As the WA Hemp in Food Task Force continued honing recommendations, WSLCB staff would host a new “world café” event to gather feedback on canopy before issuing proposed rules.
Here’s a look at cannabis-related policymaking events on the calendar in the week ahead.
Monday October 3rd
At publication time, no cannabis-related policymaking events were scheduled.
Tuesday October 4th
WSLCB - Board Caucus
On Tuesday at 10am PT, the weekly Washington State Liquor and Cannabis Board (WSLCB) Board Caucus was scheduled to recur.
- [ Event Details ]
WSLCB - World Café - Canopy
On Tuesday at 2pm PT, a WSLCB World Café on the Canopy Rulemaking Project was scheduled.
- [ Event Details, Rulemaking Project ]
- A rulemaking project on cannabis plant canopy was opened by the board in late August in an effort to bring more consistency to the application and enforcement of production limits. Policy and Rules staff anticipated “significant stakeholder engagement” and planned an extended project timeline.
- The Administrative Procedures Act encourages agency administrators to creatively engage the public during the CR-101 phase and prior to the release of proposed rules as part of a CR-102, but extra effort is not strictly required. In April 2019, WSLCB Policy and Rules Manager Kathy Hoffman introduced the Listen and Learn Forum event format to gather perspectives on conceptual draft rules in a structured way, section by section, eventually hosting 17 events on a variety of rulemaking projects before signaling her interest in trying a new approach.
- Wikipedia describes the “world café” event format as “a structured conversational process for knowledge sharing in which groups of people discuss a topic at several small tables like those in a café.” Participants are organized or self-organize into small groups and presented with the first of a series of questions to explore together. Groups are encouraged to document their observations together as notes or drawings in preparation for sharing with their peers. In between questions, participants reorganize into different groups to facilitate cross-pollination of perspectives and draw upon the work of previous groups. Structured sharing between rounds and/or at the end can be helpful for synthesis of findings.
- On Tuesday, the WSLCB Policy and Rules team planned to host their first world café event in relation to the canopy rulemaking project. Given the virtual context, participants would likely leverage the “breakout rooms” feature in Microsoft Teams to simulate tables and proceed through three rounds of 15-minute discussions followed by five minutes of sharing on the following questions:
- How should we treat floor space that is not in production?
- How could we update the Tier system?
- How should we measure canopy?
- Five minutes is allocated at the end of the event for “Table Summaries.” See the event type Information Set for additional background resources shared by WSLCB staff.
Wednesday October 5th
WA Hemp in Food Task Force - Meeting
On Wednesday at 2pm PT, the Washington State Hemp in Food Task Force (WA Hemp in Food Task Force) was scheduled to convene.
- [ Event Details ]
- The WA Hemp in Food Task Force members had a productive meeting last Thursday September 29th while reviewing the initial draft recommendations from their work groups.
- Verda Bio CEO Jessica Tonani, representing the Concentration and Safety Work Group, suggested the scope of task force recommendations on the inclusion of hemp in food be limited to packaged food products, using defined processing and testing methods, within ingredient limits to be defined.
- Industrial Hemp Association of Washington (IHEMPAWA) Executive Director Bonny Jo Peterson, representing the Definitions Work Group, provided a new definition of “hemp extract” and promoted a structure + function distinction between class A cannabinoids “that get you high” and class B compounds which would be more liberally allowed in food products.
- Following work group meetings on Tuesday and a meeting of the Washington State Hemp Commission Task Force on Wednesday at 1pm, members would reconvene to continue honing their work in advance of the October 31st deadline for proposing recommendations to the Washington State Department of Agriculture (WSDA). WSDA staff would then incorporate the task force recommendations into a report due to the legislature by December 1st.
Thursday October 6th
At publication time, no cannabis-related policymaking events were scheduled.
Friday October 7th
WA Pharmacy Commission Legislative Committee - Public Meeting
On Friday at 12pm PT, the Washington State Pharmacy Quality Assurance Commission Legislative Committee (WA Pharmacy Commission Legislative Committee) was scheduled to convene their monthly public meeting.
- [ Event Details ]