Bill adding regulations, restrictions on hemp beverages advances in Kentucky House

[[{“value”:”

A bill that would subject intoxicating hemp beverages to more regulations and restrictions in Kentucky cleared a state House committee and the full chamber Wednesday, a week after passing the Senate.

The version of Senate Bill 202 advancing Wednesday is largely similar to the bill that passed the Senate. It moves enforcement over the sale of the products to Alcoholic Beverage Control agencies and bans the sale of beverages with more than five mg of THC per 12 ounce serving.

An earlier version of SB 202 in the Senate would have banned the sale of any hemp beverages in Kentucky until the summer of 2026, but that provision was dropped.The newest version of the bill now has a carve out to allow the sale of legal hemp beverages at festivals until 2026, but still prohibits their sale in bars and restaurants.

Also known as THC seltzers or “weed water,” the beverages have been in Kentucky stores since 2023, when the General Assembly unanimously passed a bill allowing low-THC products to be tested and regulated by the Cabinet for Health and Family Services and purchased by those aged 21 and up.

Republican Sen. Julie Raque Adams of Louisville, the sponsor of SB 202, says the measure is needed due to some bad actors in the retail space that sell beverages with up to 100 mg of THC, which she likens to an entire bottle of bourbon.

Hemp retailers and businesses testified against the bill in committee, taking the biggest issue with the five mg cap on beverages, which they said was far too low and arbitrarily chosen.

Dee Dee Taylor, a hemp store retailer and president of the Kentucky Hemp Association, said the 100 mg beverage that Adams referred to actually has 10 servings. Taylor said some customers with medical conditions need a higher dose.

Jim Higdon, an owner of fast-growing Kentucky-based Cornbread Hemp, said the legislation should lift the cap to 25 mg, which is the legal limit for beverages in Tennessee.

Annie Rouse from Cannabuzz Bar, a Kentucky hemp manufacturer, distributor and retailer, also said moving enforcement to ABC agencies will require up to 1,300 retailers to buy a new license to sell the products and upend the entire growing hemp industry.

“In its current form, SB 202 will unnecessarily disrupt a viable $330 million agriculturally-based Kentucky economy that employs 3,000 people statewide,” Rouse said. “It was hastily written without consideration of the feedback of the hemp industry, the one stakeholder group that actually understands the vast complex nature of the situation.”

Democratic Rep. Al Gentry of Louisville told Adams the overall goal of treating hemp beverages the same as alcoholic beverages was warranted, but he had concerns over the five mg limit going too far and being arbitrary.

Adams replied by saying her bill was “just a starting place” for regulating the industry and they could come back to the issue and make necessary changes next year.

“We revisit bills all the time, and will we revisit this? 100%,” Adams said. “Should we talk about it in the interim? 100% Will we get to an even better place? 100%. But we have to stop this proliferation, we have to stop the ability of these products getting into the hands of our kids.”

The bill was easily voted out of the House committee with the support of all Republicans, with four Democrats either passing or voting no.

GOP Rep. Michael Meredith of Bowling Green voted for SB 202 in committee and said he was “disturbed” by the proliferation of hemp since it was legalized at the federal level, but added that he had concern over the five mg cap.

Democratic Rep. Anne Donworth of Lexington voted against it in committee, saying she wanted Kentucky to be seen as “setting the precedent that the rest of the country can put in place, without crippling our growing hemp industry.”

The bill passed through the full House chamber hours later by a 77 to 17 vote. Eleven Republicans voted against it — most of them part of the “liberty” wing of the GOP in favor of minimal government regulations on business — though none spoke against it on the floor.

Several Democrats spoke on the bill to decry the process of the bill’s path through the chamber, as they did not receive a copy of the committee substitute for the bill until Tuesday evening, roughly 12 hours before it was voted out of committee the next morning.

Gentry noted that he wanted to call his floor amendments to SB 202 to raise the cap on beverages to more than 5 mg, but was not able to do so because they would have been ruled out of order — as they were filed with the previous version of the bill and not the late committee substitute.

Democratic Rep. Chad Aull of Lexington voted for the bill and said it provided needed public protections, but also criticized the process, saying “I just don’t think that we need to be passing large pieces of legislation like this in a secretive matter in 24 hours.”

Another bill also advancing late in the session that is opposed by the hemp industry is House Bill 775, which received a last-minute amendment to subject hemp beverages to the same wholesale and excise tax rates as distilled spirits, like bourbon. The products are currently only subject to sales taxes, but were hoping lawmakers would apply to them the same wholesale and excise tax rates as beer, which are much lower than distilled spirits.

Higdon of Cornbread Hemp says the tax rate is discriminatory and “threatens to stifle the state’s growing hemp industry and hurt local entrepreneurs.” He added that a 5 mg THC beverage is the equivalent of a light beer, “yet imposes taxes on these beverages as if they were high-proof spirits like Wild Turkey.”

HB 775 cleared the House Tuesday and is now in the Senate.

Adams’s SB 202 on hemp beverages now also heads back to the Senate, which would have to concur with the House changes to the bill before it can be sent to Democratic Gov. Andy Beshear for his signature or veto.

The last legislative day before the governor’s veto period is Friday. If bills are passed by then and later vetoed by the governor, the Republican supermajority could override that veto with just a majority vote on the final two days of the session in late March.

This story has been updated to include additional information about the House floor vote.

State government and politics reporting is supported in part by the Corporation for Public Broadcasting.

“}]] A Kentucky bill that would subject hemp-derived beverages to new regulations and ban certain products advances further, over the objections of the hemp industry.  Read More  

Author: