WA House COG - Committee Meeting
(January 15, 2021) - HB 1019 - Written Testimony

Written testimony submitted regarding HB 1019, a bill dealing with adult cannabis cultivation, revealed a large amount of encouraging feedback and a couple of dissenting critiques.

Here are some observations from the Friday January 15th Washington State House Commerce and Gaming Committee (WA House COG) meeting.

• Changes to the way citizens can sign in or provide written testimony on legislation have impacted the availability of public input on bills, and some positions on adult cannabis agriculture were submitted in the day after the hearing.
  • Prior to the implementation of remote legislative activity due to the coronavirus pandemic, testimony in legislative committee meetings was almost always limited to individuals present at the legislature in Olympia who signed in positions on bills and asked to testify or noted availability for questions. While the Senate made a little-used remote testimony program permanent in 2019, visibility into who was signed in was limited to those at the hearing, users on the capitol campus network, and subsequent public records requestors.
    • Staff from the Washington State Legislative Information Center (WA LIC) provided a class on ways to participate in the 2021 legislative session, including Accessing the Legislature Remotely on January 5th.
  • Here’s how to remotely sign up to testify or register a pro/con/other position.
    • On Cannabis Observer, look for the link labeled Committee Sign In – Remote Testimony at the bottom of legislative event screens.
    • Click on the chamber where the bill is being heard.
    • Use the ‘Committee: Please Select’ drop down box.
    • Then, select a date and time from the ‘Meetings: Please Select’ drop down box.
  • In addition to signing in or testifying remotely in 2021, committees also accepted written testimony sent to the entire committee and staff for inclusion in a bill’s legislative record.
    • After selecting a committee meeting, bills on the agenda will be displayed.
    • Select legislation and then ‘Select type of testimony’ which includes an option to provide written testimony.
    • It’s Cannabis Observer’s understanding that written testimony may be provided up to 24 hours after the start of a public hearing.
  • Just below that is a box labeled ‘See who has signed in for this agenda item.’ Selecting this option will show a list of those who have signed in to speak or registered a position on the bill.
    • This information is publicly available leading up to a hearing without having to register or sign in. The option is removed prior to a bill’s hearing, but precisely when seems to be inconsistent or dependent on committee staff action.
  • The January 15th observation of the public hearing for HB 1019 (“Allowing residential marijuana agriculture.”), several people testified and Vice Chair Emily Wicks indicated had signed in at the time of the hearing. Materials from a public records request listed all who signed in as well as all written testimony submitted.
  • The committee passed HB 1019 on January 22nd before it was assigned to the Washington State House Appropriations Committee (WA House APP). Though the bill’s original fiscal note was $0, an amendment resulted in a revised fiscal note in advance of a fiscal committee public hearing scheduled for February 9th.

• Like spoken testimony, written comments and sign ins overwhelmingly supported the bill, while one person was neither in favor nor against HB 1019’s current language.
  • See in person testimony supporting the bill.
  • Marcus Bailey, Honey Bee Acres Microfarm, described how he “moved to Washington State 16 years ago to learn how to grow my own medicine” and earned “a legal income with medical dispensaries back in the day.” Supportive of the bill, he’d “found seeds in recreational packaging” and suggested the state had “many places to obtain traceable plant materials” for adult growers.
  • Patricia Colvin, Beggs n Achin, testified that purchase of “marijuana for medicinal purposes, even with a prescription, is left entirely at the expense of the patient, and can be prohibitively expensive” and that wider home grow rights “can be a big step toward enabling patients to get their medicine that would otherwise be unable to do so.”
    • She shared family members' health struggles around accessing medical cannabis, admitting “none of these people are financially able to afford the medicine realistically.”
      • SB 5004, “Providing a tax exemption for medical marijuana patients,” would lift the 37% excise tax burden from registered patients. The bill was heard on January 18th and scheduled for an executive session in the Washington State Senate Ways and Means Committee (WA Senate WM) on Thursday February 11th.
