Senate Democrats are proposing key changes to federal hemp laws as part of a large-scale agriculture bill—including eliminating a ban on participation in the industry by people with felony drug convictions and reducing regulatory barriers for hemp farmers growing for grain or fiber.
The Senate Agriculture, Nutrition, and Forestry Committee released a section-by-section summary of the chamber’s version of the 2024 Farm Bill on Wednesday. It also calls for freeing up federal food assistance benefits for people with drug convictions on their records.
The GOP-controlled House Agriculture Committee also posted a much shorter summary of its own separate version of the legislation. While it doesn’t contain any explicit references to hemp-related issues, a top industry group advised stakeholders not to “read too much into that” because they’ve had discussions with leadership on both sides and remain “hopeful that several items of our agenda will be incorporated.”
The Senate bill’s summary says it updates the definition of hemp and “lowers regulatory barriers for farmers who are growing industrial hemp for grain and fiber.”
It also removes the ban “on persons who were previously convicted of a felony relating to a controlled substance from participating in the program or producing hemp.”
The
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