Comer: Industrial Hemp Bill to Get Committee Hearing Wednesday

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Credit Barbetorte, Wikimedia Commons

Kentucky Agriculture Commissioner James Comer tweeted Monday that an industrial hemp bill will get a hearing this week in the House Agriculture Committee.

Comer is a major supporter of industrial hemp, and has enlisted the backing of a bipartisan group of federal and state lawmakers. Comer said in a tweet Monday that he met with Rep. Tom McKee, chairman of the House Agriculture Committee, and secured from McKee a promise that Senate Bill 50 will get a committee vote Wednesday.

McKee effectively blocked the bill from progressing last week after he tried to get language added to the measure that would have mandated a study of hemp by University of Kentucky researchers. The move by McKee led to some hard feelings between him and hemp backers, but Comer says his meeting with McKee was a productive one, and that things appear to be smoothed out now.

The measure would set up a regulatory framework for hemp in Kentucky should the federal government eventually legalize the crop.