Washington State Department of Agriculture
(WSDA)

Agency leaders went over what they anticipated dealing with in 2024, including “high-THC” regulations, lab accreditation authority, medically endorsed stores, and social equity applicants.

Lawmakers looked into how funds had been spent to help producers affected by contaminated soil and heard about a potential “service gap” in lab accreditation expected in July 2024.

Following the annual pre-session WACA conference, the reconstituted WSDA Pesticide Advisory Board would host its inaugural meeting and begin advising the Department.

As legislators sought perspectives on contemporary cannabis policy issues and regulators willingly shared, a group of publicly-funded prevention researchers kept their doors closed.

Staff laid out changes in the latest lab accreditation rulemaking draft, including a lower cost of implementation and a waiver process around in-matrix proficiency testing.

Staff went over how cannabis tax revenue had been spent, offered comparisons to other states, and recommended transparency improvements while fielding lawmaker questions.

State legislators would be prepared with details on cannabis revenues, appropriations, and retail theft while Ecology staff delayed accreditation rules to see how the session panned out.

Staff shared rulemaking progress including upcoming outreach events, a new petition on cannabis testing results, and a timeline for implementing social equity legislation.

Members reviewed already-submitted edits and suggested final changes to WSLCB recommendations on THC detectability, lab technology, product safety, and future topics.

Updates on two subgroups included a rehashing of why some technologies and testing regimes had been favored by a prior task force as staff looked ahead to finalizing recommendations.