    • Colvin believed the state was “long past the days of treating this substance in the same manner as heroin. We brew beer at home, and children can potentially have access to that. Yet alcohol is responsible for violence, chemical dependency, diabetes, liver failure, and crime.”
    • She added that “home growers aren't as skilled” as commercial producers and wouldn’t “get a giant plant, whereas a professional will. Tax dollars will keep coming as much as ever, even after this bill is passed.” 
  • Michael Dare testified that cigarettes were “toxic and I can buy enough of them to kill myself and everyone I know” and that alcohol was “toxic and I can buy enough to drown a horse.” Arguing cannabis wasn’t lethally toxic, he wrote that it “makes absolutely no sense” for him to be able to “only buy an ounce and I can't grow it” instead of the right to “grow marijuana without any limits whatsoever.”
  • Ramsey Doudar, Patients and Users for Reasonable Policy (PURP) Founding Member, wrote committee members that while “being one of the first two states to legalize,” the State created “a regulated marijuana economy but continues to disallow personal cultivation.”
    • Doudar stated, “Bills similar to this one have been introduced multiple times since initiative 502 went into effect 6 years ago, and they stalled because home grows have been unfairly viewed as a ‘low priority.’”
    • He went on to tell lawmakers, “I implore you to prioritize and implement HB 1019 because it will have a subtle but important effect on COVID-related issues” like maintaining “adequate social distancing protocols when visiting a brick and mortar cannabis dispensary, and considering cannabis delivery is still illegal, depriving your constituents of the legal right to cultivate their own cannabis puts them at risk” by limiting them to “being exposed at a physical [but essential] business or being an outright criminal.”
    • Doudar mentioned that the Washington State Liquor and Cannabis Board (WSLCB) had been directed “to study regulatory structures for home grows.” He noted opponents’ “only valid concern is ‘increased youth access’ to cannabis” and asked legislators to consider “the fact that we as a state trust adults to safely store firearms, alcohol, pharmaceuticals, nicotine products, knives, laundry detergent pods, drain cleaner, and other household poisons where their children” couldn’t get at them.
  • Jeff Doughty, Capitol Analysis CEO and Chemistry Manager, wrote that as “the owner of an accredited cannabis testing laboratory” he could “see why the patient community does not trust the recreational market, and have made many presentations as to why the label on the package in retail does not match the product contained therein.” Looking ahead “as we transition to [the Washington State] Department of Ecology managing lab accreditations, as a member of the steering committee of the Cannabis Science Task Force” he was convinced that “homegrow is essential to a true cannabis legalization scheme.” The policy gave cultivators “the ability to know the source of their medicine and how the plant has been cared for. This bill will help to mitigate the lack of trust in the cannabis consumers, in that they will then control, if they desire, their own supply chain.”
  • Ezra Eickmeyer, Producers NW Lobbyist, relayed that he was “supportive of this legislation. We would like to recommend an amendment clarifying that consumers are allowed to buy clones from both retailers and producer/processors, however, to clarify how people are supposed to get access to their starts or seeds.” He included that sizing “limitations on plants could help ensure that flowering plants are not sold to the public.”
  • Ian Eisenberg, Uncle Ike's Owner, informed lawmakers that he owned “5 cannabis stores and have a fair understanding of the market. I see no downside to allow individuals the right to grow a small amount of cannabis.” He did “not feel it will [affect] the state's taxes or create a public safety issue.”
  • Francis Fauls, Evergreen GroPro LLC, wrote that he’d “strongly support passage of HB 1019.”
    • Fauls was a former representative of the Cannabis Farmers Council on the WSLCB Cannabis Advisory Council (CAC).
  • Richard Freeman asked that the committee “write and pass on some sensible legislation that respects our rights as intelligent, responsible adults and citizens to grow a few cannabis plants for our own use and consumption.” He stated that it made “sense on so many levels, but especially from a perspective of recognizing freedom from interference in everyday life, a basic American value.” The bill “also makes sense on an economic level” since anyone choosing “to grow will require supplies, which they will need to pay for, and that money will cycle through communities.”
