Republican Rep. Wants to Put Hemp Product Regulations In Tax Reconciliation Bill

Rep. Morgan Griffith (R-VA) said Monday that he is considering putting federal regulations for hemp-derived products into tax legislation during the post-election session, Roll Call reports. The congressman’s comments come as a federal deadline banning hemp-derived THC products is about six weeks away.

“I think we need to get my THC regulatory bill passed, and if we could get that into a reconciliation bill before the 11th of December, that’d be fabulous.” — Griffith, to reporters, via Roll Call

To include the bill as part of broader tax reforms, which would allow it to comply with Senate rules as part of the filibuster-proof reconciliation process used only for measures that have a significant budgetary impact, it would have to be “combined with a measure related to taxes on hemp-derived products, such as Rep. [Beth] Van Duyne’s (R) Beverage Regulatory Parity Act,” Griffith said in a later statement.

Van Duyne’s bill, co-sponsored with Rep. Greg Landsman (D-OH), would create a regulatory system for hemp-derived beverages similar to that for alcohol, and would impose a federal excise tax based on the amount of THC in the beverages

Griffith’s proposal would direct the Food and Drug Administration (FDA) to develop regulations within three years to set limits on intoxicating substances in hemp-derived THC and CBD products. If the FDA couldn’t complete the process within that timeframe, the bill would set default intoxication limits of 5 milligrams per serving and 30 milligrams per package.

“I get it. [Rep.] Andy Harris (R-MD), [Sen.] Ted Budd (R-NC), some of the others, they just want to stop it,” Griffith told reporters. “I truly believe if we don’t do something before that December 11th deadline, that it’s going to create all kinds of issues.”

In August, during remarks on the Senate floor, Budd called on the chamber to permanently close the “hemp loophole” that he argues has allowed unregulated THC-rich hemp products to be accessed by children.

“This is a public health crisis that deserves this Senate’s immediate attention,” he said during the speech. “Our children should never be the testing ground for an industry willing to exploit a loophole in federal law for profit.”

Harris, the House Agriculture Appropriations Subcommittee chair and longtime opponent of cannabis reforms, helped write the initial hemp ban into law last year.