HOUSE OF REPRESENTATIVES	H.C.R. NO.	193
TWENTY-SEVENTH LEGISLATURE, 2014
STATE OF HAWAII

HOUSE CONCURRENT

RESOLUTION

requesting the chairperson of the board of agriculture to create an industrial hemp advisory board.

     WHEREAS, industrial hemp is an agricultural crop that is grown in at least thirty countries, including Australia, Canada, China, France, Germany, Great Britain, and Romania; and

     WHEREAS, industrial hemp is used by industries to produce goods such as paper, textiles, food, oils, automotive parts, and personal care products; and

     WHEREAS, sales of industrial hemp products in the United States have grown steadily since 1990 to more than $500,000,000 annually in 2012; and

     WHEREAS, a critical logistical factor in gaining the acceptance of industrial hemp as an agricultural product appears to be the monitoring and maintaining of acceptably low levels of  tetrahydrocannabinol concentrations in the hemp plants; now, therefore,

     BE IT RESOLVED by the House of Representatives of the Twenty-seventh Legislature of the State of Hawaii, Regular Session of 2014, the Senate concurring, that the Chairperson of the Board of Agriculture is requested to create an industrial hemp advisory board; and

     BE IT FURTHER RESOLVED that the Chairperson of the Board of Agriculture is requested to invite the following to serve on the advisory board:

     (1)  Four members from the agricultural industry;

     (2)  Two members from public or private institutions or organizations that maintain land for agricultural research, including colleges, universities, agricultural research centers, and conservation research centers;

     (3)  One member from a state or county law enforcement agency;

     (4)  One member who engages in hemp research at the University of Hawaii;

     (5)  One member from the industrial hemp products manufacturing or processing industry;

     (6)  One member from the industrial hemp products marketing industry; and

     (7)  One member of the public;

and

     BE IT FURTHER RESOLVED that the advisory board is requested to examine the following issues:

     (1)  Identification of new and existing varieties of industrial hemp that may be grown for their grain or fiber as a dual purpose crop and those that may be grown for seed production; and

     (2)  The feasibility of permitting public or private institutions or organizations that maintain land for agricultural research, including colleges, universities, agricultural research centers, and conservation research centers, to cultivate or possess any sample of industrial hemp that contains a percentage content of tetrahydrocannabinol that is greater than three-tenths of one per cent; provided that the cultivation or possession of that sample contributes to the development of a variety of industrial hemp that does not contain a percentage content of tetrahydrocannabinol that is greater than three-tenths of one per cent;

and

     BE IT FURTHER RESOLVED that the Department of Agriculture is requested to provide administrative, professional, technical, and clerical support to the industrial hemp advisory board; and

     BE IT FURTHER RESOLVED that the industrial hemp advisory board is further requested to submit a report of its findings and recommendations, including any proposed legislation, to the Legislature not later than twenty days prior to the convening of the Regular Session of 2015; and

     BE IT FURTHER RESOLVED that certified copies of this Concurrent Resolution be transmitted to the Chairperson and members of the Board of Agriculture.

OFFERED BY:

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Report Title: 

Industrial Hemp