Legislation that had been previously approved overwhelmingly by the House to permit development of a domestic hemp industry in Vermont has been temporarily derailed by the Senate.
Following hearings in the Senate Agriculture Committee, the bill (H.783) was passed by a 4-2 vote. However, the bill was passed with an “adverse report” and is now “ordered to lie” in Senate. According to a spokesman for the Vermont Legislative Council, bills “ordered to lie” are in limbo, but may be called back to the floor for further debate at any time if the bill receives a majority vote from the full Senate to do so.
Approving legislation with an adverse report is “hardly ever done,” said Rep. Fred Maslack (R-Poultney), one of the initial proponents of the hemp cultivation bill. Maslack further added that law enforcement officials, the bill’s chief opponents, recently testified at informal hearings before the Senate Judiciary Committee against the legislation.
Law enforcement “has no business being there,” he argued. “[They] have no objections [that are] germane to the issue. … What bearing does [their] testimony have on licensed activity?”
Vermont’s legislature is scheduled to recess later this month.
For the latest information on the status of H.783, please contact the Vermont Legislative Council at (802) 828-2231. For a first hand account of the Senate Agriculture Committee hearing, please e-mail Joel Williams at: epgorge@sover.net or contact the Colorado Hemp Initiative Project (CO-HIP) at (303) 784-5632 for details. CO-HIP is located on the Internet at: http://darkstar.cygnus.com/cohip.