This afternoon lawmakers from Washington State’s House Committee on Public Safety held a public hearing to discuss a handful of measures, including House Bill 1661, which would allow the hundreds of thousands of people who have been convicted of a cannabis possession misdemeanor in Washington State to have it removed from their record.

Tens of thousands of cannabis convictions could be vacated with the passage of House Bill 1661.

The bill is sponsored by a bipartisan group of 21 legislators, and a majority of speakers at the hearing were in support of the measure.

An executive session has been scheduled for tomorrow morning at 10AM, where a vote will likely be held on the bill. According to a lawmaker who wished to remain anonymous, it’s expected to pass out of committee, moving it on its way towards a full House vote.

This would be a major step towards this measure becoming law. We applaud the members of the committee who have shown support for this bill, and for those who decide to vote on the side of justice in approving it.

We’ll have more on this legislation as it develops.

[Update: 2/21/2013 – As expected, Washington’s House Committee on Public Safety voted to approve House Bill 1661, with a vote of 6 to 5]

– TheJointBlog