Passing out of its second committee by a vote of 5-4, House Bill 1661 will now move to Washington Sta te’s Rules Committee, where it’s expected to get scheduled for a full House vote. Its passage would send it to the Senate, where they would have the option of putting it in front of the governor to be signed into law.

The sponsor of the measure, State Rep. Fitzgibbon, has stated that its chances are “really good” it will pass the House.

If the bill becomes law, thousands in Washington State with a cannabis possession misdemeanor would be allowed to clear their record of the charge, instantly reopening closed doors and opportunities.

An amendment was approved during the committee meeting that alters its language to align it more closely with Initiative 502, in that it would now be applicable for adults 21 and older, rather than 18 and older, and for possession charges of 28 grams or less, rather than 40

As always, we’ll have more on this as it progresses. In the meantime, we urge supporters to contact the state’s legislators about supporting this measure.

You can checkout a Q&A we did with the bill’s sponsor, here.

– TheJointBlog