Washington State House Appropriations Committee
(WA House APP)

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.

The operating budget that reached Governor Jay Inslee featured more than a dozen state agencies which received cannabis revenue, or were budgeted for activities related to the plant.

A bill regulating products containing THC was signed, granting new authority and rulemaking mandates for WSLCB - though fewer hemp licensees may be another result of the law.

With broad effects on definitions, timelines, portability, and the number of cannabis licenses in the social equity program, the Governor called passage of SB 5080 “a really important deal.”

Six cannabis bills had been passed by the Legislature including the far reaching THC legislation, leaving only one clearly active cannabis bill in dispute in the House.

The full House incorporated changes to THC legislation designed in committee and passed the measure, but only after formally ‘reconsidering’ their vote.

The social equity bill made it through the opposite house fiscal committee gateway on Tuesday as legislators prepared for floor sessions and budget fights till sine die.

Representatives moved the WSLCB THC bill on Monday and would consider the social equity bill on Tuesday just ahead of the opposite house fiscal committee cutoff occurring that day.

Regular committee work would draw to a close on Tuesday with the fiscal committee cutoff, and three significant cannabis bills remained at risk including THC and social equity legislation.

Hemp industry members opposed a bill on THC regulation, but an agency representative as well as several cannabis industry, public health, and substance prevention groups backed the move.