After passing the Wyoming State House of Representatives by a vote of 60-0, a bill to regulate the industrial use of hemp and hemp-based CBD products in the state was defunded yesterday by the Senate Appropriations Committee.

House Bill 171 would have allocated $315,000 for state testing of hemp and CBD products in compliance with the 2018 federal Farm Bill that effectively legalized hemp and CBD products around the country.

Proponents of the bill cited several businesses that have expressed interest in hemp production. The committee also heard testimony from a Colorado company hoping to build a processing plant in Wyoming.

After State Senator Larry Hicks withdrew a motion to defund the bill altogether, Senator Dave Kinskey introduced an amendment to appropriate the funds for a private lab to conduct testing. The amendment was approved in the committee by a vote of 4-1.

Since the Farm Bill requires states to conduct the testing themselves, the amendment would, in effect, prevent hemp companies from doing business in Wyoming.

“It leaves us in a position where it’s going to be difficult to get a plan through the USDA,"  Wyoming Agriculture Director Doug Miyamoto told Better Wyoming.  "This is not the first time, we’ve been through this before, especially on this topic.”

Another amendment could be added on the Senate floor to restore the funding. For now, it appears that Wyoming's hemp industry has gone up in smoke.

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