  • Matthew Friedlander, Skagit Organics Founder, communicated that he personally supported the bill “as does my licensed cannabis company Skagit Organics. As a company we are not concerned about the financial impact and as a citizen I believe we should have a right to grow cannabis at our home without fear of prosecution.”
  • Betty Frizzell, Law Enforcement Action Partnership (LEAP), explained her experience “as a resident of Washington State and as a former police chief” as well as a member of LEAP, “a nonprofit group of police, prosecutors, judges, and other criminal justice professionals who speak from firsthand experience on how we can strengthen public safety by building police-community cooperation.”
    • As a law enforcement officer, she’d been “taught to make an arrest when someone was violating the law. When I arrested someone for growing a marijuana plant in their home, I knew that they did not pose a threat to public safety, but I was not taught to consider the long-term societal impact of arresting that person.” In time, she “came to understand that this law I had to enforce was actually making people lose trust in my role as a public servant.”
    • Following Frizzell’s “long career in law enforcement, I have seen the consequences play out, damaging police-community relations and public safety overall” by arresting people “safely growing marijuana at home.” She continued that “quite simply, this particular law is nonsensical. When police relationships with community members deteriorate, policework becomes more challenging.” She wrote when “detectives knock on doors to find witnesses of serious crime, people will not open their door if they have a marijuana plant inside, or if they distrust police because they know someone who has been arrested for a marijuana plant. Our ability to protect the community depends on people opening their doors.” 
    • Furthermore, “prohibition on growing marijuana at home is also needlessly bringing more people into the justice system” which leaves them “branded as a criminal when they apply for a job, professional license, housing, benefits, or a college scholarship or loan...We cannot pretend that one in four Washingtonians is so irredeemable that they must be branded with a lifetime mark of criminality,” Frizzell commented. She concluded that “we need to prioritize the crimes with victims. As an officer, I focused on sexual assault cases and other serious violent crimes...Policing is not going to solve our drug problem.”
    • Frizzell also indicated the bill could “help people who live far from dispensaries or have a physical disability that limits their mobility...a simple opportunity to help stabilize our communities and improve trust in our justice system at pivotal time.”
    • See Frizzell’s testimony on prior home grow legislation in 2020.
  • Steven Hadley, Seattle HEMPFEST, stated that “other states with adult cannabis use have homegrow. Crime, addiction, death, juvenile use, has not increased.” He asked the committee to permit “Washingtonians this same freedom.”
  • George Howard wrote that he was a “medical marijuana user and feel better off growing my own plants.” Additionally, the bill stood to “create a ton of jobs,” he stated.
  • Jim MacRae, Straight Line Analytics Founder, wrote that he “would prefer that the bill use the term ‘cannabis’ in place of the racially-loaded term ‘marijuana’, if possible.” As a former medical patient, he conveyed that the Washington State Department of Health (WA DOH) patient “registry repelled me on principle” due to his understanding that a “contract for the creation of the registry database” included a requirement that “a dedicated report was to be created from the PATIENT registry for quarterly transmission to the Drug Enforcement Administration (DEA) of the Federal Government.”
    • MacRae didn’t find the state’s legal market met his needs. He had a “lack of trust in the quality and safety of the products currently available” due to his involvement in Ike’s OK program and having “analyzed the first two years of data produced by the WSDA/WSLCB joint cannabis pesticide testing effort.” He wrote that a “million-plus adult recreational cannabis consumers in Washington today are routinely being exposed to pesticides at levels that would be considered [quality assurance] failures were the product to be tested for pesticides.”
    • Having also made his own wine, MacRae had found “produced commercial wines are much better than what I was able to produce and the result did not justify my effort.” Though he had “not grown cannabis in Washington, as it is illegal for me to do so under state law. I look forward to being able to try my hand at growing cannabis one day” and that if the bill passed into law he’d “grow 1 crop each year, using the sun as the primary (sole) source of light.”
