ST. PAUL, MN – State Representative Phyllis Kahn (DFL – Minneapolis) kicked off the 2014 Legislative Session today by introducing a bill (HF 2315) that would develop and regulate an industrial hemp industry in the state of Minnesota.
Kahn pushed for similar legislation during previous Sessions, which passed on a voice vote during a 2011 House Agriculture Committee hearing but failed to receive a subsequent vote in the House Public Safety and Crime Prevention Policy and Finance Committee. The bill did not receive a vote last year in the House Agriculture Policy Committee.
This year, however, Kahn is hopeful that a provision in the new federal farm bill legalizing industrial hemp for research purposes will boost support for her new proposal.
“I think the recent action at the federal level should help persuade anyone who might be on the fence,” said Kahn. “This is an economic opportunity we should take advantage of,” she added, alluding to the plant’s many commercial uses such as clothing, paper, cosmetics and building materials.
According to the Hemp Industries Association, the sale of hemp products in the U.S. reached an estimated $500 million last year, but all hemp used was imported from foreign markets. Kahn says cultivating the plant in a tightly regulated market here in Minnesota means that the state could benefit from additional tax revenue and job creation resulting from the new industry.
According to Kahn, her proposal for the 2014 Session differs from previous legislation. “This new bill is based off of specific language outlined in the farm bill’s industrial hemp provision,” she explained.
The proposal allows the Commissioner of the Department of Agriculture to administer a pilot program authorizing higher education institutions to study the growth, cultivation, or marketing of industrial hemp.
Ten states have already passed legislation legalizing hemp, including Colorado, Washington, California, Kentucky, Maine, Montana, North Dakota, Oregon, Vermont and West Virginia.
Federal lawmakers from both sides of the aisle advocated for industrial hemp during recent farm bill negotiations.
“Mitch McConnell was a lead negotiator on including that provision in the federal farm bill, so it’s an issue where we should be able to cut through the partisan divide,” said Kahn, who earned bipartisan support for the measure at the state level last year.
Kahn teamed up with Republican lawmaker Mary Franson in 2013 to introduce hemp legislation. The bill earned 35 cosponsors that included both DFLers and Republicans.