The State Legislature passed Senate Bill 27, which allows for more business opportunities for industrial hemp. It would allow for the state to maintain a permanent industrial hemp program and allow for more broad interstate commerce of Alaska-grown and manufactured hemp products.
District 4 Rep. Grier Hopkins of Fairbanks, “This legislation needs to pass this session because the federal government has set a deadline of October of 2021 to make sure that our department of natural resources has the regulations in place to be able to establish our industrial hemp program. The program, a number of years ago, Alaska has created a pilot program to start getting businesses up and running to see how we could do it, to see how we could grow and to start a market here in Alaska and it’s been successful. A number of businesses have already started and have been running for the last several years. In 2018, the federal farm bill at the time set this deadline for last year of October of 2020, which was delayed one year allowing us to come back and see if we can move Senate Bill 27 through just this session and that’s what we’re here to do here today. This bill is fairly simple and only allows our Department of Natural Resources to set up those required guidelines for what our industrial hemp program would be and allow market to continue to flourish and the industry to grow as the plants that they will hopefully be planting soon.”
Senate Bill 27 aims to adopt regulations that specify approved sources or varieties of hemp seed to be grown, sold, or offered for sale by an individual registered to produce industrial hemp and require testing for THC following harvest. The bill unanimously passed the Senate and it passed the House 38-2. It is now on its way to Gov. Mike Dunleavy’s desk for his signature.
Transcribed audio courtesy of KTOO 360TV.
