A Washington State Senate committee on Tuesday approved a bill to set the state up to allow interstate marijuana commerce, pending a federal policy change.<\/p>\n
The Senate Labor & Commerce Committee passed the legislation on a voice vote. It now moves to the Senate Rules Committee. The action comes one week after the panel first met to discuss the reform<\/a>, in addition to proposals concerning cannabis-related employment protections and social equity.<\/p>\n The House Regulated Substances & Gaming Committee was also scheduled to tackle a companion version of the interstate commerce bill, sponsored by that panel\u2019s chair, later on Tuesday afternoon, but the meeting was cancelled.<\/p>\n In the Senate, the legislation is being sponsored by Sen. Ann Rivers (R). It would give the governor of Washington authority to enter into agreements with other legal states to permit imports and exports between state-licensed cannabis businesses.<\/p>\n The committee chair, Sen. Karen Keiser (D), said<\/a> that it was important to take \u201cearly action\u201d on the legislation, especially given that it \u201cseems to have pretty substantial support.\u201d<\/p>\n Sen. Rebecca Salda\u00f1a (D) agreed that it \u201cmakes good sense to have this bill, as it just makes sure that our state is ready in case there is any interstate commerce agreements.\u201d But she said she would be voting without a recommendation at this stage because \u201cwe need to make sure that we actually address social equity\u201d in the industry first. She is sponsoring cannabis equity legislation that also recently received a hearing, but has not yet been scheduled for a vote.<\/p>\n Keiser replied that she believes the interstate commerce bill and other marijuana reforms would be held in the Rules Committee until the legislature has a chance to advance equity legislation as well.<\/p>\n Under the interstate commerce proposal, products that come from out-of-state businesses would be required to comply with Washington regulations, including those related to packaging and labeling.<\/p>\n However, it would only take effect under one of two conditions: 1) if there\u2019s a federal law change \u201cto allow for the interstate transfer of cannabis\u201d between legal businesses, or 2) if the U.S. Department of Justice issues an opinion \u201callowing or tolerating\u201d marijuana commerce across state lines.<\/p>\n If either of those conditions are met, state regulators would be required to provide written notice of the federal policy change, as well as any state-level \u201cstatutory changes necessary to authorize the sale, delivery, and receipt of cannabis\u201d from out-of-state companies. Regulators would also need to adopt necessary rules for cross-border trade.<\/p>\n The legislation<\/a> represents<\/a> the latest state-level attempt to prepare for eventual interstate cannabis commerce, even as marijuana remains federally prohibited. California\u2019s governor\u00a0signed a similar measure last year<\/a>. Before that, Oregon Gov. Kate Brown (D)\u00a0signed interstate marijuana commerce legislation<\/a>\u00a0into law in 2019.<\/p>\n On the other side of the country,\u00a0New Jersey\u2019s Senate president filed a similar proposal<\/a>\u00a0last year, but it has not yet been enacted.<\/p>\n Meanwhile, in Washington, lawmakers have also already worked to advance other cannabis reforms this session.<\/p>\n For example, there\u2019s a bill from Keiser that would make it so employers in the state would be prohibited from discriminating against most job applicants<\/a> for off-duty marijuana use or for testing positive for non-psychoactive THC metabolites.<\/p>\n Salda\u00f1a\u2019s equity bill includes provisions to change the way that regulators are authorized to approve additional licensees. The Liquor and Cannabis Board (LCB) would be able to add equity retailers to the program based on population trends, and those retailers could be located in any municipality that allows marijuana businesses to operate, rather than being confined to a specific location that the board assigns.<\/p>\n Separately, state lawmakers are also again considering drug possession penalties and related issues<\/a>\u00a0this session.<\/p>\n Following a state Supreme Court decision in February 2021 that\u00a0invalidated the state\u2019s felony law against drug possession<\/a>, lawmakers enacted a temporary criminalization policy that is\u00a0set to expire on July 1<\/a>. Some lawmakers want the state to formalize a policy of decriminalized possession, but others want to maintain criminalization.<\/p>\n Bipartisan Washington State senators also recently unveiled a revised bill to legalize psilocybin services for adults<\/a>.<\/p>\n Bipartisan Arizona Lawmakers File Bill To Promote Psilocybin Research With $30 Million In Grants<\/a><\/p>\n<\/blockquote>\n\n The post Washington State Lawmakers Approve Interstate Marijuana Commerce Bill In Committee<\/a> appeared first on Marijuana Moment<\/a>.<\/p>\n
A Washington State Senate committee on Tuesday approved a bill to set the state up to allow interstate marijuana commerce, pending a federal policy change. The Senate Labor & Commerce Committee passed the legislation on a voice vote. It now moves to the Senate Rules Committee. The action comes oneContinue Reading<\/a><\/span><\/p>\n","protected":false},"author":458,"featured_media":0,"comment_status":"false","ping_status":"open","sticky":false,"template":"","format":"standard","meta":[],"categories":[18,81],"tags":[],"_links":{"self":[{"href":"https:\/\/cannabiscultivatornews.com\/home\/index.php\/wp-json\/wp\/v2\/posts\/60809"}],"collection":[{"href":"https:\/\/cannabiscultivatornews.com\/home\/index.php\/wp-json\/wp\/v2\/posts"}],"about":[{"href":"https:\/\/cannabiscultivatornews.com\/home\/index.php\/wp-json\/wp\/v2\/types\/post"}],"author":[{"embeddable":true,"href":"https:\/\/cannabiscultivatornews.com\/home\/index.php\/wp-json\/wp\/v2\/users\/458"}],"replies":[{"embeddable":true,"href":"https:\/\/cannabiscultivatornews.com\/home\/index.php\/wp-json\/wp\/v2\/comments?post=60809"}],"version-history":[{"count":1,"href":"https:\/\/cannabiscultivatornews.com\/home\/index.php\/wp-json\/wp\/v2\/posts\/60809\/revisions"}],"predecessor-version":[{"id":60810,"href":"https:\/\/cannabiscultivatornews.com\/home\/index.php\/wp-json\/wp\/v2\/posts\/60809\/revisions\/60810"}],"wp:attachment":[{"href":"https:\/\/cannabiscultivatornews.com\/home\/index.php\/wp-json\/wp\/v2\/media?parent=60809"}],"wp:term":[{"taxonomy":"category","embeddable":true,"href":"https:\/\/cannabiscultivatornews.com\/home\/index.php\/wp-json\/wp\/v2\/categories?post=60809"},{"taxonomy":"post_tag","embeddable":true,"href":"https:\/\/cannabiscultivatornews.com\/home\/index.php\/wp-json\/wp\/v2\/tags?post=60809"}],"curies":[{"name":"wp","href":"https:\/\/api.w.org\/{rel}","templated":true}]}}\n
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\nRead More: Washington State Lawmakers Approve Interstate Marijuana Commerce Bill In Committee<\/a><\/p>\n","protected":false},"excerpt":{"rendered":"