment MCCB 003 which was unsuccessfully introduced by McEntire in committee.
      • On Tuesday evening, HB 1141 was included in the fourth order of consideration and brought forward for its second reading (video - TVW).  Ortiz-Self’s amendment was incorporated into the committee substitute language but all five Republican sponsored amendments were again rejected by the majority.  The legislation was passed 55-40-0-3 along strictly partisan lines with the exceptions of the Democratic leaders of the Washington State House Agriculture and Natural Resources Committee (WA House AGNR).
        • WA House AGNR Chair Kristine Reeves
        • WA House AGNR Vice Chair Melanie Morgan
      • Following passage, the House Democratic Caucus announced “Rep. Ortiz-Self Works to Expand Collective Bargaining Rights for Agricultural Cannabis Workers” including a video of the prime sponsor’s final remarks on passage.
      • On Friday March 14th, WA House AGNR members planned to host a rescheduled work session with the Washington Policy Center (WPC) whose representatives penned an article titled “Two bills offer gateway drug to farmworker unionization in WA” about HB 1141 and another bill sponsored by Reeves and Morgan which stated, “If cannabis were governed as an agricultural product, workers in the cultivation, processing, packaging, and sale of cannabis would be considered agricultural or farm workers. A change in worker status would pave the way for the unionization of “cannabis farmworkers” proposed in HB 1141. This legislative proposal seems to be a test of how acceptable farmworker unions in general would be to our state.”  The WPC presentation deck published on Tuesday afternoon made no mention of cannabis nor farmworker unions.
  • On Wednesday, legislators would convene floor sessions to debate and advance legislation; all four cannabis-related bills at risk in the Senate had been calendared ahead of the House of Origin Cutoff on Wednesday March 12th at 5pm.
    • Rescheduled: WA House AGNR - Committee Meeting [ Event Details ]
    • 10am: WA House - Session
    • 10am: WA Senate - Session
      • [ Floor Activity Report, TVW - Morning, TVW - Afternoon, TVW - Evening ]
      • At publication time, four cannabis-related bills were positioned for floor activity in the Senate.
        • SB 5206 - Cannabis Retailer Advertising
        • SB 5403 - Cannabis Retail Financial Interest
          • See the bill text, bill report, and fiscal note for more details.
          • On Tuesday, Senator Curtis King published amendment S-2261.1 which was described as having the following effects:
            • ‘Changes the title of the bill from "AN ACT Relating to supporting a sustainable cannabis industry" to "AN ACT Relating to limiting financial interest agreements for licensed cannabis retailers."’
        • SB 5700 - DOH Patient Data Sharing
          • See the bill text, bill report, and fiscal note for more details.
          • As the identical companion legislation HB 1341 was passed by the House on Monday, senate leadership may deprioritize passage of SB 5700.
          • At publication time, there were no published amendments on the legislation.
        • SB 5758 - Social Equity Buffer Zones
      • 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 March 6th, Senator Jeff Holy published amendment S-2059.2 to reintroduce prosecutorial discretion to object to dismissal of relevant possession charges.
          • On Tuesday, prime sponsor Senator Jesse Salomon published amendment S-2273.1 which was described as having the following effects:
            • “Requires treatment be provided by a treatment agency licensed and certified by the department of health rather than through a court-approved treatment provider.”
      • At publication time, the WA Senate had 68 bills on its regular calendar ready for legislative activity.
    • 5pm: WA Legislature - House of Origin Cutoff
      • The WA Legislature House of Origin Cutoff was the third cutoff gateway of the 2025 regular session.
        • To continue advancing, legislation must be scheduled in an order of consideration during a floor session before potential amendment, debate, and passage 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.
      • See the Cannabis Observer 2025-26 biennium landing screen for a complete list of cannabis-related and -adjacent legislation being tracked.