Pubdate: Tue, 03 Feb 2015
Source: Seattle Times (WA)
Copyright: 2015 The Seattle Times Company
Contact:  http://seattletimes.nwsource.com/
Details: http://www.mapinc.org/media/409
Author: Joseph 0'Sullivan

LAWMAKERS HEAR PROPOSALS ON POT REFORM

Legislature 2015

20 Separate Bills Tackle Issues Including Taxes, Zoning Issues, Medical Pot

OLYMPIA - So many tweaks are needed to reform Washington state's 
marijuana laws that state House lawmakers began Monday a two-day 
session of public hearings on nearly 20 separate bills.

The proposals range from fixes in the way marijuana is taxed and 
where it can be sold, to how local governments are allowed to ban it.

But the unifying theme Monday for the House Commerce and Gaming 
Committee was reforming the fledgling marijuana industry to bring 
into the system the state's black-market growers and sellers.

"For us to get rid of the black market, it means that legal marijuana 
has to be accessible, both recreational and medical," said Rep. 
Christopher Hurst, D-Enumclaw, chairman of the committee.

Much of the discussion focused on proposals to ease zoning 
restrictions and therefore make it easier for pot retailers to open stores.

Right now, no stores are allowed to operate within 1,000 feet of 
playgrounds and public parks, child-care centers, libraries, 
publictransit centers, all-ages arcades and elementary or secondary schools.

That means more than 93 percent of the city of Kirkland's commercial 
land is off-limits, Shelly Kloba, a council member for that city, 
told lawmakers.

Council members and the community "want to be able to site a retail 
store at an appropriate location in the city," said Kloba, one of 
about 20 people who testified.

Others addressed how the state should regulate the way that local 
governments outlaw marijuana. One bill would require cities, towns 
and counties to put to a public vote any ban on marijuana growing or 
sales that elected officials have approved.

Those bans - which have been enacted in several places, including the 
cities of Fife, Kennewick and Wenatchee, and Clark and Pierce 
counties - could help the black market by making the legal product 
too difficult to get.

"A number of jurisdictions, the county council or city council, for 
whatever reason, are going against the will of their voters," Ezra 
Eickmeyer of P & E Strategic Consulting told lawmakers. "Fixing that 
issue is priority No. 1."

Other bills would streamline and reduce the current 
recreational-marijuana tax system to make the industry more competitive.

Three taxes of 25 percent each are levied on pot growers, processors 
and sellers; the proposal would reduce that to one layer of tax. 
Another proposal would create a path for sharing the tax revenues 
with local governments.

The discussion comes in a year when lawmakers are struggling to 
reconcile the state's medical-marijuana system, which voters approved 
in 1998, and the recreational system, which voters approved in 2012.

Lawmakers are considering other proposals to merge those two systems, 
or allow them to coexist under a common framework. At Monday's 
hearing, some of the hesitancy toward reform came from people wary of 
seeing the current medical market harmed.

Kari Boiter of Americans for Safe Access told lawmakers that while 
they have a lot to gain by passing reforms, they also have much to lose.

The wrong type of reform could eliminate helpful strains of marijuana 
or make the state ineligible for federal protections for states' 
medical-marijuana laws, said Boiter, a legislative analyst for the 
advocacy organization.

Debra Hansen, a cancer survivor who suffers from arthritis, 
osteoporosis and other ailments, advocated for a proposal by patients 
that would make sure medical-marijuana dispensaries have qualified 
staff and treatments.

"We have to think of the quality of the products," said Hansen, a 
Bremerton resident.

As for the particulars of marijuana-prescription standards, 
patient-client issues and other strictly medical issues, Rep. Hurst 
said another committee will deal with those issues.

But, "I'm convinced that before this session is over there will be 
licenses for medical marijuana," Hurst said.

The House Commerce and Gaming Committee public hearing on the bills 
will continue Tuesday.
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MAP posted-by: Jay Bergstrom