This bill adds a new section to chapter 69.50 RCW that creates three cannabis producer tiers (tier one: under 4,000 sq. ft.; tier two: 4,000 to 10,000 sq. ft.; tier three: 10,000 to 30,000 sq. ft.) and imposes revenue-based conversion rules at license renewal. Tier three producers that fail to meet the two-year revenue threshold of $288,000 annually ($24,000 per month) are converted to tier two and limited to 10,000 square feet; tier two producers that fail to meet the two-year revenue threshold of $96,000 annually ($8,000 per month) are converted to tier one and limited to 4,000 square feet. Tier one producers are not subject to these conversion requirements. Tier two and tier three producers may request a one-year exemption for extenuating circumstances if requested within 30 days of renewal, subject to board discretion. The bill sets an application fee of $250 and an annual issuance/renewal fee of $1,381 for producer, processor, and retailer licenses. The bill also amends RCW 69.50.325 to add limits and procedural rules for retailers and applicants. An individual retail licensee and all persons or entities with a financial or ownership interest in that business may collectively hold no more than five retail cannabis licenses, and the law prohibits entering into management or other agreements that would confer a financial interest across more than five retail licenses. The statute defines examples of what counts as a "financial interest," including profit sharing, coordinated pricing or purchasing, shared branding or intellectual property, operational control or support, shared marketing, and coordinated hiring. The board must adopt rules establishing a license forfeiture process for retailer licenses that are not fully operational within time limits the board sets, with specified minimums and maximums: no forfeiture within the first nine months after issuance and mandatory forfeiture on or before 24 months after issuance unless the board finds circumstances beyond the licensee’s control justify an extension. The bill makes several procedural and enforcement changes to licensing and oversight. It requires fingerprinting when a criminal history check is submitted to the FBI and allows criminal history checks via the Washington State Patrol and the FBI; it states RCW 9.95.240 and chapter 9.96A RCW do not apply in these cases. The board may grant or deny licenses (including for chronic illegal activity), delegate approval of uncontested licenses to staff by rule, suspend or cancel licenses (with suspension terminating statutory protections for otherwise lawful cannabis activities during the suspension), immediately suspend licenses for DSHS-certified noncompliance with support orders, appoint administrative law judges, and notify local authorities of licensing actions. The bill preserves local authority to object to licenses for distance and density grounds (generally a 1,000-foot buffer from certain facilities, with local ordinances able to reduce to not less than 100 feet in some cases) and allows a local government to object to a retail license based on a preexisting local ordinance limiting outlet density. The bill also encourages submission of voluntary social equity plans after January 1, 2024, and requires the board to reimburse a non–social equity licensee that submits such a plan for one annual renewal fee, once per entity and only for one license per entity. The text provided is incomplete in places: the formal identity of "the board" is not defined here, parts of the amendment to RCW 69.50.331 are cut off, and the effective date of the new section or act is not included. Additional procedural details and rule language the board must adopt, and any further provisions found in other parts of the bill, are not available in the extracted facts.

If enacted, this bill would force commercial cannabis producers to meet revenue tests at renewal or be automatically reduced to smaller production tiers with strict square‑foot limits, likely pushing lower‑earning tier three growers into tier two (max 10,000 sq ft) and lower‑earning tier two growers into tier one (max 4,000 sq ft). Producers will need to track two years of Department of Revenue gross sales to qualify, may apply for a one‑year exemption only within 30 days of renewal, and face added costs and procedures such as fingerprinting for FBI checks and the set $250 application and $1,381 annual license fees. Retail operators face a hard cap that any individual and all related parties together may hold no more than five retail licenses and are blocked from creating management or other agreements that effectively expand control beyond that cap, which will reduce options for growing retail chains, change ownership structures, and raise compliance risk for coordinated branding, shared operations, or profit‑sharing arrangements. The board—whose formal identity and the act’s effective date are not specified in the available text—would gain broad rulemaking and enforcement discretion, including creating forfeiture timelines (no forfeiture before nine months, mandatory forfeiture by 24 months if not open unless extended) and deciding one‑year exemptions, meaning practical outcomes will depend heavily on future board rules. Local governments get more power to object to retail licenses based on preexisting density ordinances or documented “chronic illegal activity,” and the bill encourages submission of social equity plans by offering one one‑time renewal‑fee reimbursement (30‑day payout) per licensed entity, but several implementation details and timelines are left unclear in the provided text.