Observations

Commissioners learned about tax exemptions for medical patients and cooperatives, and the potentially dramatic impact of a statutory change redefining eligible cannabis purchases.

The board said farewell to the agency public health education liaison and approved revisions to the scoring regime for criminal history background checks on license application and renewal.

Board members committed to engaging stakeholders and the public as they prepared for an eventual federal breakthrough of cannabis decriminalization or legalization.

A “real quick” presentation on the implementation of HB 2334 by the Policy and Rules Coordinator included a timeline that would ultimately take months longer than predicted.

The Governor’s Council on Health Disparities planned to convene for the first time since December 2020 as policymaker attention began focusing on the 2022 legislative session.

Potential agency request legislation would create an Interagency Coordination Team (ICT) to define testing lab standards and remove the deadline for transfer of lab accreditation authority.

Members learned about specific laws and factors regulators had to consider when changing cannabis retail allotments, evoking several questions and suggestions from participants.

The governor approved a “consumer protection measure” so that imported CBD would be tested prior to use in legal cannabis items.

Social equity licensing work group members planned to devote time to understanding the prevalence of ban and moratorium jurisdictions before discussing “Possible Solutions.”

A briefing on a proposed Cannabis Central Reporting System (CCRS) provided a glimpse of the agency software project that may replace Washington’s beleaguered traceability regime.