Pubdate: Tue, 04 Nov 2014
Source: Seattle Times (WA)
Copyright: 2014 The Associated Press
Contact:  http://seattletimes.nwsource.com/
Details: http://www.mapinc.org/media/409
Author: Gene Johnson, the Associated Press

JUDGE: LIQUOR BOARD BROKE LAW IN WORK ON POT RULES

17 Private Meetings

3 Board Members Met With Police, Others About Legal Marijuana

(AP) - The Washington Liquor Control Board broke the state's 
open-meetings law 17 times as it began working on rules for the 
recreational-marijuana industry, a judge ruled.

Thurston County Superior Court Judge Christine Schaller issued the 
ruling Friday in a case brought by Arthur West, a critic of the legal-pot law.

The judge said that although the board broke the law, it didn't take 
any actions at the meetings that would warrant throwing out the 
marijuana rules it eventually adopted.

The meetings at issue came in the first three months of 2013, soon 
after voters approved Initiative 502. As the three board members - 
Sharon Foster, Chris Marr and Ruthann Kurose - traveled around the 
state holding public hearings about the legal-marijuana rules, they 
also sometimes met quietly with local police, officials and prevention groups.

"In the early months following passage of I-502, there were many 
questions about what legalization meant for local communities," board 
spokesman Brian Smith said in an email Monday. "When Board members 
traveled around the state to hold public forums, they took time to 
meet with representatives of local government, law enforcement and 
the prevention community, typically at their request. At these 
meetings, LCB staff shared the proposed timeline for implementation, 
explained the process the agency would use for gathering feedback and 
Board members listened to any concerns."

West said the private nature of the meetings obscured the information 
the board was working with as it developed the rules, which covered 
nearly every aspect of the new legal-pot industry, from what 
constitutes a serving size of marijuana to what sorts of security 
systems licensed pot businesses must have.

"The rest of us didn't get to participate in those meetings or find 
out what was said," West said.

The judge said she would hold a hearing later this month about 
whether the board members broke the law knowingly.

If they did, the board members could each be liable for penalties of 
$100 per violation, said Michele Earl-Hubbard, a Seattle 
open-government attorney who is not involved in the case.

Judges around the state have been reluctant to void actions taken by 
agencies over violations of the open-meetings act, Earl-Hubbard said.

"It doesn't incentivize anybody to follow the law," she said.
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MAP posted-by: Jay Bergstrom