The Elections And Cannabis:

Like you, we’ve read all the accounts about the impact of last week’s election on the general make-up of the legislature and the impact on final policy issues. What great speculation. You know; Senate is now a true numerical majority of R’s, and as you can read in the Wire it looks a little like business as usual, almost. And the House, there’s all kinds of speculation that Speaker Chopp will be down to as few as 51 or 52 D colleagues. Everyone thinks a group of 56 is easier to hold together than 52 or 51. It’s possible that when you’re staring down the barrel of a 2016 presidential election, and your opposition could come from your own party since the real test will be in the urban areas, the group actually get’s a little tighter. We’ll see. A lot of people have had a lot of success working policy issues by never under estimating Frank Chopp.

Anyway, about the House elections and cannabis. Yep, the lower chamber will assumingly be a little more conservative. But, on non-budget and non-core party issue (like cannabis) it might be a lot more conservative. And all the talk about a coalition majority in the House is just that-talk. However, there probably will be a few, rare issue oriented coalitions, some aspect of cannabis reform could be among them. And, if all these cannabis prohibition zones of local government actually reflect the citizens of the area, we might be surprised where the chips fall.  By the way we find it interesting that these keepers of local government get all righteous about cannabis production and sales in their kingdoms, but they sure want the state cash to roll across the motes toward them…more on that later.

The Last And First Hearings:

There are some people who don’t know that about ten different lobbyists representing about twenty different groups with about 30 different positions will collide in January to realign Washington’s two cannabis statutes. They both live in Russia. Here at Cannabis Wire have been talking to all of the above and a few legislators and regulators about what should happen and what might happen and then…what will happen. We will be sharing what we have learned over the next few weeks so you can see if you know, or if we actually have learned what there is to know. Anyway, below are the first salvos. The December meeting is more comprehensive and should actually frame the issue if it all gets out on the table.

Schedules Here: (BTW-they do update them at will, so check often)

Financial Institutions, Housing & Insurance –  11/20/14  10:00 am
Full Committee
Senate Hearing Rm 2
J.A. Cherberg Building
Olympia, WA

Work Session:
1. Affordable housing needs study.
2. Financial institutions and marijuana.

Other business.

Government Accountability & Oversight* – 12/5/2014 1:30 p.m.
House Full Committee
House Hearing Rm E
John L. O’Brien Building
Olympia, WA

REVISED ON 11/10/2014 AT 1:02 PM

Work Session:
1. Issues Relating to Liquor Regulation and Taxation Following the Passage of Initiative 1183.
2. Theft Prevention Efforts by Liquor Retailers and Underage Access to Liquor.
3. Status Report by the Liquor Control Board Regarding the Development and Functioning of the Recreational Marijuana Market.

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