Bipartisan bill to delay federal hemp ban heads to President Trump's desk

A delay to a federal law that would bring major changes to the hemp industry is a step closer to becoming a reality. 

Minnesota DFL Sen. Amy Klobuchar says the bill, a lifeline for the state's THC beverage industry, will be heading to President Trump's desk. Both Klobuchar and Sen. Tina Smith pushed for this delay, which has bipartisan support in Washington.

Most of what's available on store shelves in Minnesota has 5mg of THC per serving, and drinks can have as much as 10 milligrams. The new federal law was set to go into effect in November would place the limit at 0.4mg.  

The U.S. House passed the Senate's bill that includes a provision to delay the federal hemp ban until Dec. 11. The bill also bans synthetic hemp derivatives. 

Klobuchar says the delay would give "Congress more time to get to a long-term fix." This is huge news for places like Minneapolis Cider Company, but also for farmers and customers.

"But importantly, Congress doesn't pass these types of extensions with no reason, right? So, we know that the fact that this is included in the CR language means that Congress has an intent or wants to look at passing more formal legislation to regulate the category. So for us, it's huge," said Minneapolis Cider Company's Jason Dayton.

It took a while to get to this point. The federal hemp ban came about last November, then lawmakers have been working to delay it. Last month, the Senate rejected an effort to take the hemp ban delay out of the bill.