Industrial Hemp Bill Leads To Argument In Kentucky House

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The fight over a bill to regulate industrial hemp production in Kentucky – should the federal government allow it – was the subject of an argument on the House floor Tuesday, the eve of the Agriculture and Small Business Committee's scheduled vote on Agriculture Commissioner James Comer's Senate Bill 50.

Committee Chairman Tom McKee, D-Cynthiana, has said the bill passed by the Senate will be revised in what is called a committee substitute for Wednesday's 8 a.m. meeting.

McKee and others have said they're worried about concerns raised by the Kentucky State Police that allowing hemp would hurt eradication of marijuana.

Minority Leader Jeff Hoover, R-Jamestown, complained in a floor speech about the late nature of committee substitutes, citing the revision to the Senate Bill 2 pension reform plan that passed a committee Tuesday and the lack of a copy of the substitute for the hemp bill.

"Get control of this process," Hoover said during his floor speech, urging the Democratic chairs of the committees to give all members of the committees adequate time to review bills before being asked to vote on them. "It's not fair."

Both McKee and Majority Floor Leader Rocky Adkins, D-Sandy Hook, both defended the handling of the hemp bill.

Telling the House he was offended and "aggrieved" by Hoover's allegations of stalling information, McKee said the substitute was not yet complete and that committee members would have it as soon as possible and in plenty of time to review.

McKee said on the floor that the substitute is not long and will not be hard to digest by the committee members. He also said he intended to speak with Comer about his proposed changes at the end of Tuesday's session, though he did not elaborate on the specifics. "We feel the House committee substitute will move the process forward."

Complaints about late notice of committee substitutes have arisen in other committees as well. Last week Rep. Tim Moore, R-Elizabethtown, passed on a vote in the House Health and Welfare committee on end-of-life scope of care orders in protest to not having enough time to review a bill substitute.

"We cannot continue to pass legislation ... without having committee members thoroughly review them," Moore said last week.

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Source: courier-journal.com
Author: The Courier-Journal
 
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