Washington State Legislature
(WA Legislature)

Repercussions from a court ruling which struck down state drug possession laws came into focus for lawmakers through sharply divided testimony around a proposed legislative response.

Legislators would take the week to debate, amend, and vote on legislation from the opposite chamber - but the list of active cannabis-related bills had grown shorter.

As budget activity ramped up, fiscal committees undertook the last week for consideration of most policy legislation - and several cannabis-related bills remained unscheduled at the start.

Several cannabis bills portend some controversy on their way through the next cutoff on Friday, where a mysterious work session on “the future of the cannabis industry” awaited.

There’s a new Board Chair at WSLCB, policy committee public hearings on 5 bills plus a prevention work session in the Legislature, and a WSDA webinar on the hemp program.

Seven cannabis-related bills were already through the house of origin cutoff on Tuesday which would mark the halfway point of the 2021 Washington State legislative session.

Legislators prepared for a long week of virtual sessions to move bills out of their house of origin while the WSLCB convened the traceability 2.0 work group for the first time since October.

3 cannabis-related bills could join 9 others already through Monday’s cutoff deadline, and WSLCB planned to open a rulemaking project to reconsider the criminal history point system.

Of 19 bills closely tracked, five were out of committee and seven were scheduled for action this week - including new bills to limit cannabis concentrates and a drug decriminalization bill.

Task force members recommended expanding the qualifying criteria for the social equity program to include race and opening the technical assistance grant program to current licensees and retail title certificate holders.