WA Governor - Bill Action (March 25, 2020) - Summary

Seated alone in compliance with his own social distancing orders, Governor Jay Inslee signed two bills into law which expand WSLCB and DOH cannabis regulatory authorities.

Here are some observations from the Wednesday March 25th Washington State Office of the Governor (WA Governor) Bill Action.

My top 3 takeaways:

The COVID-19 coronavirus pandemic led to a ~~shelter-in-place~~ "Stay Home - Stay Healthy Order" from Governor Jay Inslee which dramatically impacted state activities including cannabis regulation and Inslee’s bill signing ceremonies.
- Confirmed by the Washington State Department of Health (DOH) on January 21st, the pandemic caused fatalities and provoked unprecedented public health measures.
- Inslee declared a state of emergency on February 29th and limited gatherings and business activity on March 16th.
- As cases of COVID-19 continued to escalate, Inslee issued a "Stay Home, Stay Healthy" order on March 23rd and asserted that “the less time we spend in public, the more lives we will save.” The restrictions were slated to last until April 7th, but could be extended (transcript).
  - An appendix to Inslee’s order outlining essential services included cannabis retailers under healthcare/public health as “workers in other medical facilities” while cannabis producers and processors were listed as essential food and agriculture workers “supporting cannabis retail.”
- Inslee signed an additional measure on March 24th which “waives the penalties for failure to timely remit tax payments to the LCB until April 22. The waiver is made retroactive to the date of the governor’s declaration of a state of emergency on Feb. 29.” The Washington State Liquor and Cannabis Board (WSLCB) issued a bulletin about the order on March 25th.
- Another temporary action by the Governor on March 24th suspended “certain statutory requirements in the Open Public Meetings Act (OPMA) and Public Records Act (PRA)” until April 22nd.
  - The OPMA was temporarily altered to lift the requirement to provide physical access to public meetings as “waving this requirement works to prevent the gathering of people to further curb the spread of the virus. However, governing bodies may only address ‘necessary and routine matters’ as defined in RCW 42.30.020, or matters necessary to address the COVID-19 outbreak, for the 30 days the proclamation is active.”
  - PRA deadlines for public records requests were temporarily altered as closed state facilities “would make it difficult to respond to requests in the five-day deadline. Under this order, the requirement for agencies to respond to or acknowledge all records requested in the PRA mandated timeframe is waived. However, agencies are still expected to continue to respond promptly and to the greatest and fullest extent possible.”
  - The Governor’s action did not alter the State’s responsibility to announce agency meetings nor an individual’s ability to submit records requests.
  - See other COVID-19 announcements in Governor Inslee’s news archive and coronavirus.wa.gov, the State’s primary portal for information on the pandemic.
- The WSLCB took action to suspend public meetings, accommodate school closures, and encourage social distancing.
  - Public meetings. Staff discussed the WSLCB’s initial emergency preparations on March 3rd and subsequently created an agency-specific coronavirus landing screen. On March 10th, WSLCB cancelled their March 18th board meeting in response to COVID-19. At publication time, the agency had cancelled eight of 11 regularly scheduled public meetings in March, two listen and learn forums, and various agency work group sessions.
  - Curbside service by cannabis retailers. On March 17th, the agency announced they would permit the curbside sale of cannabis products to medical patients and caregivers registered with the DOH’s medical patient database outside of retail licensed premises within the bounds of the enclosing property. On March 24th, WSLCB issued a follow up bulletin “temporarily expanding curbside sales beyond qualified medical patients to allow sales to all adult customers as long as certain restrictions are in place.” The restrictions specified:
    - Drive-thru windows are not allowed;
    - IDs must be checked -- no one in the car may be less than 21 years of age;
    - Curbside sales areas must be stationary and physically designated on the leasehold property, preferably as close to the building as possible. Examples of physical designations for curbside service include:
      - Tape or painted parking spots for vehicle parking;
      - Cones or signage for vehicle parking;
    - Where possible, video cameras should be monitoring and recording the designated sales area;
    - Outdoor sales from a tent or kiosk are not allowed.
  - Minors in licensed marijuana producer and processor facilities. Also on March 24th, the WSLCB announced it would be “temporarily relaxing enforcement of WAC 314-55-015 involving the prohibition of minors being present on premises of licensed marijuana producers/processors in limited circumstances.” In an effort to “accommodate families that have been impacted by school closures,” WSLCB would not enforce the WAC’s provisions “for families who have children under the age of 16 on the licensed premises.” The exemption from enforcement would run until April 30th and “covers only the licensed marijuana facility for producers and processor, and does not include or cover retail locations or transportation vehicles” provided the following conditions were met:
    - The person under 16 years of age is a child or grandchild of the licensee,
    - The person under 16 years of age is not engaging in any work or act of employment for the licensed business,
    - The person under 16 years of age does not possess any products associated with the production, processing, or sales of marijuana.
- Washington’s cannabis industry trade groups shared the business implications of the emergency with state officials as the situation developed.
