REPORT TITLE:
Industrial hemp


DESCRIPTION:
Defines "industrial hemp".  Authorizes the State to allow
privately-funded industrial hemp research to be conducted in
Hawaii when the State department of public safety issues a
controlled substance registration, and the U.S. Department of
Justice, Drug Enforcement Administration, issues a federally-
controlled substance registration for research on the agronomic
potential of industrial hemp.  Authorizes the department of
safety, in cooperation with the Drug Enforcement Administration,
to monitor all phases of the research.  Specifies that all
agronomic data derived from research under this bill be deemed to
be proprietary in nature and not subject to disclosure pursuant
to the uniform information practices act.  (HB32 HD1)

 
 
 
 
 
 
 
 
 
 
 
 
 
 
 
 
 
 
 
 
 
 
 
 
 
 
 
 
 
 
 
 
 
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HOUSE OF REPRESENTATIVES                H.B. NO.           H.D. 1
TWENTIETH LEGISLATURE, 1999                                
STATE OF HAWAII                                            
                                                             
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                   A  BILL  FOR  AN  ACT

RELATING TO AGRICULTURE.



BE IT ENACTED BY THE LEGISLATURE OF THE STATE OF HAWAII:

 1      SECTION 1.  The legislature finds that the total acreage
 
 2 planted in sugarcane decreased 4.32 per cent per year, or by
 
 3 thirty-six per cent or sixty seven thousand three hundred acres,
 
 4 between 1984 (one hundred eighty eight thousand four hundred
 
 5 acres planted) and 1994 (one hundred twenty one thousand one
 
 6 hundred acres planted).  Similarly, the total acreage planted in
 
 7 pineapple decreased 4.41 per cent per year, or by thirty-six per
 
 8 cent or twelve thousand seven hundred acres, between 1984 (thirty
 
 9 five thousand acres planted) and 1994 (twenty two thousand three
 
10 hundred acres planted).  In total, eighty thousand acres of
 
11 productive agricultural lands have been taken out of pineapple or
 
12 sugarcane production between 1984 (two hundred twenty three
 
13 thousand four hundred acres planted) and 1994 (one hundred forty
 
14 three thousand four hundred acres planted).  While the total
 
15 acreage planted to sugarcane is still somewhat precarious, the
 
16 acreage planted to pineapple has stabilized.
 
17      Like the demise of whaling, the decline of sugarcane and
 
18 pineapple are due to factors beyond the control of the
 
19 legislature and the State.  The face of Hawaii--once shaped by
 
20 waving fields of sugarcane and endless rows of pineapple--is
 

 
Page 2                                                     32
                                     H.B. NO.           H.D. 1
                                                        
                                                        

 
 1 changing once more as foreign and mainland growers and the demand
 
 2 for affordable housing make it less profitable to farm the land
 
 3 and more profitable to build homes on it.  Once these productive
 
 4 lands are lost to housing and other urban development, there is 
 
 5 no politically feasible way to return them to agricultural use.
 
 6 Similarly, once agricultural water is reallocated for drinking
 
 7 water and other people-related purposes, there is no politically
 
 8 feasible way to return it to agricultural use.  If the character
 
 9 and productivity of these lands is to be preserved, then
 
10 alternative crops such as industrial hemp need to be planted
 
11 now--before there is too little land and water to make large-
 
12 scale agriculture feasible in Hawaii.
 
13      The legislature also finds that industrial hemp is a
 
14 renewable resource for the manufacture of fiber, building
 
15 materials (such as roofing, flooring, and wallboard), pulp,
 
16 paper, oil, paints, sealants, fuel, and food.  Industrial hemp
 
17 fiber can be manufactured to produce fine linen and very durable
 
18 work cloth, as well as heavy canvas, twine, cordage, and rope.
 
19 In addition, it can be grown for its seeds, which can be sold to
 
20 other industrial hemp growers, made into food products for humans
 
21 and farm animals, or grown as a rotation crop to control weeds
 
22 and plant pests (such as the soybean cyst nematode).  Industrial
 
23 hemp can also be used to loosen the earth for subsequent crops.
 

 
Page 3                                                     32
                                     H.B. NO.           H.D. 1
                                                        
                                                        

 
 1 In 1942, the U.S. Department of Agriculture carried out a
 
 2 nationwide effort to encourage farmers to grow industrial hemp
 
 3 for the war effort, which resulted in thirty-six thousand acres
 
 4 being planted in seed hemp that year.  The U.S. Department of
 
 5 Agriculture also promoted industrial hemp as producing four times
 
 6 more pulp than trees for paper production.
 
 7      The legislature also finds that there are strains of
 
 8 industrial hemp that can be used for fiber and fuel production
 
 9 and that contain low percentages of tetrahydrocannabinols (THC),
 
10 the mind-altering compound found in marijuana.  The growing of
 
11 industrial hemp in the United States is allowed only by federal
 
12 permit, and currently three states have permits pending to grow
 
13 industrial hemp in their jurisdictions.
 
14      The purpose of this Act is to allow privately-funded
 
15 industrial hemp research to be conducted in Hawaii when the State
 
16 department of public safety issues a controlled substance
 
17 registration, and the U.S. Department of Justice, Drug
 
18 Enforcement Administration, issues a federally-controlled
 
19 substance registration for research on the agronomic potential of
 
20 industrial hemp.
 
21      SECTION 2.  As used in this Act, unless the context
 
22 otherwise requires:
 
23      "Industrial hemp" and "cannabis" means the schedule I
 

 
Page 4                                                     32
                                     H.B. NO.           H.D. 1
                                                        
                                                        

 
 1 substance marijuana as defined in chapter 329-1, Hawaii Revised
 
 2 Statutes.
 
 3      SECTION 3.  (a)  The State may allow privately-funded
 
 4 industrial hemp research to be conducted in Hawaii when the State
 
 5 department of public safety issues a controlled substance
 
 6 registration, and the U.S. Department of Justice, Drug
 
 7 Enforcement Administration, issues a federally-controlled
 
 8 substance registration for research on the agronomic potential of
 
 9 industrial hemp.
 
10      (b)  The department of public safety, in cooperation with
 
11 the Drug Enforcement Administration, may monitor all phases of
 
12 this research.
 
13      (c)  All agronomic data derived from the privately-funded
 
14 industrial hemp research allowed by this Act shall be deemed to
 
15 be proprietary in nature and shall not be subject to disclosure
 
16 pursuant to chapter 92F, Hawaii Revised Statutes.
 
17      SECTION 4. This Act shall take effect upon its approval, and
 
18 shall be repealed on June 30, 2002.