Each week, staff at Carolina Journal looks back at the week in N.C. politics and chooses several interesting, relevant stories you may have missed. Here’s this week’s review: Mini budgets: Bite-sized budgets are once again moving through the General Assembly. The Senate…
Family farm bankruptcies are on the rise in North Carolina, a signal the rest of the state’s farm economy could be in trouble. North Carolina saw a 33% increase in Chapter 12 family farm bankruptcies from 2018 to 2019, with 16 filings, says…
The General Assembly is one step closer to settling the smokable hemp dispute after months of deliberation. In a 40-10 vote Monday, Oct. 28, the Senate passed the farm bill, which includes a provision to ban smokable hemp in June 2020.
Lawmakers have reached a compromise on smokable hemp, but their agreement may not make everyone in the hemp community happy. For now. Sen. Brent Jackson, R-Sampson, and Rep. Jimmy Dixon, R-Duplin, have agreed to a June 1, 2020, smokable hemp ban, an Oct. 24 conference committee report shows.
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…
