The Washington State Senate Labor, Commerce, and Tribal Affairs Committee (WA Senate LCTA) considers issues relating to employment standards, industrial insurance, unemployment insurance and collective bargaining. The committee also considers tribal issues and has oversight of commerce issues relating to alcohol, tobacco, cannabis, and gaming.
Cannabinoid regulation in the legislative session, the social equity program, CANNRA, and the traceability system were top-of-mind issues during the last agency public meeting of the year.
Ahead of the 2023 session, committee members heard about the response to organized retail crime, including staff of the attorney general’s office and cannabis retail representatives.
Larger cultural movements surfaced in the microcosm of cannabis policymaking as senators heard about retail theft and safety experts considered their goal of zero traffic fatalities by 2030.
At four tables with small groups of lawmakers, WACA members and meeting attendees honed arguments in support of lower taxes, more advertising, vertical integration, and out of state ownership.
Lawmakers learned about cannabinoid synthesis and potential health risks before hearing an overview on relevant cannabis policy from WSDA and WSLCB representatives.
Two OLCC regulators briefed Washington legislators on the Oregon approach to cannabinoid regulation before answering questions on market limits and “pushback” elicited.
Washington state policymakers aiming to rebuild the bulwarks of the highly regulated cannabis market prepared to take new steps to respond to chemically converted hemp cannabinoids.
As the timeline for legislation became more compressed, committees crammed bills for action - while the WSLCB cannabinoid regulation bill was granted a second chance to NTIB.
By Tuesday evening, most bills would need to be voted out of their house of origin to continue, but three important—and contentious—cannabis-related bills remained unmoved.
Policy committees rushed to recommend legislation ahead of the initial cutoff deadline on February 3rd, including bills on retail safety, cannabinoid regulation, and social equity.