    • Furthermore, if “WSLCB ever see fit to require testing the cannabis it regulates for pesticides, the likelihood that I would continue to grow this annual plant into the future would decrease” and while MacRae would “like to see a limit higher than that provided in HB-1019, but a limit of six is infinitely better than a limit of zero.”
  • David Mesford wrote that “If my neighbors can produce their own alcohol I should be able to produce my own cannabis.”
  • Lee Newbury wrote that he favored adult cultivation since the “retail market is full of mass produced low quality cannabis. The citizens of Washington deserve to be able to provide for themselves.” Beyond parity with home brewing, he noted the “quality I was able to grow and/or obtain through medical dispensaries prior to I-502 was far superior at better pricing compared to what I currently find at the local cannabis stores.” Newbury backed “allowing folks to provide for themselves rather than just using cannabis as a tax revenue source.”
  • John Novak signed in as “Other,” neither in favor of, nor opposed to, the bill as written. He wrote that although he did “support this bill,” he had “serious concerns of public safety when it comes to some of the language as my concerns were not addressed in this new version of the bill.”
    • “Please fix the fatal flaw in the forfeiture section (Section 2, Page 7, line 28) that sets the commercial limit at 5 or more plants or a pound or more marijuana. I am requesting that you raise those numbers, not make an exception to them as the amounts below represent personal amounts already.” He stated that the exception “also forces every county superior Court to establish new forfeiture precedence” which meant “people will be raided and have their property seized,” before officials “hit you with criminal charges.”
      • In an executive session for HB 1019 on January 22nd, WA House COG Chair Shelly Kloba, the bill sponsor, offered amendment H 0516.1 which changed section two of the bill by raising a threshold for seizure and forfeiture of property.
    • Novak advised lawmakers to increase “the numbers and mandate preponderance of evidence must include proof of a controlled purchase.” He described this as “changing the parameters a bit, leaving the major fixes to the forfeiture laws for a full forfeiture reform bill.” Additionally, labeling “requirements in section 1 must be removed as it creates a preponderance of evidence paper trail in Federal law for commercial activity,” which Novak cautioned was akin to “a catch 22 between state and federal laws.”
    • See Novak’s testimony on prior Senate and House home cultivation legislation from 2019.
  • Crystal Oliver, Washington SunGrowers Industry Association (WSIA) Executive Director, wrote that “Passage of this legislation would comport Washington law with those of the other adult use states” and since adults “can already brew their own beer and make their own wine” cannabis merited “this same privilege.” 
  • Shane Schrader supported “legalization of being able to grow a limited number of [cannabis] plants at home.”
  • Micah Sherman, WSIA Board Member, communicated that the bill was “the strongest yet” and would “get Washington state on the same page as other legal states and this is one area where we need to catch up. Not having the ability to legally produce a small amount of a product that is now readily available for purchase is not serving anyone's interests.” He wrote that having personal cultivation “still illegal is harmful to our pursuit of justice under the law due to the disproportionate effect on people of color as a result of this continued prohibition.”Sherman was a ”licensed commercial cannabis farmer” who did not “believe this bill will substantially impact our industry, and even if it did it would still be the right thing to do.”
    • Sherman testified in the last home grow legislation public hearing in February 2020.
  • Phillip Singleton, FMS Global Strategies and Washington Build Back Black Alliance (WBBBA), conveyed that WBBBA was “proud to support HB 1019” finding the bill to be “a good step to ensuring that residents of Washington state can grow their medical prescription(s) without having to worry about local law enforcement confiscating their medication.” He credited Kloba for “meeting with our team to ensure that communities of color were accounted for in this process.”
  • Don Skakie, Homegrow Washington Co-Founder, reiterated several points in favor of the bill he’d made during his spoken testimony (audio - 5m, video).
