LOUISVILLE, Ky. (WDRB) – The Kentucky Senate gave final passage Thursday to a bill that regulates drinks with intoxicating levels of THC, including sweeping changes to the current retailing system.
Senate Bill 202 advanced on a 22-13 vote, with one member not voting – the legislation’s closest margin since it was introduced last week. It now heads to Gov. Andy Beshear’s desk.
The measure limits the amount of mood-altering THC at 5 milligrams in a 12-ounce can, although lawmakers will let retailers sell drinks with higher amounts until June 1. Also grandfathered in are fairs and festivals, which can sell the drinks through the end of the year.
Sales in bars and restaurants would be banned outright. Retailers would have to get liquor licenses to sell the drinks – a move that could affect an estimated 1,300 stores in Kentucky, such as those specializing in hemp products, according to hemp industry representatives.
The Kentucky Alcoholic Beverage Control Board would enforce licensing and distributing laws.
Hemp advocates urged legislators not to approve the bill, arguing that their input wasn’t heeded and claiming the new regulations will harm existing companies that follow current state rules.
Even so, the industry won some concessions as the bill evolved, including getting the carveout on fairs and festivals and removing a full moratorium put forth in the initial version.
“This vote was closer than almost anyone expected,” said Jim Higdon, co-founder of Louisville-based Cornbread Hemp, which is working on a cannabis-infused beverage line. “If the governor vetoes, there’s a chance that legislative leadership might decline to override.”
The General Assembly can vote to set aside any of Beshear’s vetoes on bills that pass before midnight Friday.
Sen. Julie Raque Adams (R-Louisville), the bill’s sponsor, said in brief remarks on the Senate floor Thursday that there were “excellent changes” made this week in the House of Representatives. On Wednesday, she called the legislation an attempt to put “common-sense parameters” on a fast-growing market.
But opponents argued that the bill could have been better and erects barriers for a booming industry.
“It still needs some work to allow that industry to flourish and to continue the business that they've established, which is credible and needed,” said Sen. Robin Webb (D-Grayson).
Kentucky hasn’t approved recreational marijuana, but the 2018 federal farm bill legalized hemp plants with low levels of THC. Medical marijuana became legal this year.
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