With only two days left in the legislative session, the fate of a piece of legislation setting up a framework for the growth of industrial hemp is still unknown.

Senate Bill 50 has been supported by state Commissioner of Agriculture James Comer and several members of Kentucky’s delegation in Washington, including Sen. Rand Paul and Senate Minority Leader Mitch McConnell, both Republicans.

Federal regulations prohibiting the growth of hemp would have to be lifted before any Kentucky farmers could grow it, even if SB 50 is approved.

The bill was reported favorably out of the House Agriculture and Small Business Committee on March 6, but little movement has occurred since.

Tuesday was day 28 of a 30-day legislative session. The legislature will break until March 25, giving Gov. Steve Beshear time to sign or veto any piece of legislation legislators have passed. Coming back after that period gives the legislature the potential to override any vetoes. March 26 is the final day of the session.

On Monday, House Speaker Greg Stumbo said the bill is stuck in committee and it is too late for the House to vote on it, according to The Associated Press.

However, some action in regard to the legislation is now stirring in the House.

House Floor Amendments were filed Monday by Rep. Richard Henderson, D-Mount Sterling, which would require the Department of Agriculture and the Kentucky State Police to monitor registered industrial hemp fields and conduct random tests on THC levels.

Hemp is a plant related to marijuana. Both plants contain levels of tetrahydrocannabinol, or THC, the chemical that produces marijuana’s effects, but hemp does not include enough THC to give users a high.

Law enforcement officials are concerned that hemp could potentially be used as a cover crop for marijuana because of the physical similarities between the two.

On Tuesday, Majority Floor Leader Rocky Adkins, D-Sandy Hook, said that would require KSP to license research on industrial hemp and hemp products and would require the creation of an industrial hemp research program.

Comer issued a statement Tuesday saying Henderson’s amendments would give two agencies the same responsibilities and that the Department of Agriculture is able to perform testing on hemp at $20 per test, while the KSP has said it would cost it more than $750 per test.

The Department of Agriculture already handles some regulatory responsibilities, according to the statement.

In another statement, Comer struck out at Stumbo for saying the bill is dead. “Speaker Stumbo is a tone-deaf, one-man band trying to kill the only jobs bill this session,” Comer said in the statement. “This bill has come to symbolize everything wrong with Frankfort, and I hope Stumbo’s fellow Democrats recognize the backlash that will result if they follow their leader on this one.” 

Some legislators say it’s not impossible for the legislation to gain approval in the House.

“At this point of the session, everything is very fluid,” said Rep. Jim DeCesare, R-Bowling Green.

DeCesare supports the bill, as he did when it was considered in the House Agriculture and Small Business Committee.

The bill would set up a framework by which hemp would be grown in the state if it were made legal on a federal level, he said. “We need to have this framework in place so that not just anyone can be growing hemp,” DeCesare said.

He’s concerned that some law enforcement organizations aren’t supportive of the legislation because without it, there’s no method to control growth of industrial hemp, he said.

Rep. C.B. Embry Jr., R-Morgantown, said things can change quickly in the final days of a session, but he’s uncertain if he’ll get a chance to vote on the bill. “House leadership evidently has some concerns with it, and we can only vote on legislation that’s presented to us,” he said.

He noted that SB 50 was approved by a large margin in Senate – it passed by a vote of 31-6 – as well as passing through the House Agriculture and Small Business Committee.

The bill has seen support from both Democrats and Republicans working in Washington, Embry said.

“I think if it was called, it would pass,” he said.

Though he doesn’t consider the hemp legislation to be a priority, Embry supports it because of the support he’s heard for it from the state’s representatives in Washington and from farmers, he said.

He’s hopeful that technology will be helpful in dealing with concerns about the bill from law enforcement agencies.

Rep. Wilson Stone, D-Scottsville, said he was impressed by the amount of work that went into SB 50.

“The problem now is that we’re running out of time,” he said.

Wilson said he doesn’t like that many law enforcement officials opposed the bill.

“I have been concerned that law enforcement, including our (commonwealth’s) attorneys, they’re not for it,” Stone said.

He voted in favor of it in committee to foster discussion about hemp, he said.

“I just thought it was worth continuing to talk about it,” Stone said. “Continuing the conversation.”