WA Legislature - Update (January 24, 2024)
Legislation to reinforce vigilance over inversion and diversion was advanced, hemp in food was delayed, and legislators may not consider cannabis bills Wednesday until Senate calendaring.
Legislation to reinforce vigilance over inversion and diversion was advanced, hemp in food was delayed, and legislators may not consider cannabis bills Wednesday until Senate calendaring.
Most supported an out-of-state ownership bill, but two people voiced concerns about the impact on social equity licensees, and a former opponent joined those testifying as ‘other.’
After a particularly busy Monday for cannabis-related legislation in both the Senate and House, representatives were scheduled to move the inversion/diversion bill on Tuesday.
Lawmaker questions focused on potential risks and negative outcomes during mostly supportive testimony on 2024 cannabis home growing legislation.
11 cannabis-related bills were scheduled for activity the week before the house of origin policy committee cutoff, as regulators closely followed to position and prepare accordingly.
Some legislators seemed eager to at least appear to be eager to earmark unapportioned cannabis excise tax revenue at the beginning of the third week of the 2024 regular session.
After a brisk week of cannabis policy committee activity in the House including consideration of several controversial bills, legislators were scheduled to address other topics until Monday.
A new bill to raise the age limit on cannabis concentrates and require additional educational resources received support from prevention groups but opposition from cannabis stakeholders.
Senators passed the cannabis waste bill and revived out-of-state ownership; new tax bills were coming; the preliminary schedule was published; and 3 hearings were up Thursday morning.
With some calls for additional data or formatting changes, testimony in a hearing on legislation to set up a WSLCB data dashboard was largely supportive.