Home Local News NOEM QUICKLY VETOES SOUTH DAKOTA HEMP BILL

NOEM QUICKLY VETOES SOUTH DAKOTA HEMP BILL

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South Dakota Governor Kristi Noem immediately vetoed a bill to legalize industrial hemp in that state once she received it Monday.

Noem said in her veto message that “normalizing” hemp was part of a bigger strategy to make marijuana legalization inevitable.

She says the bill would make law enforcement’s job more difficult.

Democratic Rep. Oren Lesmeister, the bill’s sponsor, says the veto wasn’t surprising, but that some of Noem’s comments were.

The National Conference of State Legislatures says at least 41 states have enacted hemp growing and production programs.

The 2018 federal farm bill legalized cultivation of industrial hemp nationally.

A successful veto override appears unlikely.

The bill fell short of passing through the Senate with the two-thirds support that would be needed.