Subject of Possible Rule Making: Title 314 WAC. The Washington state liquor and cannabis board (board) is considering amending chapter 314-55 WAC to clarify requirements and establish definitions related to research and development (R&D) activities for cannabis products, including laboratory testing, reporting of test results, tracking of samples, and sampling limits.

Reasons Why Rules on this Subject may be Needed and What They Might Accomplish: Amending sections in chapter 314-55 WAC may be necessary to address ongoing feedback from licensees and certified cannabis testing laboratories, and to respond to a rule-making petition accepted by the board in May 2025 about inconsistent and inadequate terminology in existing rules related to requirements for cannabis testing and reporting of test results, including samples submitted to certified laboratories for R&D purposes. Additionally, rule making is being considered to establish requirements and limits for cannabis samples that licensees use during product development, as follow-up to rule making completed in April 2025 under WSR 25-08-032.

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. The Washington state department of health (DOH) regulates the sale and product standards of medical cannabis (chapter 246-70 WAC). The board 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 the board, DOH, and WSDA, as authorized under RCW 15.150.020. The CLASP team meets regularly and was created by HB 1859 (chapter 135, Laws of 2022) to establish and maintain cannabis laboratory quality standards. Additionally, the board will coordinate, as needed, with the Washington department of revenue related to any tax implications for R&D samples.

Process for Developing New Rule: Collaborative rule making. Board 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 board website at lcb.wa.gov.