  - Washington SunGrowers Industry Association (WSIA)
  - The Cannabis Alliance
    - Request to Governor Inslee and Department of Commerce Director Lisa Baker regarding COVID-19 (Mar 23, 2020)
  - Craft Cannabis Coalition (CCC)
    - Letter to Governor Inslee regarding COVID-19 (Mar 16, 2020)
  - The Washington CannaBusiness Association (WACA) referred members to a Boswell Consulting/Christophersen Inc. client resource page on the virus.
- The Governor’s bill signings, typically gatherings of a measure’s legislative sponsors and supporters replete with photos by Legislative Support Services (LSS), were altered in favor of signings by Inslee alone with minimal staff support.
Inslee signed the WSLCB’s requested cannabis vapor product legislation, HB 2826 - “Clarifying the authority of the liquor and cannabis board to regulate marijuana vapor products.”
- Governor Inslee signed the bill. Section 5 of the bill as passed by the Legislature states, “This act is necessary for the immediate preservation of the public peace, health, or safety, or support of the state government and its existing public institutions, and takes effect immediately.”
- He described HB 2826 as improving safety for cannabis vapor products by banning “all non-natural flavored marijuana vapor products and requir[ing] processors to disclose what ingredients are in the products.” Inslee claimed the legislation would help consumers know “what is in the vapor product they’re inhaling” and “will help save lives.” Inslee thanked the WSLCB, Representative Strom Peterson, and Senator Karen Keiser for “shepherding it through” (audio - 1m, video).
- Should the supplemental biennium budget be signed by the Governor without change to section 140(12), the WSLCB would be allotted $65,000 from the Dedicated Marijuana Account (DMA) for fiscal year (FY) 2021 to implement the new law, the exact amount in the bill’s preliminary fiscal note.
  - Curiously, a final fiscal note was submitted for the bill on March 16th---after the close of the legislative session on March 12th---to specify the DOH’s fiscal impacts. The agency claimed no expense would be incurred because “The bill as written requires the Liquor and Cannabis Board to adopt rules requiring processors to submit a complete list to the Department of Health (DOH) of substances contained in their marijuana vapor products, however, the bill does not instruct DOH to store nor process the information, therefore there is no fiscal impact.”
- See Cannabis Observer’s coverage of the bill’s House policy committee public hearing and executive session, as well as the fiscal committee public hearing and executive session. We also covered the legislation’s Senate policy committee public hearing and executive session, as well as the fiscal committee public hearing and executive session.
  - Bill Text
    - Z-0876.1 (Jan 23, 2020)
    - Bill as Passed Legislature (Mar 6, 2020)
  - Fiscal Note
    - Preliminary (Feb 3, 2020)
    - Final (Mar 16, 2020)
  - House Bill Analysis (Jan 31, 2020)
  - WA House COG Public Hearing (Feb 3, 2020)
  - WA House COG Executive Session (Feb 6, 2020)
  - House Bill Report (Feb 6, 2020)
  - WA House APP Public Hearing (Feb 8, 2020)
  - WA House APP Executive Session (Feb 8, 2020)
  - House Bill Report (Feb 8, 2020)
  - House Order of Consideration Report (Feb 18, 2020)
  - House Roll Call Vote (Feb 18, 2020)
  - House Background Summary (Feb 18, 2020)
  - Senate Bill Report (Feb 25, 2020)
  - WA Senate LBRC Public Hearing (Feb 25, 2020)
  - WA Senate LBRC Executive Session (Feb 25, 2020)
  - Senate Bill Report (Feb 25, 2020)
  - WA Senate WM Public Hearing (Feb 28, 2020)
  - WA Senate WM Executive Session (Mar 2, 2020)
  - Senate Bill Report (Mar 2, 2020)
  - Senate Order of Consideration - 2nd and 3rd Reading - List #6 (Mar 6, 2020)
  - Senate Roll Call Vote (Mar 6, 2020)
  - Senate Bill Report (Mar 6, 2020)
  - House Bill Report (Mar 6, 2020)
Inslee also signed into law SB 6206 - “Creating a certificate of compliance for marijuana business premises that meet the statutory qualifications at the time of application.”
- Governor Inslee signed the bill into law which becomes effective on June 11th.
- Inslee claimed the bill would let cannabis license applicants “obtain a compliance certificate” from WSLCB “so that they can secure a business location while they wait for their application to process without having to enter into a lease agreement” which would “offset upfront costs” of starting a cannabis business. He thanked the sponsoring members, Senator Ann Rivers and Representative Brandon Vick before adding his hope that the bill would “help bring more diversity into this industry" (audio - 1m, video).
- Should the supplemental biennium budget be signed without change to Section 140(11), the WSLCB would be funded from the DMA with $42,000 for FY 2021 to implement the new law. This is slightly below the estimate of $42,482 in the bill’s fiscal note.
- See Cannabis Observer’s coverage of the bill’s Senate policy committee public hearing and executive session, and the House policy committee public hearing and executive session.
  - Bill Text
    - S-4961.1 (Jan 10, 2020)
    - S-6060.1 (Feb 4, 2020)
    - Bill as Passed Legislature (Mar 5, 2020)
  - Fiscal Note
    - WSLCB (Feb 2, 2020)
  - Senate Bill Report (Jan 30, 2020)
  - WA Senate LBRC Public Hearing (Feb 3, 2020)
  - WA Senate LBRC Executive Session (Feb 4, 2020)
  - Senate Bill Report (Feb 4, 2020)
  - WA Senate RULE Member Pulls (Feb 11, 2020)
  - Senate Order of Consideration - 2nd and 3rd Reading - List #8 (Feb 18, 2020)
  - Senate Roll Call Vote (Feb 18, 2020)
  - Senate Bill Report (Feb 18, 2020)
  - House Bill Analysis (Feb 24, 2020)
  - WA House COG Public Hearing (Feb 24, 2020)
  - WA House COG Executive Session (Feb 25, 2020)
  - House Bill Report (Feb 25, 2020)
  - House Order of Consideration Report (Mar 5, 2020)
  - House Roll Call Vote (Mar 5, 2020)
  - Senate Bill Report (Mar 5, 2020)