To date, twenty-nine states have introduced hemp legislation and seventeen have passed legislation; nine (Hawaii, Kentucky, Maine, Maryland, Montana, North Dakota, Oregon, Vermont and West Virginia) have removed barriers to its production or research.

To date, eight states have passed hemp resolutions: California, Colorado, Illinois, Montana, New Mexico, North Dakota, Vermont and Virginia.

To date, six states have passed hemp study bills: Arkansas, Maine, Minnesota, New Mexico, North Carolina and Vermont.

State legislators and representatives of farm policy organizations, for more information about passing a resolution in support of industrial hemp or a hemp study bill please see our Hemp Resolution and Study Bill pages.

2011 Legislative Session

California had a hemp farming bill, SB 676, introduced on 2/18/2011. It passed the Senate on a vote of 22 to 14 on 5/31/2011.

Kentucky had a hemp farming bill, SB 30, introduced on 1/4/2011 and it was referred to the Senate Agriculture Committee.

Illinois had a hemp farming bill, HB 1383, introduced on 2/9/2011. It was referred to the House Rules Committee on 2/14/2011. Assigned to the House Agriculture and Conservation Committee 2/15/11. Do Pass / Short Debate by a vote of 11-2 on 3/1/2011.

Minnesota had a hemp farming bill, HF 759, introduced on on 2/28/2011. It was referred to the House Agriculture and Rural Development Policy and Finance Committee.

New Hampshire had a hemp farming bill, HB 101, introduced on 1/5/2011. A public hearing was held on 1/18/2011. An executive session was held on 1/25/2011. Committee report issued with a recommendation of Inexpedient to Legislate (the full House should vote the bill down) with a vote of 11-7 on 1/25/2011. Inexpedient to Legislate: MA RC (Motion Adopted, Regular Calendar) by a vote of 304-51 on 2/9/2011, thus the bill is dead.

North Dakota is now issuing licenses to farmers to grow hemp under existing state law and North Dakota Department of Agriculture rules. There are also two new bills this year. HB 1549 is a bill to amend and reenact section 4-41-02 of the North Dakota Century Code, relating to industrial hemp, the other is a concurrent resolution, HCR 3026, urging the United States Drug Enforcement Administration to allow North Dakota to regulate industrial hemp farming. In June 2007 the two North Dakota farmers granted state hemp farming licenses, Rep. David Monson and Wayne Hauge, filed a lawsuit in U.S. District Court for the District of North Dakota in an effort to end the U.S. Drug Enforcement Administration's (DEA) obstruction of commercial hemp farming in the United States. The case was dismissed by the District Court in November 2007. The prospective hemp farmers have appealed the decision to the United States Court of Appeals for the Eighth Circuit and the opinion was delivered in December 2009. On May 18, 2010 Monson and Hauge filed a legal action against DEA in the U.S. Court of Appeals for the District of Columbia Circuit. Please see the Vote Hemp North Dakota Case page for the latest information on the case.

A federal hemp bill was introduced in Congress on May 12, 2011. The bill excludes industrial hemp from the definition of "marihuana" in the Controlled Substances Act and gives states the exclusive authority to regulate the growing and processing of industrial hemp under state law. Please see our Federal Legislation page for much more information on H.R. 1831, the "Industrial Hemp Farming Act of 2011."

All state hemp bills and resolutions introduced since 1995 are listed in the chart below the clickable map of the United States.