SLEEKSCAPE'S 2022 CANNABIS & MARIJUANA MANIA GRAND SALAMI -- PART II

[sleekscape]

Tom Angell’s take on Hemp Legalization echoes what I posted yesterday:

https://www.marijuanamoment.net/congressional-bills-affecting-cannabis-laws-go-to-conference-committees/

Here is the Hemp Legalization part of that article:

Hemp Legalization

Advocates are much more optimistic about hemp legalization this year.

Last month, the Senate voted overwhelmingly to approve large-scale agriculture legislation known as the Farm Bill, which includes provisions to finally remove hemp from the federal definition of marijuana after decades of prohibition.

The push is being driven by Senate Majority Leader Mitch McConnell (R-KY), who has spoken often about the economic benefits that industrial hemp can bring to farmers in Kentucky and other states.

On the House side, Republican leaders blocked floor votes on including hemp legalization in that chamber’s version of the Farm Bill.

So as is the case with medical cannabis recommendations for veterans, the fate of hemp’s legal status will come down to a conference committee.

There is reason for advocates to be hopeful. It is unlikely that many or any of the House Democratic conferees would strongly object to inclusion of the Senate’s legalization language.

On the Republican side, advocates were overjoyed to see Congressman James Comer (R-KY) named to the panel on Wednesday.

As Kentucky agriculture’s commissioner, Comer championed and implemented the state’s industrial hemp research program. In Congress, he has served as the lead sponsor of hemp legalization bills.

“The hemp industry has reason to celebrate — one of our most passionate advocates…was appointed — he will literally be ‘in the room where it happens,'” the Hemp Roundtable said in an alert. “As the final Farm Bill is reconciled, it is comforting to know that Rep. Comer will be on hand to support the Senate’s language which would permanently legalize hemp.”

Also among the conferees are a number of GOP lawmakers who co-sponsored a hemp bill that Comer filed in the House last year, including Congressman Bob Goodlatte (R-VA), Congressman Kevin Cramer (R-ND), Congressman Glenn Thompson (R-PA) and Congressman Rodney Davis (R-IL).

Comer told the Associated Press in an interview that he will push hard to include the hemp language in the final legislation.

“The economic viability of industrial hemp in Kentucky grows every day,” he said.

The Senate hasn’t yet appointed its conferees on the Farm Bill, but the hemp legalization proposal has broad support in the chamber and it is unlikely that Democratic or fellow GOP senators would try to buck McConnell by seeking to strip the language.

Timetable For Action

The conference committee dealing with the veterans bill was supposed to hold its first meeting last week, but that was postponed due to scheduling conflicts. A new date has not yet been set.

Current funding for the federal government is set to expire on September 30, so Congress is working to enact the veterans funding bill and other appropriations legislation before that date, though it is entirely possible that lawmakers won’t finish work in time and will need to enact a temporary extension of current provisions, known as a continuing resolution.

The 2014 version of the Farm Bill is set to expire on the same day, so the conference committee will likely move quickly once the Senate appoints its conferees, though a temporary extension is also possible on that legislation.

Whenever the committees issue their final conference reports on either bill, those will go to the floor of both chambers for up or down votes on sending the legislation to President Trump.


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