{"id":285017,"date":"2017-02-07T15:18:33","date_gmt":"2017-02-07T22:18:33","guid":{"rendered":"http:\/\/nmpolitics.net\/index\/?p=285017"},"modified":"2017-02-07T15:18:33","modified_gmt":"2017-02-07T22:18:33","slug":"new-mexico-senate-once-again-endorses-hemp-research","status":"publish","type":"post","link":"https:\/\/nmpolitics.net\/index\/2017\/02\/new-mexico-senate-once-again-endorses-hemp-research\/","title":{"rendered":"New Mexico Senate once again endorses hemp research"},"content":{"rendered":"<div id=\"attachment_56542\"  class=\"wp-caption module image alignnone\" style=\"max-width: 771px;\"><img loading=\"lazy\" decoding=\"async\" class=\"size-large wp-image-56542\" src=\"http:\/\/nmpolitics.net\/index\/wp-content\/uploads\/2015\/06\/Kids-at-Roundhouse-771x504.jpg\" alt=\"A statue outside the Roundhouse in Santa Fe.\" width=\"771\" height=\"504\" srcset=\"https:\/\/nmpolitics.net\/index\/wp-content\/uploads\/2015\/06\/Kids-at-Roundhouse-771x504.jpg 771w, https:\/\/nmpolitics.net\/index\/wp-content\/uploads\/2015\/06\/Kids-at-Roundhouse-336x220.jpg 336w, https:\/\/nmpolitics.net\/index\/wp-content\/uploads\/2015\/06\/Kids-at-Roundhouse-768x502.jpg 768w, https:\/\/nmpolitics.net\/index\/wp-content\/uploads\/2015\/06\/Kids-at-Roundhouse-1170x764.jpg 1170w, https:\/\/nmpolitics.net\/index\/wp-content\/uploads\/2015\/06\/Kids-at-Roundhouse.jpg 1500w\" sizes=\"auto, (max-width: 771px) 100vw, 771px\" \/><p class=\"wp-media-credit\">Heath Haussamen \/ NMPolitics.net<\/p><p class=\"wp-caption-text\">A statue outside the Roundhouse in Santa Fe.<\/p><\/div>\n<p>The New Mexico Senate, by a lopsided bipartisan majority, passed a bill <span class=\"aBn\" data-term=\"goog_427635568\"><span class=\"aQJ\">Tuesday<\/span><\/span> that would make it legal to cultivate hemp so researchers can study possible industrial uses.<\/p>\n<p>The legislation goes now to the House of Representatives, where other industrial hemp bills also are being considered.<\/p>\n<aside class=\"module align-left half type-aside\">\n<h3>About this article<\/h3>\n<p>This article comes from <a href=\"http:\/\/www.santafenewmexican.com\/\" target=\"_blank\">The Santa Fe New Mexican<\/a>. NMPolitics.net is paying for the rights to publish articles about the 2017\u00a0legislative session from the newspaper. Help us cover the cost by\u00a0<a href=\"http:\/\/nmpolitics.net\/index\/donate\/\" target=\"_blank\">making a donation to NMPolitics.net<\/a>.<\/p>\n<\/aside>\n<p><a href=\"https:\/\/nmlegis.gov\/Legislation\/Legislation?Chamber=S&amp;LegType=B&amp;LegNo=6&amp;year=17\" target=\"_blank\">Senate Bill 6<\/a>, sponsored by Sen. Cisco McSorley, D-Albuquerque, which cleared the Senate 37-2, is identical to a McSorley hemp bill that passed the Legislature two years ago with strong bipartisan support but was vetoed by Gov. Susana Martinez.<\/p>\n<p>The governor, in her veto message that year, claimed it could be confusing for law enforcement because the fibrous plant is similar to\u00a0marijuana but with a lower level of the intoxicant THC.<\/p>\n<p>McSorley <span class=\"aBn\" data-term=\"goog_427635569\"><span class=\"aQJ\">on Tuesday<\/span><\/span> repeated his insistence that &#8220;industrial hemp research begins the process of bringing needed manufacturing and agricultural jobs to our state.&#8221;<\/p>\n<p>His bill would authorize the state Agriculture Department to issue licenses to grow the plant for research and development. The proposal would require New Mexico State University to establish a fund using fees collected by the Agriculture Department. The money would not revert to any other fund at the end of a fiscal year.<\/p>\n<p>McSorley said the Agriculture Department and the university would be responsible for setting up regulations governing production of hemp by state farmers.