Year Passed: 2014
Summary: Lawmakers have approved legislation, Senate Bill 2175, establishing a two-year pilot program at the University of Hawaii at Manoa to study the potential use of industrial hemp as a phytomediator (a plant capable of removing toxins from the soil) and as a biofuel. The pilot program is in accordance with Section 7606 of the United States Agricultural Act of 2014 (aka the Farm Bill), which authorizes institutions of higher education and state departments of agriculture to conduct industrial hemp research absent federal reclassification of the plant. The research program shall utilize a single test site to grow and research hemp. The University shall submit a final report of the program’s findings legislature no later than twenty days prior to the convening of the regular session of 2016.
Statute: 2014 Hi. Act 56 (enacted Hi. SB 2175)
