Subject of Possible Rule Making: Title 314 WAC; the Washington state liquor and cannabis board (LCB) is considering amending chapter 314-55 WAC, including WAC 314-55-102 on quality assurance and quality control, to expand heavy metal testing to adult-use cannabis and cannabis products as part of quality control requirements. Under WAC 314-55-102, testing for heavy metals is only required for Washington state department of health (DOH) compliant medical cannabis products as described in chapter 246-70 WAC in order to meet testing standards in WAC 246-70-050.

Reasons Why Rules on this Subject may be Needed and What They Might Accomplish: Amendments to existing rules in chapter 314-55 WAC may be necessary to address a rule-making petition accepted by LCB in January 2024 on expanding heavy metal testing to all cannabis products, not just DOH compliant medical cannabis products.

Other Federal and State Agencies that Regulate this Subject and the Process Coordinating the Rule with These Agencies: The Washington state department of agriculture (WSDA) establishes and administers cannabis testing laboratory quality standards and cannabis laboratory accreditation under chapters 16-309 and 16-310 WAC. DOH regulates the sale and product standards of medical cannabis (chapter 246-70 WAC). LCB will coordinate rule making with these two agencies under our ongoing interagency coordination team (cannabis lab analysis standards program (CLASP)) that consists of members representing LCB, DOH, and WSDA. The CLASP team meets regularly and was created by HB 1859 (chapter 135, Laws of 2022), to establish and maintain cannabis laboratory quality standards.

Process for Developing New Rule: Collaborative rule making. LCB staff will hold public stakeholder meetings to discuss rule changes being considered and solicit feedback prior to filing a rule proposal. Interested parties will then have an opportunity to submit written comments on the proposed rules during a subsequent public comment period and may present oral testimony at a public hearing announced with the publication of the rule proposal.

Interested parties can participate in the decision to adopt the new rule and formulation of the proposed rule before publication by contacting Denise Laflamme, Policy and Rules Coordinator, P.O. Box 43080, Olympia, WA 98504, phone 360-819-0452, fax 360-704-5027, email rules@lcb.wa.gov, website lcb.wa.gov.

Additional comments: Anyone who is interested in this rule-making effort is encouraged to sign up for the interested parties list (GovDelivery) at https://public.govdelivery.com/accounts/WALCB/subscriber/new. Rule-making notices and stakeholder engagement opportunities will be emailed via GovDelivery and posted to the LCB website at lcb.wa.gov.