Two bills with differing impacts on cities have hearings scheduled for Monday, January 22 at 1:30 pm in the House Commerce & Gamming Committee.
Licenses issued only to those in compliance with local regulations (HB 2630) – Sponsored by Rep. Dan Griffey (R-Allyn), HB 2630 seeks to ensure that marijuana licenses are only issued to businesses that comply with local ordinances. The bill requires that license approval or renewal by the Liquor and Cannabis Board (LCB) is contingent on the applicant providing written proof of local compliance. It allows the LCB to issue a tentative license to those applicants who have not furnished proof of compliance. The applicant has six months to provide written proof and is prohibited from engaging in any marijuana commercial activities as a tentative license holder. AWC supports this proposed legislation.
Private label sales (HB 2473) – Sponsored by Rep. Brandon Vick (R-Vancouver), HB 2473 proposes to allow marijuana to be sold under a retail store brand label. It would also allow marijuana to be produced and sold under a label other than that of the producer, processor, or retailer.
Current law prohibits licensed marijuana producers and processors from having a financial interest in a marijuana retailer. This bill would allow marijuana producers and processors to contract with a marijuana retailer for private label retail purposes under two conditions:
- The marijuana retailer would not have an exclusive right to sell the private label product; and
- The producer or processor making the private-label product must make it reasonably available to other marijuana retailers.
All such contracts would also have to be disclosed to the LCB. It is unclear if this proposal would make tracking the production, processing, and retailing of marijuana products more difficult and, thus, harder to regulate. AWC is monitoring this issue. Please reach out to Logan Bahr or Shannon McClelland with any questions or concerns.