House Status:
Senate Status:
Senate Status:
Minutes for HB2168 - Committee on Agriculture and Natural Resources
Short Title
Substitute for HB 2168 by Committee on Agriculture and Natural Resources - Amending the commercial industrial hemp act to reduce maximum license and registration fee amounts to $500.
Minutes Content for Thu, Mar 14, 2024
Chairman Peck opened the hearing on HB2168.
Tamera Lawrence, Revisor, gave an overview of the bill.(Attachment 1)
Representative Tory Marrie Blew provided proponent testimony on the bill. (Attachment 2) In 2021 hosted a hemp tour in Barton County of all state elected officials with the turnout of over 60 attendees. Lowering the fee from $1,200 to $500 for hemp products will allow more farmers to explore with this crop and learn what it takes to hopefully be in their rotation.
Representative Blew stood for questions.
Sarah Stephens Selmon offered proponent testimony on the bill. (Attachment 3) Hemp is grown for fibers and grains. They do not harvest any floral material where cannabinoids develop. Agricultural hemp grows on traditional, row crop farms on large acreages and is well suited for the Kansas environment. There are four licensed agricultural processing facilities in Kansas - onlline, up and operating.
Kansas processors could easily support more than 7,000 acres of agricultural hemp crops purchased directly from Kansas farmers this season. With the current fee structure and regulatory environment, that is very unlikely. In 2023, there were only 680 acres of hemp harvested in the whole state of Kansas.
Ms. Selmon stood for questions.
Kelly Rippel, Co-Founder, Kansans for Hemp, Founding President , Planted Association of Kansas presented proponent testimony on the bill. (Attachment 4) (Attachment 5) (Attachment 6) Lowering fees will send a message that the state supports farmers and the crop. As provided in supplemental information other states have much lower fee or none at all, because their hemp programs are no longer administred by their departments of agriculture, but rather the USDA.
Mr. Rippel stood for questions.
Brian Ochsner offered Written Proponent testimony. (Attachment 7)
Kelsey Olson, Deputy Secretary, KDA offered Neutral testimony on HB2168. (Attachment 8) Industrial hemp production was permitted in Kansas for research purposes in 2019 and has been permitted for commercial purposes since 2021. Application licensing period for the year is open from January 1 to March 15 each year.
There is $100 application fee and license fee is $1200. Background checks are also required and cost $47 through the KBI. HB2168 would limit the license fee to $500. The Commercial Industrial Hemp Program is funded with license fees and does not utilize State General Funds to cover programmatic costs.
Ms. Olson stood for questions.
Nicholas Renecker presented neutral testimony and spoke to the bill. (Attachment 9) He stated he has spent 10 years coming here advocating for cannabis liberty. There should be no fingerprinting, no background checks, no special fees and certainly no armed executive agents of the State Fire Marshal's office burdening farmers in their livelihood.
Robin Bonsall offered Written Neutral testimony.(Attachment 10)
Chairman Peck closed the hearing on HB2168 and adjourned the meeting at 9:29 am.