    • See Skakie’s testimony on prior Senate and House home cultivation legislation from 2019, and comments during a WA House APP hearing in 2020.
  • Shawnna Stafford found retail cannabis was “not affordable to many who would choose for botanical medicinal purposes.” Stafford also wanted seizure and forfeiture to “be stricken from the bill's language.”
  • Brian Stone, wrote that “As the first State to de-regulate Cannabis for personal use, our citizens deserve this CIVIL LIBERTY.”
    • He stated that it was “conclusively proven that personal cultivation does not significantly affect the retail market” since the “loss of tax revenue from Cannabis sales will be more than replaced by the tax on the sale of expensive grow equipment.”
    • HB 1019 could be “of benefit to citizens with medium to minor health issues that can be mitigated with Cannabis, but who might not qualify for the more restrictive qualifying conditions presently allowed,” Stone remarked. He urged lawmakers to lead “in the effort to normalize Cannabis consumption” and support legislation that “will go a long way to correcting this deficiency in our law.”
  • Lisa Vos wrote that “We need to decriminalize growing our own just as we do any garden.”
  • Carly Wolf, National Organization for the Reform of Marijuana Laws (NORML) State Policies Coordinator, testified “in favor of the advancement of House Bill 1019” because “NORML believes that adults should have this legal option as an alternative to solely purchasing cannabis from a licensed retail outlet.”
    • Wolf stated that “many consumers prefer specific strains...Permitting consumers the option to produce these specific strains at home assures that they will have an uninterrupted and cost-effective supply of cannabis that is best suited to their own particular interests.” She added that home grow would assist “those who do not live within a reasonable distance of a retail outlet, or those who may not be able to afford cannabis available at retail outlets, from purchasing from the illicit market.”
    • Wolf informed the committee that HB 1019 “would comport Washington law with those of the other states that have enacted policies regulating the adult use of marijuana -- 13 out of 15 of which allow adults to grow limited quantities of cannabis in private. None of these jurisdictions have ever repealed their home-grow laws, and these regulations have not created any tangible public safety risk.”
    • She closed by comparing adult cannabis cultivation “with the state’s alcohol regulations...citizens can brew their own beer and make their own wine for personal consumption, and it is consistent with this policy to similarly permit personal cultivation of cannabis.”
    • See posts from Wolf on the NORML blog.
  • Oleg Zharsky told the committee that “this will be very important for medical patients and won’t get in the way of cannabis retail revenue.”
  • Pro Sign ins not announced in the hearing:
    • Pete Holmes, City of Seattle City Attorney
    • Caitlein Ryan, The Cannabis Alliance Interim Executive Director and Board President
    • Erik Johansen

• Two people wrote testimony critical of the bill and three people signed in against the measure without providing comments.
  • See in person testimony against the bill.
  • Rob Huss, Washington State Patrol (WSP) Investigative Services BureauAssistant Chief, stated that “passage of this legislation would further hinder law enforcement efforts already having difficulties keeping up with the scale of the illicit market.”
    • “Drug trafficking organizations (DTO) have taken advantage of the illicit marijuana industry in Washington” Huss said, because differing laws meant that when “transported to states where marijuana remains illegal, a $1000 worth of Washington marijuana can sell for $3000-4000.”He testified that big “illicit grows are a problem in the state and this bill could add to the permissive environment in Washington exploited by large-scale DTO’s.” 
      • Washington’s reputation for illicit cannabis production and trafficking predates legalization. In 2008 the Northwest High Intensity Drug Trafficking Area (NW HIDTA) task force identified Washington state cannabis cultivation as “common,” designating the state M7, meaning a top marijuana producing jurisdiction. A 2010 HIDTA report to Congress noted Washington cannabis was cultivated at indoor and outdoor grows throughout the state.
