WA Governor - Bill Action
(March 24, 2022) - HB 1859

The governor signed the only non-controversial cannabis bill of the 2022 session into law, setting regulators up to form an interagency coordination team responsible for lab standards.

Here are some observations from the Thursday March 24th Washington State Office of the Governor (WA Governor) Bill Action.

My top 3 takeaways:

• HB 1859, “Concerning quality standards for laboratories conducting cannabis analysis,” was signed into law by Governor Jay Inslee (audio - <1m, video).
  • Before signing the enrolled legislation, he explained that it transferred authority for cannabis laboratory accreditation standards to the Washington State Department of Agriculture (WSDA) “instead of the Liquor and Cannabis Board." The two agencies had “requested this bill,” which mandated the formation of an Interagency Coordination Team (ICT), Inslee remarked. He stated that this "shift will help the state meet potency and food safety standards for cannabis products."
  • As he signed the measure into law, Inslee thanked Representative Shelley Kloba, the bill sponsor, and Senator Steve Conway, who sponsored the Washington State Senate (WA Senate) companion bill.

• The request legislation had no visible opposition and was passed almost unanimously by lawmakers, unique among cannabis-focused bills during the 2022 session.
  • The idea for HB 1859 came out of the Cannabis Science Task Force (CSTF), where a draft of the request bill was discussed in October 2021. CSTF staff briefed lawmakers about the effort that November and task force members included the concept among recommendations in their legislative reports.
    • The law enabled staff from WSLCB, WSDA, and the Washington State Department of Health (DOH) to cooperate via the ICT, which would be responsible for defining lab standards to be encoded in rule by WSDA policy staff while also determining criteria to be implemented in a Washington State Department of Ecology (DOE) lab accreditation program.
    • WSLCB staff talked about the draft request bill in June, September, October, and November of 2021. During session, the bill was addressed during legislative updates on January 18th, February 15th, February 22nd, March 1st, and March 8th.
  • The first hearing on the proposal was on January 18th in the Washington State House Commerce and Gaming Committee (WA House COG) whose members recommended passage on January 28th. No one signed up to speak against the measure in any of its public hearings, and no public testimony was offered during the final hearing by the Washington State Senate Ways and Means Committee (WA Senate WM) on February 24th.
  • The law was amended before being passed by Senators on March 4th.
    • References to ‘marijuana’ in the language were changed to ‘cannabis’ to comport with the passage of HB 1210.
    • Funding for ICT activities was removed as a standing appropriation from the Dedicated Marijuana Account, and instead the group’s work would be funded through budget requests by the participating agencies.
    • These changes were given final concurrence and passage by the House on March 8th. Amongst three votes by legislators, the only people to vote against enactment were:
      • Representative Vicki Kraft
      • Senator Jim Honeyford
      • Senator Jim McCune
  • Compared to other cannabis-related bills—including high priorities of WSLCB leadership—HB 1859 received far less criticism and legislative scrutiny during the session. 
    • HB 1668, “Expanding regulatory authority over cannabinoids that may be impairing and providing for enhanced product safety and consumer information disclosure about marijuana products,” the other request bill from WSLCB, was far more contentious as several iterations of the bill were considered and rejected by legislators over the arguments of agency officials.
    • Several recommendations from the Washington State Legislative Task Force on Social Equity in Cannabis (WA SECTF) also failed to be passed by the legislature, although a $200 million reinvestment fund for communities disproportionately impacted by the war on drugs was added to the 2022 supplemental operating budget.
    • Legislation for instances of armed cannabis retail robberies that would have added a sentencing enhancement and reporting requirement was unsuccessful despite a series of robberies. Those crimes continued in the weeks following the end of the session, escalating to the point where three people lost their lives.

• With Inslee’s signature, the enrolled bill became session law via the Washington Secretary of State and would take effect 90 days after the conclusion of the 2022 session on June 9th.
  • WSDA officials were required to begin incorporating cannabis lab standards into Title 16 of the Washington Administrative Code (WAC) through rulemaking processes set out in Part III of the Administrative Procedures Act (APA) as the standards were developed by the ICT.
    • As a larger agency than WSLCB with a wider scope of responsibilities, WSDA had significantly more active rulemaking projects at publication time. While WSLCB rulemaking typically takes place during board meetings, WSDA staff set public hearings for their projects as needed and their hearings only include relevant program staff. Public engagement in WSDA rule development meets APA minimum standards, but WSDA officials haven’t adopted dedicated outreach events like WSLCB Listen and Learn Forums nor Deliberative Dialogues.
    • At publication time, the department had cannabis-related rulemaking efforts underway for the hemp program and hemp extract certification.
    • Find out more from WSDA frequently asked questions on rulemaking.
  • WSDA, WSLCB, and DOH leaders would be required to assign existing staff with relevant scientific expertise or hire new staff to act as representatives or administrative support staff for ICT. Staffing needs were outlined in the supplemental budget requests for the participating agencies
    • The WSDA request anticipated 5 full-time equivalent (FTE) staff.
    • The WSLCB request anticipated 2.5 FTEs, two chemists and half of a Washington Management Service (WMS) staffer’s time.
    • The DOH request anticipated 2.9 FTEs during the first biennium, and 5.4 in the next. Specifically, the department would hire a chemist, an epidemiologist, a microbiologist, a Health Services Consultant, and a WMS staffer.
  • On March 23rd, Senator Karen Keiser raised the possibility of having the ICT act as “a launching point" for state agencies to weigh in on other potential cannabis issues, specifically referencing a cannabis commodity commission. She wondered about the value of an ICT “seal of approval” to indicate an idea had been vetted by multiple state cannabis regulators.

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