Responding to Governor Gregoire’s partial veto of Senate Bill 5073, Sen. Jeanne Kohl-Welles, D-Seattle, along with a bipartisan group of senators, introduced new legislation yesterday to improve Washington’s voter-approved medical cannabis law.

Kohl-Welles' new legislation, SB 5955, addresses the governor’s concerns over state employees’ not being immune from federal arrest and protection by establishing a system of nonprofit patient cooperatives for qualifying patients to obtain their medical marijuana. The revamped bill would also allow local governments to control where dispensaries may be located and provide arrest protection for patients enrolled in a voluntary, confidential state registry.
"I was disappointed that the governor vetoed most of Senate Bill 5073 — legislation that took nearly two years to develop based on input from a diverse group of stakeholders," Kohl-Welles said. "However, I believe she fully understands the need to provide protections for qualifying patients in accessing a safe, secure and reliable source of their medicine."
"The new bill has been well-received in preliminary meetings with the governor and her staff as well as by many other stakeholders," Kohl-Welles added.
The bill will receive a public hearing today at 10:30 a.m. in the Senate Ways & Means Committee in Senate Hearing Room 4.