<\/p>\n<p>More than 30 other states have passed similar legislation. In <span class=\"aBn\" data-term=\"goog_427635570\"><span class=\"aQJ\">Tuesday&#8217;s<\/span><\/span> debate, McSorley said the state of Kentucky already has a robust hemp industry. Two of the biggest supporters of industrial hemp on the national level are Kentucky&#8217;s two Republican senators, GOP Leader Mitch McConnell and Sen. Rand Paul.<\/p>\n<p>The state of Colorado currently produces more than half of the industrial hemp in the U.S.<!--more--><\/p>\n<p>Democrats in the Legislature consider establishing an industrial hemp program in the state part of their jobs and economic development package.<\/p>\n<p>The two state senators voting against the bill were Senate Republican Leader Stuart Ingle of Portales and Sen. Caroll Leavell, R-Jal. Ingle, a farmer, said he didn&#8217;t believe the economic benefits touted by hemp advocates would come to fruition until processing plants are built in the state.<\/p>\n<p>McSorley said, &#8220;We&#8217;ll never have processing if we don&#8217;t pass this bill.&#8221;<\/p>\n<p>The House Labor and Economic Development Committee is scheduled to hear two hemp bills, <a href=\"https:\/\/nmlegis.gov\/Legislation\/Legislation?Chamber=H&amp;LegType=B&amp;LegNo=144&amp;year=17\" target=\"_blank\">House Bill 144<\/a>, sponsored by Rep. Bill Gomez, D-La\u00a0Mesa, and <a href=\"https:\/\/nmlegis.gov\/Legislation\/Legislation?Chamber=H&amp;LegType=B&amp;LegNo=154&amp;year=17\" target=\"_blank\">HB 154<\/a>, sponsored by Rep. Rick Little, R-Chaparral, <span class=\"aBn\" data-term=\"goog_427635571\"><span class=\"aQJ\">on Wednesday<\/span><\/span>.<\/p>\n<p>Gomez&#8217;s bill is identical to McSorley&#8217;s, while Little&#8217;s is similar. Both bills recently got positive recommendations from the House Agriculture and Water Resources Committee.<\/p>\n<p><em>Contact Steve Terrell at 505-986-3037 or <a href=\"mailto:sterrell@sfnewmexica\u00adn.com\">sterrell@sfnewmexica\u00adn.com<\/a>. Read his political blog at <a href=\"http:\/\/www.santafenewmexican.com\/news\/blogs\/politics\/\" target=\"_blank\">santafenewmexica\u00adn.com\/<wbr \/>news\/blogs\/poli\u00adtics<\/a>.<\/em><\/p>\n","protected":false},"excerpt":{"rendered":"<p>The legislation goes now to the House of Representatives, where other industrial hemp bills also are being considered.<\/p>\n","protected":false},"author":1,"featured_media":56542,"comment_status":"closed","ping_status":"closed","sticky":false,"template":"","format":"standard","meta":{"footnotes":""},"categories":[11],"tags":[3329,118,107],"class_list":["post-285017","post","type-post","status-publish","format-standard","has-post-thumbnail","hentry","category-news-and-analysis","tag-2017-legislative-session","tag-economy","tag-roundhouse"],"_links":{"self":[{"href":"https:\/\/nmpolitics.net\/index\/wp-json\/wp\/v2\/posts\/285017","targetHints":{"allow":["GET"]}}],"collection":[{"href":"https:\/\/nmpolitics.net\/index\/wp-json\/wp\/v2\/posts"}],"about":[{"href":"https:\/\/nmpolitics.net\/index\/wp-json\/wp\/v2\/types\/post"}],"author":[{"embeddable":true,"href":"https:\/\/nmpolitics.net\/index\/wp-json\/wp\/v2\/users\/1"}],"replies":[{"embeddable":true,"href":"https:\/\/nmpolitics.net\/index\/wp-json\/wp\/v2\/comments?post=285017"}],"version-history":[{"count":0,"href":"https:\/\/nmpolitics.net\/index\/wp-json\/wp\/v2\/posts\/285017\/revisions"}],"wp:featuredmedia":[{"embeddable":true,"href":"https:\/\/nmpolitics.net\/index\/wp-json\/wp\/v2\/media\/56542"}],"wp:attachment":[{"href":"https:\/\/nmpolitics.net\/index\/wp-json\/wp\/v2\/media?parent=285017"}],"wp:term":[{"taxonomy":"category","embeddable":true,"href":"https:\/\/nmpolitics.net\/index\/wp-json\/wp\/v2\/categories?post=285017"},{"taxonomy":"post_tag","embeddable":true,"href":"https:\/\/nmpolitics.net\/index\/wp-json\/wp\/v2\/tags?post=285017"}],"curies":[{"name":"wp","href":"https:\/\/api.w.org\/{rel}","templated":true}]}}