WA House COG - Committee Meeting
(January 22, 2021) - HB 1019 - Executive Session

Legislation to legalize home growing of cannabis in Washington State was advanced farther than prior years after House policy committee members unanimously voted to amend the bill to raise seizure and forfeiture limits, but the committee vote recommending the bill to their peers revealed two lawmakers held lingering concerns.

• In an executive session for HB 1019 one week after its public hearing on January 15th, committee staff described an amendment offered by the bill sponsor, Chair Shelly Kloba. The amendment, H 0516.1, changed section two of the bill by raising a threshold for seizure and forfeiture of property to align with the bill (audio - 2m, video).
  • Representative Sharon Wylie noted she supported the amendment and bill but wanted to hear local government official input on their expectations for handling complaints before passing the legislation (audio - 1m, video).

• Before voting unanimously to approve the amendment, Kloba and the committee ranking minority member offered remarks.
  • According to Kloba the amendment raised the “threshold” for seizure and forfeiture to “harmonize them” with possession limits for cannabis and/or plants legalized by the legislation because she didn’t want people “to inadvertently do home grow and then they get in trouble for doing so” (audio - 1m, video).
  • Ranking Minority Member Drew MacEwen said that the amendment was “making the bill better” (audio - <1m, video). The committee unanimously voted to include the change (audio - 1m, video).

• The motion, discussion, and vote for the amended legislation included final remarks from Kloba and a dissenting opinion from a new committee member before the committee agreed to recommend the bill if it were to come up for consideration before the chamber.
  • Kloba stated that several years after Washington had legalized cannabis possession and sales, “state after state” following suit had included home growing rights. After “understandable trepidation,” no substantive “evidence of the fears” about the policy had emerged, she said, arguing there were “decent limits” in the bill to safeguard children and the public (audio - 1m, video).
  • Assistant Ranking Minority Member Eric Robertson said he wasn’t comfortable with section one, subsection nine of the bill which precluded the Washington State Liquor and Cannabis Board (WSLCB) from investigating residential cannabis gardens. The bill language would “exclude state resources” from aiding jurisdictions policing home grows as local law enforcement and “without additional training and such,” they might not be able to enforce regulations, he said. Robertson claimed that this would have a “huge” impact on overall enforceability (audio - 2m, video).
  • The committee voted to pass the bill with the exception of Robertson and Representative Kelly Chambers (audio - 2m, video).
    • Chambers is the House Republican appointee to the Washington State Legislative Task Force on Social Equity in Cannabis which planned to next convene on Monday January 25th.
  • The bill now goes to the Washington State House Rules Committee (WA House RUL) which could schedule the bill for floor activity, assign it to another committee, or take no action.
    • Prior home growing bills had been assigned to fiscal committees for further review. But the fiscal note for HB 1019 anticipated no costs to the State from implementation, so it was advanced farther than any previous home grow bill.
    • Learn more about the virtual legislative process from a Washington State Legislative Information Center training class.

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