As legislators made final preparations for the 2024 session starting on Monday, policy and budget bills had been pre-filed and committee schedules were being shaped.
Here are some observations of the Washington State Legislature (WA Legislature) for Friday January 5th, three days before the start of the 2024 regular session.
My top 3 takeaways:
- At publication time, three new (potentially) cannabis-related bills had been pre-filed for the 2024 legislative session covering proposed exemptions to pre-employment screening for cannabis use, reassignment of responsibility for accreditation of cannabis testing labs, and roadside sobriety testing.
- HB 2047 - “Allowing employers to screen candidates for cannabis use when hiring for certain positions involving services to persons with substance use disorder.”
- Representatives Tom Dent and Lauren Davis pre-filed legislation which would add certain public health positions to the list of public safety roles which may be exempted from the ban on pre-employment screening for State-lawful cannabis use. The proposed language would allow for discrimination against any “substance use disorder professional or trainee, or any position as a health care professional licensed or certified under Title 18 RCW where the person will be providing services directly to clients or patients receiving treatment for substance use disorder.”
- “Cannabis Use Disorder” (CUD) is defined in the Diagnostic and Statistical Manual of Mental Disorders (DSM-5) as the continued use of cannabis despite clinically significant impairment as judged by medical professionals according to 11 qualifying criteria. Those criteria have been widely criticized, in part for failing to acknowledge medical use of cannabis which results in patients being frequently diagnosed as having a substance use disorder.
- Two existing cannabis-related bills by Representative Davis, HB 1641 (“Addressing public health challenges of high-potency cannabis products”) and HB 1642 (“Regulating the sale of cannabis concentrates”), will be reintroduced in the second half of the legislative biennium.
- Representatives Tom Dent and Lauren Davis pre-filed legislation which would add certain public health positions to the list of public safety roles which may be exempted from the ban on pre-employment screening for State-lawful cannabis use. The proposed language would allow for discrimination against any “substance use disorder professional or trainee, or any position as a health care professional licensed or certified under Title 18 RCW where the person will be providing services directly to clients or patients receiving treatment for substance use disorder.”
- HB 2151 - “Reassigning the accreditation of private cannabis testing laboratories from the department of ecology to the department of agriculture.”
- Anticipated for several months, request legislation from the Washington State Department of Agriculture (WSDA) seeking to take on responsibility for the process of accrediting labs was pre-filed on Thursday January 4th.
- In addition to changing the named department from Ecology to Agriculture, the bill as written would remove the requirement that private cannabis testing labs—now numbering seven across the state—absorb all of the increased costs for the more robust quality standards being established by WSDA which the labs must accredit to.
- A fiscal stopgap for the Department of Ecology (DOE) was added to the supplemental operating budget as proposed by the Governor in the event the WSDA request legislation is not passed. Standing appropriations from the Dedicated Cannabis Account would be updated to allocate “$782,000 for fiscal year 2025 to the department of ecology to create and sustain a program to accredit cannabis testing laboratories. It is the intent of the legislature that this policy will be continued in the 2025-2027 fiscal biennium.”
- Ecology staff initially projected biennial costs for the new accreditation program would run north of $1M but more recently revised that number down to $782K. The approximately $55K in potential additional annual costs per lab elicited some pushback.
- SB 5791 - “Concerning the evaluation of the effectiveness of oral fluid roadside information in the enforcement of driving under the influence laws.”
- Senators Padden and Liias co-sponsored this legislation which would direct the Washington State Patrol (WSP) to “establish a pilot program to evaluate the outcomes and effectiveness of oral fluid roadside information used as part of the enforcement of driving under the influence laws.”
- As the bill language does not specify which substances WSP would be seeking to identify the presence of, Cannabis Observer intends to track this legislation.
- In September 2023, researchers at the University of Texas at Dallas claimed to “have developed a hand-held rapid saliva test that can measure the level of THC, the major active component in marijuana, with 94% accuracy” but their tests were performed on five saliva samples which had been spiked with THC.
