South Dakota could soon have legal industrial hemp.
House Bill 1191 was introduced last month.
If passed, the bill would make it legal to grow, produce, and process industrial hemp.
The House voted 65-2 Monday to send the bill to the Senate.
Bringing in money to South Dakota- that’s what Democratic Representative Michael Saba of Hartford hopes industrial hemp will do.
“It’s another cash crop, which we badly need. Diversity of agriculture is really important, and bringing new dollars in,” Saba said.
Democratic Representative Kelly Sullivan of Sioux Falls agrees with Saba and says this will bring economic growth to the state.
“There’s already two industries in South Dakota that want to start working with industrial hemp and I know there’s two more that are talking about wanting to work with industrial hemp. I think it’s a great bill,” Sullivan said.
It’s not just Democrats who support the bill. Republican legislators have also shown their support.
“I was actually answering the agricultural community’s request to have an alternative crop,” Republican Representative Nancy York of Watertown said.
However, despite overwhelming support for the bill in the House, Governor Kristi Noem has some concerns.
“South Dakota is not ready for industrial hemp today. We’re not ready from an agricultural perspective. We do not have dollars budgeted to set up a licensing program, to have inspectors out on the ground, to have GPS locations of plots,” Noem said.
Despite this, legislators hope the bill will pass.
“I’ve had a few conversations that sounds like the general idea is that this will pass in the Senate,” Sullivan said.
“We’ve passed this now with the intent of going ahead and looking at things and starting to get things put together,” York said.
“It shows forward thinking. We need that. We need more forward thinking. We have to do more of that for this state, we can’t do less,” Saba said.
Click here if you want to take a look at House Bill 1191.