Governor Kristi Noem hasn’t completely crushed the spirit of wacky power-grabbing House Republicans. On Friday she told the Legislature drop its push to legalize industrial hemp, saying the state should decide for farmers what crops they should plant. On Monday, the House passed its hemp legalization measure 65 to 2.
Perhaps all the more remarkable is the fact that all but two Republicans chose to bluntly rebel against their Governor on a bill led by a Democrat. Representative Oren Lesmeister (D-28A/Parade) is the prime sponsor of House Bill 1191. He told his colleagues yesterday that HB 1191 isn’t rushing into anything:
“We are trying to put a mechanism in place. We have all summer to work on it. This is not going to happen this year, and there is going to be another legislative session in between,” Lesmeister said [Del Bartels, “Hemp Legalization Bill Flies Through South Dakota House of Representatives,” Pierre Capital Journal, 2019.02.11].
How can we be considered to be rushing into hemp when 42 states have already done so?
Representative Shawn Bordeaux (D-26A/Mission) that the tribes will move on hemp with or without the state’s blessing:
Representative Shawn Bordeaux (D-Mission) told the rest of the House that the Indian Reservations in the state, being under federal sovereignty, were already allowed to grow and produce hemp under the federal Farm Bill.
“The South Dakota Reservations will have many communities doing this, with or without your vote,” Bordeaux said [Bartels, 2019.02.11].
Bordeaux’s neighbor across the river, Majority Leader Lee Qualm (R-21/Platte), chatted with Governor Noem Sunday and seems to think the Governor will get out of hemp’s way:
The 65-2 House vote came after Noem said in a statement Friday that South Dakota isn’t ready for the production of industrial hemp, contending questions remain about enforcement, taxpayer costs and effects on public safety. But House Majority Leader Lee Qualm urged support and said it’s time to move forward with hemp.
Qualm said after the vote that he had a “good dialogue” with Noem on Sunday evening about the bill. The Republican from Platte said he would support overriding a potential veto from Noem but didn’t think it would come to that.
“She’s got some legitimate concerns,” Qualm said. “I think it’s something that we can address and get fixed” [James Nord, “House OKs Industrial Hemp Bill Despite Noem’s Call for Delay,” AP via Rapid City Journal, 2019.02.11].
Rep. Lesmeister’s other hemp bill, HB 1212, to fund a hemp licensing program, Comes before House Agriculture (and Natural Resources) this morning at 7:45 in Capitol Room 414.
Congratulations, SD Legislature! I was very pleasantly surprised hearing about this passing. Instead of blindly following their Republican Princess, you guys did the right thing!
The fees the state wants to impose will make it very difficult for small operators to get in the game. The tribes will have no encumbrances so now the tribes should consider the CBD process itself. Not to expensive to get into and they could market the product very effectively around the entire nation. I see Amazon Prime warehouses as a long term goal. As long as federal highways are used to transport Farm Bill legal hemp, the state can do nothing about it but gnash their teeth.
My buddy Newland asked the legislature 20 years ago (and numerous times since) to remove its prohibition to hemp production, thus both preparing for and advocating similar action on the part of the feds.
Their responses were (in no particular order):
This is a stalking horse for pot legalization.
We have to send the right message to children.
We can’t tell the difference between pot and hemp.
We can’t buck the feds.
Smoking marijuana turns you gay.
Today, on “In The Moment” (SoDak Public Radio), Lori interviewed SD Sen. Troy Heinert and Rep. Jamie Smith, largely about progress of the hemp bill.
Smith said, among other things, that had the legislature done that, SoDak would be in a better position than it will be, assuming the bill gets past the Senate and the Guv and, possibly, a veto-override vote.
Legislators are rarely leaders; the best are able to pretend they ARE the wind, not merely being blown along by it.
Senators Kloucek, Lange, and Valandra, joined Representative Weber in sponsoring House Bill 1267 in 2000 to legalize hemp. That bill died in first committee.
Good for you SDGOP.
(Yes, mark it on your calendars. On 2/12/2019 I praised the SDGOP. I’ll do the same every single time they do the right thing.)
Alliteration is one of your favorite things, eh Cory? Might as well have fun with headlines. ☺
Noem published this with photos of crowded storage rooms at the state crime lab:
“These are pictures from the drug locker at our state health lab. Bursting at the seams. Legalizing industrial hemp now would flood our lab with more tests, strain law enforcement, require untested regs, and lead us further down the path toward legalizing marijuana. South Dakota isn’t ready to legalize industrial hemp.”
The thing is– the state crime lab DOESN’T TEST HEMP!!! OMG. The massive ignorance must burn.
She’s the governor. She’s not supposed to know everything, but she sure ought to find out before going public!
God Kristi Noem is so stupid. Just with thestrong smell marijuana has, one would know automatically know that Hemp is not marijuana.