The final day of the 2023 regular session would almost certainly include acceptance of the operating budget - but passage of the Blake response bill seemed more complicated.
Here are some observations of the Washington State Legislature (WA Legislature) for Sunday April 23rd, the 105th day of the 2023 Regular Session.
My top 3 takeaways:
- On Saturday April 22nd, the conference committee on the biennium operating budget convened for the purpose of moving their revisions to the bill text, initiating a formal timeline for chamber concurrence and final passage of the legislation.
- SB 5187 - "Making 2023-2025 fiscal biennium operating appropriations.”
- On preliminary review of the 1403 page revised bill text, anticipated appropriations remained in place, albeit some values were modified slightly up or down. There were no unanticipated revisions or new budget provisos identified after meshing the House and Senate versions of the legislation.
- The most substantial changes were to the amounts the Washington State Office of the Treasurer (WA Treasurer) anticipated being in a position to transfer to the Basic Health Plan Trust Account (down from $570M to $547M) and the General Fund (down from $350M to $334M).
- Those amounts remained higher than the March 2023 forecast by the Washington State Economic Review and Forecast Council (WA ERFC) released in early April which anticipated 2023-25 biennial distributions of $525M to the Basic Health Plan Trust Account and $323M to the General Fund (see table 3.18 on page 69).
- $1.27M was added to the Washington State Department of Agriculture (WSDA) appropriation"solely for compliance-based laboratory analysis of pesticides in cannabis" (see section 311(26) on p. 453).
- This appropriation precisely recreated a floor amendment which Senator Karen Keiser proposed and was adopted in the Senate version of the budget on March 29th.
- $500K remained for the University of Washington Addictions, Drug, and Alcohol Institute (UW ADAI) to “continue cannabis and public health impact research” narrowly focused on developing “resources regarding the connection between first episode psychosis and cannabis use.” That appropriation was changed to be pulled from the Workforce Education Investment Account as one lump sum rather than split across the biennium from the General Fund.
- Unusually, in a UW ADAI webinar somewhat cheekily hosted on April 20th titled “Addressing the Risks of High THC Cannabis: The Public Health and Legislative Saga,” researcher Bia Carlini had no answer in reply to a question about next steps on the group’s academic agenda - and made no mention of the budget proviso throughout the call (audio - 1m).
- The appropriation to the University of Washington from the Dedicated Cannabis Account (DCA) was $716K, apparently intended to help advance all other State sponsored cannabis research at the University.
- Joint Rule 20 of the Senate and House for the 2023-24 Legislature on “Adoption of Reports” states:“Each house shall have 24 hours from the time of proper receipt, by the chief clerk of the house of representatives and the secretary of the senate, and by distribution to the members before considering reports from a conference committee which has proposed new items within the scope and object of the bill in conference.”
- It adds: “The foregoing provision relating to 24 hour intervals may be suspended by the senate or the house of representatives by two-thirds vote of the members present, and such suspension shall apply only to the house voting to suspend this provision.”
- As well: “The report must be voted upon in its entirety and cannot be amended.”
- According to the WA Legislature website on the bill, the conference committee report was delivered to the House at 1:09pm and the Senate at 2:15pm PT on Saturday. Respecting joint rules, the chambers could take up the legislation for concurrence with the conference report and final passage 24 hours after those times or earlier in the case of a supermajority vote.
- A divisive bill on controlled substances and the legislative scramble to respond to the State v. Blake decision two years prior would occupy floor time on the final day of the 2023 session.
- SB 5536 - “Concerning controlled substances, counterfeit substances, and legend drug possession and treatment.”
- See Bailey Hirschburg’s concluding observation on the 2021 legislation SB 5476 (“Responding to the State v. Blake decision by addressing justice system responses and behavioral health prevention, treatment, and related services”) regarding the court case which invalidated the state drug possession statute. At that time, lawmakers responded by appropriating more than $172M to address the situation.
- While the historical criminal justice implications of the State v. Blake decision impact many cannabis users, their families, and communities - Cannabis Observer made the decision to not closely track and report on this adjacent legislation in anticipation of the 37 cannabis-related bills which were introduced throughout the session. But we have noted the outlines of the bill as it has been moved between the chambers, at times prompting remarkable debates in both the Senate and House.
- On Friday April 21st—extremely late in the session—Senators asked the House to join a conference committee to resolve differences on SB 5536. Senators Manka Dhingra, June Robinson, and Mike Padden were appointed to the committee along with Representatives Roger Goodman, Jamila Taylor, and Gina Mosbrucker.
- The House policy committee revised the crime of knowing possession down from a gross misdemeanor to a misdemeanor.
- On Thursday April 20th, Fox News Seattle published a video segment drawing on data released that day by Public Health-Seattle and King County which called out that specific change to SB 5536 and drew attention to protests from some city officials.
- On Saturday April 22nd in the early evening, the conference committee moved its revisions to the bill and signed the conference report (video). Legislative staff published a summary comparison table. The reports were delivered to the House at 6:31pm and the Senate at 7pm according to the WA Legislature website on the bill.
- Given the 24 hour requirement in joint rule 20, strategies for bringing the conference committee report to the floor for adoption and final passage seemed complex. Presumably, legislators felt pressure to pass some version of SB 5536 before the end of the regular session because key provisions in statute established immediately following the Blake decision were set to expire in the absence of subsequent legislative action.
- On Sunday April 23rd, legislators would wrap up the regular session of the 2023 Washington State Legislature and likely adjourn sine die.
- The Washington State House planned to convene on 12:30pm PT on Sunday.
- The Washington State Senate planned to convene at 1pm PT on Sunday.
- Legislation can be declared "necessary to implement budgets" (NTIB), an informal procedure leadership can exercise around any bill with a fiscal impact. The criteria for NTIB status and the decision making around the designation hadn’t been set in law or rule, allowing for a bypass of the cutoff calendar which is agreed to by both chambers through the legislative process.
- Sunday April 23rd would occasion sine die, the end of the regular session, described as the “Last day allowed for regular session under state constitution.”