Washington State Department of Commerce
(WA Commerce)

Black Excellence in Cannabis (BEC) members made pointed accusations that problems in the social equity licensing program had been intentional, to which the chair forcefully disagreed.

After WSLCB and WA Commerce officials went through their responsibilities for the cannabis social equity program, two applicants aired grievances with how the program had been handled so far.

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

Commerce officials planned to brief consultants interested in administering the social equity and community reinvestment cannabis grant programs for up to 1/10 of the total $9M allocated.

The board voted to open rulemaking to implement social equity program changes and then heard public remarks related to the grant programs and transparency of the equity process.

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

Board members delved into survey responses detailing selected social equity applicant demographics, then themes and possible improvements from their own staff focus groups.

The board approved the start of a rulemaking project on retail medical endorsements, heard a status report on social equity applicants, and impressions of an ongoing prevention summit.

Legislators would hear about a study into “whether current levels of cannabis production align with market demand and capacity” before a WSLCB work group discussed cannabis education.