House Majority Leader Lee Qualm is surprised that Governor Kristi Noem is already threatening to veto any industrial hemp legislation months before the 2020 Session and before the interim hemp study committee that he chairs has produced any conclusions or draft legislation. But Qualm gently warns the Governor that while she’s waving her veto pen, he’s lining up override votes… and just got help from Noem herself:
Qualm said he is hopeful hemp is legal in the state next July. Former-state Sen. Justin Cronin, who was one of 13 senators who voted against overriding Noem’s veto, resigned in August. Noem appointed now-Sen. John Lake, R-Gettysburg, to Cronin’s seat. As a state representative in the 2019 session, Lake voted yea on overriding Noem’s veto.
That leaves three more senators to flip in order to reach the two-thirds override threshold. Qualm said Tuesday that in conversations he has had with other state senators, “it’s less than that at this point” [Sarah Mearhoff, “Noem: If SD Legislature Votes to Legalize Hemp in 2020, ‘I Wil Veto It Again’,” AgWeek, 2019.09.10].
Three senators? Given Noem’s embarassing inability to make honest arguments against hemp, and given widespread voter support for giving farmers more agricultural freedom, those three votes shouldn’t be hard to find.
QUOTE ~ Not growing hemp because it makes it easier to hide marijuana is like cancelling high school dances because it makes it easier for teens to have sex. – MoonBase Lansing
Here’s today’s hemp report:
HALF OF STATES GREW HEMP LAST YEAR, LED BY MONTANA AND COLORADO — Montana and Colorado were by far the biggest hemp growing states in 2018, each with more than 20,000 acres cultivated, according to a new report by Forbes Tate Partners analyzing the burgeoning market nationwide. No other state cultivated more than 10,000 acres last year. Although hemp — defined as having less than 0.3 percent THC — was only legalized in the 2018 farm bill, states have had the option to create pilot projects since 2014. Roughly half of all states had some hemp farming last year. Nebraska had the smallest program, with just half an acre planted. But that will change soon: An expanded program has received 176 applications.
The U.S. Department of Agriculture is expected to release long-awaited hemp production rules as soon as this month. USDA already has issued guidance on importing hemp seeds, transporting the plant across state lines and other areas where the lack of national rules is creating legal headaches for growers and processors.
I am still trying to figure out if the reason for Noem’s petulant objections to industrial hemp is because she’s being lobbied, or some religious wing-nuttery that we don’t know about.
Who knew that Noem would be worthless without a handler. Oh, wait, we had how many years of non-production in the House?
Eve – “I am still trying to figure out if the reason for Noem’s petulant objections…” She clings to her “learning” from the ’70’s. It is really just rote memorization and recitation – nothing more. She is mentally “stuck” there. Such a mental condition resonates with the like-minded conservative base of the state.
Noem is the best friend of legalized pot smokers. Her “never hemp” position is an ignorant, illogical and 100 percent ineffective stance. An over-reaction and an over-reach.
South Dakota producers will watch our neighboring states prosper. Our neighbor states will build the hemp oil refineries and other product processing plants. Our neighbor states will continue to ship hemp on I-29 and I-90 on trucks, keeping drug-sniffing dogs confused (our poor drug-sniffing dogs! I am weeping.) and state troopers wondering what the hell they’re doing chasing down potheads.
Noem’s stupidity will retard growth in South Dakota’s economy and limit opportunities to farmers who just lost their Chinese soybean market to South America. Noem can sit piously in the governor’s office, but people will get a belly full of her baloney and the extreme right’s choke hold on public policy. If you put recreational pot on the ballot when Noem runs for re-election, voters will send a message.
Let’s just agree Noem does this because she can, no other reason can explain it. Her objections are, for the most part, easily debunkable and she wants to be a mini-Drumpf dictator.
At least she’s stickin’ with Mississippi.
Did she testify this prior legislative session against the bill? If so, is there a link to the audio?
Mr. Qualm, best friend of the tokers of the demon weed, is basically saying:
Double.
Dog.
Dare ya.
It’s become obvious that Kristi hasn’t a clue as to what a governor does. She thinks (with some justification) that it’s an opportunity to hire her relatives at extraordinary (for SoDak) money to be as clueless as she is.
I’ve been calling on farm equipment dealers in Colorado. They’re laughing at us. They ask me, “How did Soouth Dakota farmers vote en masse for this moron?”
Will our own Bob Ewing be termed-out by then?
In speaking with him, I think he might be willing to change his vote .. that is unless the conspiracy is true that we can’t have hemp until I get off my legalization binge.
Gov. NoMa’am needs to read this short bit from Numlock News by Walt Hickey:
“Return on Investment
“A new study from the Global Commission on Adaptation found that a $1.7 trillion investment in five areas with high returns on investment from 2020 to 2030 would have some $7.1 trillion in net benefits. For instance, each dollar invested in improving dryland agricultural crop production reaps five dollars in net benefits, with similar returns on investment in water resources, protecting mangroves, and making infrastructure resilient. Climate change is projected to depress global agricultural yields up to 30 percent by 2050 without adaptation.”
Global Commission on Adaptation
Gov. NoMa’am, hemp is adaptation.
Francis, Governor Noem made many public statements during Session, but she did not personally testify on 2019 HB 1191. However, Noem sent her people to testify in committee:
Audio for both hearings is available at the bill main page.