Our Industrial Hemp bill is going nowhere according to a Republican Senator who stated this at the Elizabethtown Legislative Breakfast February 28th.
The question of whether or not this was a good bill for the farmer was answered by everyone at the meeting. It was a unanimous yes, we want this crop to grow.
A Republican Senator then told the gathering that the President of the Senate was going to hold the bill up and that he did not want any controversy.
Those of us that have worked for this farm bill figured that this would happen once the talk about Senate President David Williams emerged that he may challenge present U. S. Senator Bunning in 2010. We even figured he would do exactly as he is doing. We are sure he will not run even though he is holding the bill up. Senator Williams isn’t stupid and he knows that he has it made controlling the State Senate that he would also have to run for in 2010. We predict he will stay in the Kentucky Senate.
He won’t take the risk of running for something he is unsure of. He will be back in the State Senate.
WE WILL BE PLACING THE FACTS ABOUT HOW INDUSTRIAL HEMP COULD MAKE THE KENTUCKY FARMERS, WHICH HAVE BEEN HURTING SINCE THE LOSS OF TOBACCO, TURN THE CORNER TO PROFITABILITY ON THIS PAGE ONCE THE SESSION ENDS. MANY OF THE FARMS ARE IN FINANCIAL AGONY AND SEN. WILLIAMS COULD HAVE BEEN THEIR “HERO” WITH THIS CROP.
AT LEAST THE FARMERS KNOW TO THANK DEMOCRATIC SENATOR JOEY PENDLETON, ALSO A FARMER, FOR HIS EFFORTS ON THEIR BEHALF. PERHAPS WE WILL HEAR MORE ABOUT THIS MATTER DURING THE INTERIM SESSION.
____________________________________________________
The following bill is one we have been working on for several months and it has now been introduced. While the Congress and President seem hellbent on printing money to create government jobs that produce nothing we have a bill that will give work to the farmers, create jobs in the seed oil area, provide a new source of fuel and bring in new industries to produce products for the auto and food industry for we humans as well as a good feed for the animals on our farms.
Please use the information below to contact you officials by email and/or phone to show your support for this bill.
To email your Legislator about these bills you may go to the Legislators web page and use their form or you may email them the following way:
First Name.Last Name@lrc.ky.gov
You may also call 1-800-372-7181 and leave a message for them to support any or all of these bills.
Other web pages involving the Legislature you need are:
Legislature Home Page
How To Find Your Legislator
To view past and present Legislation
Your phone call in support of Industrial Hemp in Kentucky is needed now! And pass this along to your contacts ASAP!
Let’s put our Kentucky farmers back to work and idle farms back in production.
The 3 E’s of Industrial Hemp are:
1) Energy
2) Economic Development
3) Environment
We can produce bio-diesel fuels as well as some of the highest grades of oil for commercial and food production use. Unlike corn ethanol, hemp can produce bio-fuels (energy) and at the same time add to the food supply all without subsidies.
We can invite entrepreneurs into Kentucky that can convert the fiber, cellulose and seed into value added products for food, cosmetics and commercial and industrial applications including building products, automotive and paper.
Industrial Hemp in Kentucky means jobs in Kentucky.
Industrial Hemp is the most environmentally friendly crop Kentucky farmers can grow. Not only is hemp one of the best absorbers of carbon in our atmosphere it requires no herbicides or pesticides and it can improve the soil with it’s deep root system which can potentially improve yields on other rotation crops like corn and soya beans.
What better way to help secure Kentucky’s future and bring jobs and economic development to Kentucky, especially in our rural areas.
Pass this information along to everyone you know and,
Please call 1-800-372-7181 now and leave a message for the following:
Your State Senator and your State Representative
All Senate Leadership
Your message should simply be:
Please support the 3 E’s in Kentucky. Support Senate Bill 131.
| SB 131 (BR 1188) – J. PendletonAN ACT relating to industrial hemp. Create new sections of KRS Chapter 260 to define “department,” “industrial hemp,” and “THC”; require persons wanting to grow or process industrial hemp to be licensed by the Department of Agriculture; require criminal history checks by local sheriff; require the Department of Agriculture to promulgate administrative regulations to carry out the provisions of the Act; require sheriff to monitor and randomly test industrial hemp fields; assess a fee of $5 per acre for every acre of industrial hemp grown, with a minimum fee of $150, to be divided equally between the Department of Agriculture and the appropriate sheriff’s department; require licensees to provide the Department of Agriculture with names and addresses of any grower or buyer of industrial hemp and copies of any contracts the licensee may have entered into relating to the industrial hemp; clarify that the Act does not authorize any person to violate federal law. Feb 12-introduced in Senate |