Florida Governor Vetoes Controversial Hemp Bill

Opponents of Senate Bill 1698, an act relating to food and hemp products, celebrated a victory June 7 when Florida Governor Ron DeSantis vetoed the bill that was passed in early March by the state Senate, 39-0, and House, 64-48.

“While Senate Bill 1698's goals are commendable, the bill would, in fact, impose debilitating regulatory burdens on small businesses and almost certainly fail to achieve its purposes,” DeSantis wrote in a letter to Florida Secretary of State Cord Byrd. “Senate Bill 1698 would introduce dramatic disruption and harm to many small retail and manufacturing businesses in Florida—businesses that have emerged due to recent legislation paving the way for the commercial use of hemp.”

 

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The recent legislation DeSantis referred to is the 2018 Farm Bill, which legalized hemp in the U.S. and inadvertently created a massive market for hemp-derived cannabinoids, from nonintoxicating CBD to intoxicating delta-8 THC and the semi-synthetic THCO, through what many have called a “loophole” in the bill. The new iteration of the Farm Bill has been drafted, and a controversial amendment similar to S.B. 1698 has been added as the draft is moving through review in Congress.

 S.B. 1698 would have made significant changes to the state hemp program, including:

• prohibiting the sale of synthetic cannabinoids and intoxicating cannabinoids, including delta-8 THC, delta-10 THC, THCA, HHC, THCV and THCP;
• revising the definition of “hemp” to “outline that hemp extract may not exceed 0.3 percent total delta-9-tetrahydrocannabinol concentration on a wet-weight basis or exceed 5 milligrams per serving and 50 milligrams per container on a wet-weight basis, whichever is less;”
• creating “a definition for ‘total delta-9-tetrahydrocannabinol concentration’ to mean a concentration calculated as: [delta-9-tetrahydrocannabinol] + (0.877 x [delta-9-tetrahydrocannabinolic acid]); and
• modifying “the definition of ‘attractive to children’ to include containers displaying toys or other features that target children,” as well as providing additional packaging requirements.

Thousands of people in the Sunshine State and several industry organizations voiced opposition to the bill and urged DeSantis to veto it. The U.S. Hemp Roundtable (USHR) said the legislation “would eliminate much of the hemp products industry in Florida, killing retail business and farmer opportunities.”

Advocacy group Save Florida hemp, which had launched a petition urging the governor’s veto, stated in a press release on June 3 that by vetoing SB 1698, the governor “could save over 10,000 small businesses and preserve more than 100,000 jobs across the Sunshine State.” The petition was signed by nearly 44,000 people.

“As hemp production and use continue to increase, we must ensure that such products are safe and that adequate measures exist to protect children,” wrote DeSantis. “Last year, I signed Senate Bill 1676, which instituted a series of consumer protections related to the sale of hemp products. Florida Law now prohibits the sale of hemp products to anyone under 21, prohibits the sale or distribution of products found to be mislabeled or attractive to children, requires all hemp processing facilities to meet food safety and sanitation standards, and provides a potency cap on all products containing hemp extract.”

The governor encouraged the state legislature to “reconsider this topic during the next Legislative Session and engage with all relevant stakeholders to create a comprehensive regulatory framework for the manufacture and sale of hemp and hemp-derived products.”

“Sensible, non-arbitrary regulation will provide businesses and consumers alike with much-needed stability—safeguarding public health and safety, allowing legitimate industry to flourish, and removing bad actors from the market,” he wrote.

DeSantis urged in his letter that lawmakers, in reconsidering the topic, take into account:

• "Quality control. The Legislature should set standards for cultivation, processing, and handling of hemp products to ensure the purity, potency, and safety of hemp and hemp­-derived products. This would include random, unannounced inspections, standardized and repeated testing, and dosing, packaging, and unit purchase caps that better correspond to the character of the products and their intoxicating capabilities. Upon review, Senate Bill 1698's effort to address those limitations misses the mark. Additionally, the Legislature should establish record-keeping requirements for sellers and suppliers of hemp products.
• Labeling, Marketing, and Packaging. The Legislature should develop guidelines for accurate labeling, including cannabinoid content, sourcing information, health claims, and dosing instructions. Packaging should- by default- be child-resistant, and any and all advertising that makes these products attractive to minors should be prohibited.
• Retail Sales. The Legislature should ensure that hemp-derived cannabinoids are sold behind the counter and that hemp retail shops operate outside sufficient proximities from schools, religious institutions, and other areas where children and families regularly gather. These shops should not present themselves as medical offices, and the Legislature should consider measures to prevent the ubiquity and concentration of these retail locations in communities across the State."
  

A state patchwork of regulations have emerged around intoxicating cannabinoids, and Florida was the latest attempt to ban products containing them. Texas legislators are currently examining the sale of intoxicating hemp products as well.

RELATED: Texas Hemp Business Council Tells Texas Lawmakers ‘Don’t Mess With Hemp’