Washington State House Regulated Substances and Gaming Committee
(WA House RSG)

Organization leaders and attendees heard from two prominent legislators on long-running cannabis topics and expected priorities for the 2024 regular legislative session.

Updates to a more than five-year-old tribal compact, a rulemaking petition, and general public comments were on the agenda for the final board meeting of 2023.

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.

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.

Following a march in Seattle, a legislative leader on cannabis shared how she became interested in sponsoring adult home growing legislation in Washington.

WSLCB staff planned to accept comments on potential agency request legislation through the week which would end with a March for Homegrow in downtown Seattle.

Lawmakers were briefed on the continued evaluation of I-502, including the most recent implementation report and an overview of the 2023 report on how cannabis revenue was spent.