Legislation to eventually allow Washington State marijuana companies to engage in interstate commerce passed out of a House committee on Tuesday. A companion bill on the Senate side cleared its own committee hurdle last month.
If the legislation is enacted, interstate marijuana trade would depend on a policy change at the federal level: either a law “to allow the interstate transfer of cannabis” between legal businesses or an opinion from the U.S. Department of Justice “allowing or tolerating” marijuana commerce across state lines, the bill says.
California and Oregon have already adopted changes similar to the Washington proposal. On the East Coast, New Jersey’s Senate president filed an interstate cannabis commerce bill last year.
“This bill attempts to mirror the efforts that are taking place in other recreational legal cannabis states by preparing for interlocal agreements and interstate commerce should the federal government change the rules,” the bill’s lead sponsor in the House, Rep. Sharon Wylie (D), said before Tuesday’s vote in the House Regulated Substances and Gaming Committee.
The panel approved the measure, HB 1159, on a 6–5 vote along party lines.
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