Washington State Senate Ways and Means Committee
(WA Senate WM)

Legislators had hundreds of bills to consider before the house of origin cutoff on Wednesday, then policy committees would renew activity - including on the first cannabis zombie bill.

To ensure the safety of youth, senators unanimously agreed any amount of THC in a hemp product was too much as they amended and passed a bill to age gate products containing THC.

Two more cannabis bills were pulled out of Senate Rules, interstate was passed by senators, the schedule for next week has some surprises, and floor activity continues.

Two amendments added “sideboards” and data analysis to legislation to modify and expand social equity licensing; Senators gave favorable remarks before passing the bill.

The board got a status update on legislation, discussed an impending social equity licensing window, and learned about a new format for staff guidance on rulemaking petitions.

Three cannabis bills were moved on Thursday and home grow was poised for advance on Friday before the house of origin fiscal committee cutoff would leave 19 cannabis bills in play.

The first substantial cannabis legislation was passed by the Senate, home grow was heard in its fiscal committee, and four cannabis bills were positioned for executive sessions on Thursday.

After fiscal committee work and announcement of schedules for the remainder of the week before cutoff, only two of 22 active cannabis bills appeared at risk of being left behind.

Within its fiscal committee, testimony on a cannabinoid regulation bill championed by WSLCB was divided, there were THC threshold concerns, but also claims the bill helped cannabis tax revenue.

With 22 of 34 cannabis-related bills through the initial house of origin policy committee gateway, the fiscal committees took over - and four bills appeared to have uncertain futures.