    • Huss warned that the bill could result in more crime as law enforcement was already handling “diversion of marijuana across state lines, money laundering, human trafficking, and other criminal enterprises funded by illicitly gained proceeds.” He asserted legal gardens “will reduce the criminal risk to DTO’s and others interested in diverting Washington marijuana.” He wrote that the bill would “make it harder for law enforcement to investigate and prosecute criminal activity. Establishing probable cause for illicit marijuana production will be nearly impossible” leading to an “already booming illicit industry [growing] nearly unobstructed.”
      • According to the Washington Association of Sheriffs and Police Chiefs (WASPC) 2019 report on Crime in Washington, cultivation/manufacturing arrests comprised 0.7% of drug offenses in the state.
  • Stacey Okland, Okanogan County Community Coalition Executive Director, explained that she’d watched the hearing and wanted to relate that she opposed the bill “on behalf of youth substance abuse prevention.” She stated that advocates like herself “push back on marijuana expansion because we know the impacts tobacco and alcohol have had on youth and adults over the years.”
    • Okland wrote, “This may not seem fair, but we have seen this play out in long and short-term health consequences for young people who consume substances like alcohol, tobacco, and marijuana.” As brain development was sometimes said to continue into a person’s “early to mid 20’s...it’s important for us to have policies and laws that take that into consideration,” Okland noted.
    • She wrote that in her region “it is not unheard of for there to be a large gap in age between siblings, have multiple generations living in a home, or extended family members living in a home with younger family members...This is about anyone over 21 years old growing plants that when processed is an impairing substance.” Though appreciative that HB 1019 had “a section to keep marijuana growing out of foster homes and early learning centers” she asked for the bill to be amended with sanctions ensuring “that no children be allowed to live in a home with home grows, and that there be a provision that follows I-502 in keeping marijuana 1000 feet from all schools and parks.” 
    • Okland said that after cannabis retailers opened in 2014, businesses “claimed to be committed to making sure youth did not have access to marijuana from their stores.” However, when WSLCB first “conducted compliance checks, the owner of a retail store sold to a youth operative. Second time out, the store that was the most adamant they would not sell to a minor” did, and she advised that “without some sort of checks and balances there’s no protection for youth.”
      • The earliest reported cannabis sales to a minor in that area in June 2015 resulted in felony charges for a budtender at Caribou Corner Cannabis, also known as 4US Retail. The next compliance check announced in Okanogan County by WSLCB that October didn’t show that the retailer sold to minors.
      • In 2016, Okanogan County Community Coalition began to partner with local law enforcement on additional compliance checks, finding “disappointing” compliance rates for area alcohol licensees. Months later, checks found 100% compliance from alcohol, but a different area cannabis retailer, The Sage Shop, sold to an underage buyer.
      • Okland failed to mention that as project coordinator for her organization’s compliance checks in 2018, no cannabis retailers sold to minors, leading her to say at that time her group was “happy that local business owners and clerks continue to turn away underage buyers.” 2019 alcohol checks revealed two of 19 stores sold to underage customers; she described that “most businesses used ID scanning devices to check ID, so we appreciate the efforts businesses have taken to make sure their employees have the tools to make sure they do not sell to a minor.”
      • In a November 2020 webinar, Okland provided a comment that “One thing that was happening in Omak was people over 21 were buying mj and then selling it to kids in the parking lot of the retail store.” 
    • Lastly, Okland turned to theft, telling the committee there was “outdoor growing in our county. I do not see a provision that these plants need to be grown indoors just that there is a provision for smell.” She was aware of a criminal incident where thieves “cut through the fence and took a bunch of plants that were ready for harvest,” so she opposed adults being able to grow their own.
      • HB 1019 included a provision about visibility, creating a class III civil infraction for cannabis gardens “visible in the ordinary public view.”
  • Con sign ins not announced during the hearing:
    • Sharon Swanson, Association of Washington Cities (AWC) Government Relations Advocate
    • Kevin Hughs
    • Brihahna Murray, Gordon Thomas Honeywell Vice President, contract lobbyist for the City of Spokane Valley

Information Set