Smokable hemp continues to stall lawmakers trying to pass the farm bill. The Senate unanimously voted Tuesday, Oct. 1, to reject the House’s version of the 2019 Farm Act, which would ban smokable hemp by May 2020. Now, it’s up to…
You can’t criminalize smokable hemp, a federal judge has told Indiana lawmakers. The decision could affect North Carolina. Judge Sarah Evans Barker, from Indiana’s Southern District, wrote Sept. 13 in a preliminary injunction that a Hoosier law preventing the manufacture, finance,…
North Carolina’s farm bill has passed the House, but it now may be frozen in the Senate. Senate Bill 315, “North Carolina Farm Act of 2019,” was approved Wednesday, Aug. 21, by a 63-48 vote, but only after House members revised…
If passed, North Carolina’s hotly contested hemp law will probably end up in court, says the state legislator leading efforts to ban the plant’s smokable flower. Meanwhile, a new statewide poll shows voters wish the government would stay out of the weeds. A new…
Fiery arguments over hemp regulation smoldered out Wednesday, July 24, when House members reversed feverish efforts to criminalize the plant’s smokable flower. In discussion that left some members scratching their heads, Rep. Jimmy Dixon, R-Duplin, backed away from arguments that smokable hemp should be instantly banned.
If North Carolina bans smokable hemp, hundreds of farmers will lose money on their crops — and faith in their legislators, says Blake Butler, executive director of the N.C. Industrial Hemp Association. Hemp and marijuana are different plants, but some House lawmakers want to throw…
North Carolina lawmakers want farmers to grow more hemp. Senate Bill 315, the North Carolina Farm Bill of 2019, passed the Senate June 17 by a 31-14 vote. S.B. 315 officially authorizes and regulates statewide hemp farming, among other things. That’s a big deal for agriculture across…
Andrew Ross, a Marine Corps veteran who served in Afghanistan, in January was working private security for a cross-country delivery of hemp. Ross’s task was simple: Guard a truckload of state-approved industrial hemp, grown in Kentucky, and bound for Colorado. Ross was pulled over…
The minimum wage for state employees will rise to $15 an hour if the budget proposed by legislative leaders becomes law. GOP leaders announced some details of the $23.9 billion General Fund budget for 2018-19 Thursday, May 24, at an impromptu press conference. The briefing featured Senate Majority Leader Harry…
North Carolina is the only state meeting all of the Pew Charitable Trusts best or good practices in taking care of its “rainy day” reserves. North Carolina’s reserve requires the state to set aside 15 percent of projected revenue growth to the reserve at the beginning…
