A bill to delay the federal hemp ban through Dec. 11 has been passed by the House of Representatives and now heads to President Donald Trump’s desk. A ban on most hemp-derived THC products was set to take effect Nov. 12.
The House passed the Continuing Resolution 370-48 with the one-month hemp extension intact, according to the U.S. Hemp Roundtable website.
Sen. Amy Klobuchar (D-Minnesota) announced Monday that the House passed the Senate’s bipartisan bill that includes her provision to delay the federal hemp ban, based on the bipartisan Hemp Planting Predictability Act she introduced with Sen. Rand Paul (R-KY).
“Congress has now passed a bipartisan bill that includes a key provision based on my legislation to delay the federal hemp ban, which I opposed last November,” Klobuchar said. “The president should sign this bipartisan bill into law immediately.” She added that the delay will give Congress “more time to get to a long-term fix.”
The Senate rejected an effort to strip the delay of the hemp ban from the bill by a vote of 61-32, Klobuchar said last month.
U.S. Rep. Jim Baird (D-Indiana) on Tuesday said “this short extension of the current hemp definition will provide Congress and farmers the time needed to develop a long-term solution.”
Melissa Vonder Haar, managing director of TradeWorks for iSee Store Innovations and chair of CSP’s C-Store Cannabis Board, said the provision is the first step—but not a solve.
“We have just over three months to get legislation across, no easy feat. Congress needs to hear in large volumes that consumers want regulations, not prohibition. ” she said. “And no channel is better suited to get that message out to consumers than convenience. We service more shoppers per day than any other channel. I'd encourage retailers to get the message out.”
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