- A more complete, though dated, survey of “Current Knowledge on Cannabinoids in Oral Fluid” indicates—like most things having to do with cannabis chemistry—roadside analysis would be tricky.
- HB 2047 - “Allowing employers to screen candidates for cannabis use when hiring for certain positions involving services to persons with substance use disorder.”
- The supplemental operating budget bills were pre-filed and contained significant modifications of Dedicated Cannabis Account appropriations reflecting revised economic projections and a new agency study into hemp sector viability.
- Proposed revisions to the fiscal year 2024 and 2025 operating budgets were pre-filed in both chambers on Wednesday January 3rd.
- Most notably, changes in real and anticipated tax revenue to the Dedicated Cannabis Account (DCA) resulted in substantive changes to appropriations from the DCA to many different agencies. The largest shifts were reflected in the largest appropriations:
- Basic Health Plan Trust Account
- FY 24: $269M down to $238,509,000
- FY 25: $278M down to $256,596,000
- General Fund - State (GF-S)
- FY 24: $162M down to $146,775,000
- FY 25: $172M down to $157,906,000
- Basic Health Plan Trust Account
- In WSDA section 311(26), $220K of FY25 GF-S dollars were envisioned“solely for the agency to partner with the department of commerce to conduct a study to better understand the opportunities and challenges, as well as identify solutions to existing barriers, to create a healthy marketplace for hemp.”
- The passage of SB 5367 (“Concerning the regulation of products containing THC”) in 2023 which expanded the definition of cannabis products to include any product containing “any detectable amount of THC” was widely viewed as undercutting the market for hemp cannabinoid products in Washington state. But regulators have struggled to define “any detectable amount” in rule and there does not appear to be much enforcement against hemp cannabinoid products, especially direct to consumer online mail order options.
- Meanwhile, four lawsuits brought by hemp interests against state governments in 2023 are proceeding in Indiana, Arkansas, Virginia, and Alaska which allege violations of the U.S. Constitution, federal pre-emption, and interstate commerce.
- On Wednesday evening, WA Legislature staff announced preliminary schedules for the first week of session.
- Monday January 8th
- 1:30pm: WA House RSG - Committee Meeting [ Event Details ]
- Executive Session
- HB 1650 - “Requiring voter approval for local government prohibitions on cannabis businesses.”
- Executive Session
- 4pm: WA House App - Committee Meeting [ Event Details ]
- Work Session
- "Presentation of the Governor’s proposed 2024 Supplemental Operating Budget by the Office of Financial Management."
- Public Hearing
- HB 2104 - “Making 2023-2025 fiscal biennium supplemental operating appropriations.”
- Work Session
- 1:30pm: WA House RSG - Committee Meeting [ Event Details ]
- Tuesday January 9th
- 4pm: WA House RSG - Committee Meeting [ Event Details ]
- Executive Session
- HB 1249 - “Regarding limits on the sale and possession of retail cannabis products.”
- Executive Session
- 4pm: WA Senate TRAN - Committee Meeting [ Event Details ]
- Public Hearing
- SB 5791 - “Concerning the evaluation of the effectiveness of oral fluid roadside information in the enforcement of driving under the influence laws.”
- Public Hearing
- 4pm: WA Senate WM - Committee Meeting [ Event Details ]
- Public Hearing
- SB 5950 - “Making 2023-2025 fiscal biennium supplemental operating appropriations.”
- Public Hearing
- 4pm: WA House RSG - Committee Meeting [ Event Details ]
- Wednesday January 10th
- 4pm: WA House APP - Committee Meeting [ Event Details ]
- Public Hearing
- HB 2104 - “Making 2023-2025 fiscal biennium supplemental operating appropriations.”
- Public Hearing
- 4pm: WA House APP - Committee Meeting [ Event Details ]
- Monday January 8th