The Hemp Report

     Election year politics are especially hard on hemp farming and study bill legislation. Minnesota had a hemp farming bill introduced in March of 2007 which was carried over to 2008, the second part of their two-year session. The bill was well-received and passed in two committees, but it was stuck in a third committee when the House adjourned, thus killing it.

     An agriculture committee omnibus bill was introduced in the Minnesota House earlier this year that passed and included a section on "Industrial Hemp Development and Regulation." There was also a companion bill that passed in the Senate, but without the hemp language. The related section from the House bill was added to the Senate bill in conference committee, but was then removed at the insistence of the State Patrol and Governor Pawlenty's Washington, DC lobbyist. The omnibus bill was ultimately signed by the Governor, but without any hemp language.

     We hope that the popular hemp farming bill in Vermont (H.267) does not suffer a similar fate. The bill passed the House in February by a vote of 126 to 9, and then passed the Senate by a vote of 25 to 1 earlier this month. We are awaiting word on when H.267 will be sent to Governor Douglas for his veto or signature. Unfortunately, the Governor's option to allow bills to become law without his signature was taken away this session when the Legislature adjourned without establishing a veto session.

     There are still plenty of things to do while we wait. You can register to vote and then click here to write your Representative in Congress and ask him or her to co-sponsor HR 1009, the Industrial Hemp Farming Act of 2007, which is currently stalled in committee.

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