WA Legislature - Update
(January 19, 2024)

WA Legislature - Update (January 19, 2024) - Takeaways

After a brisk week of cannabis policy committee activity in the House including consideration of several controversial bills, legislators were scheduled to address other topics until Monday.

Here are some observations of the Washington State Legislature (WA Legislature) for Friday January 19th, the 12th day of the 2024 regular session.

My top 2 takeaways:

  • Members of the Washington State House Regulated Substances and Gaming Committee (WA House RSG) were able to take action on or hear three of four cannabis bills scheduled for their Thursday meeting.
    • HB 1650 - “Requiring voter approval for local government prohibitions on cannabis businesses.”
      • Members began their meeting by addressing bills ready for executive session, adopting the proposed substitute by Co-Chair Sharon Wylie on her bill to require a popular vote to endorse local government prohibitions on cannabis businesses. As in the 2023 policy vote, representatives hewed to party lines enabling the democratic majority to recommend the legislation out of committee.
    • HB 1341 - "Concerning cannabis license ownership."
      • Positions (testifying + not testifying - duplicates = total [change])
        • PRO: 7 + 3 - 0 = 10 [-1]
        • CON: 6 + 58 - 3 = 61 [-26]
        • OTHER: 3 + 0 - 0 = 3
      • Carried over from the committee meeting on Tuesday, the out-of-state ownership plus inactive license suspension bill elicited divided testimony along with some qualified moderation of opposition. Proponents led by the Washington CannaBusiness Association (WACA) repeated well-honed arguments, then leadership of Black Excellence in Cannabis (BEC) expressed staunch opposition to opening up engaged out-of-state investment before the first social equity licensed businesses were operational.
      • Micah Sherman of Raven offered a nuanced description of a shift in his views due to statutory and market changes made more explicit in further questioning by legislators. And Cannabis Alliance Executive Director Caitlein Ryan described an absence of consensus within her organization which led to a position of “other” on the bill.  All voices seemed to recognize the inevitability of change on the horizon for the Washington state residency requirement - but conflict remained on the appropriate surrounding framework or guardrails for implementation.
      • On Wednesday January 17th, legislative leaders pulled the previously amended Senate version of the out-of-state ownership bill, SB 5377, out of their Rules Committee x-file where it became available for calendaring and floor action.
    • HB 2334 - “Transferring certain cannabis licensing activities to the department of agriculture.”
      • Positions (testifying + not testifying - duplicates = total)
        • PRO: 7 + 12 - 0 = 19
        • CON: 2 + 1 - 0 = 3
        • OTHER: 2 + 0 - 0 = 2
      • Prime sponsor Representative Kristine Reeves introduced her legislation as “the start of a conversation” which she anticipated would be stiffly opposed by certain factions.
      • Washington State Liquor and Cannabis Board (WSLCB) Director of Legislative Relations Marc Webster described the bill as “a bit of a shock” but one which the agency would dutifully engage.  He floated the specter of agency enforcement being unable to investigate inversion and diversion of cannabis after a prospective change in the scope of agency authority.  Scott Waller of the Washington Association for Substance Misuse and Violence Prevention (WASAVP) lined up in support of the status quo.
      • All cannabis sector representatives who spoke expressed enthusiastic support for legislative acknowledgement that cannabis is a plant and growing cannabis is an agricultural process which would likely benefit from oversight and support by the Washington State Department of Agriculture (WSDA).
        • WSDA Legislative Liaison and Policy Advisor Kelly McLain was unavailable to speak, so we could not independently confirm the assertion by Webster on Tuesday January 16th that WSDA leadership planned to say they could not accept the charge due to federal prohibition.  McLain registered a position of “Other,” characteristic of cabinet level agencies testifying on bills they had not requested, whereas Webster registered “Con.”
    • HB 2255 - “Concerning inversion and diversion of cannabis.”
      • Once again, WA House RSG members were unable to hear all of the legislation scheduled for their meeting, but positions were registered and the hearing on the bill was deferred until Monday January 22nd.
      • Positions (testifying + not testifying - duplicates = total)
  • There were no cannabis-related hearings nor executive actions scheduled for Friday, and the chambers had scheduled pro forma sessions thus would not be taking up any bills.
    • The legislature was scheduled to resume activity on Monday January 22nd, the 15th day of the 60 day 2024 regular session.