Hemp Bill and Bike Trails Bill Reach Governor’s Desk
Farmers in Canada and other countries legally grow hemp, while California farmers are denied.
Bills providing California farmers the ability to fairly compete in the international industrial hemp market, and providing recreational bicycle trails on the State’s levee system are now on the Governor’s desk awaiting signature.
The California State Grange worked with the Legislature to pass these bills, and they are now asking the public to join them in persuading Governor Schwarzenegger to sign these bills into law.
AB 684 (Leno/DeVore),
The California Industrial Hemp Act of 2007 was passed by the legislature late in its session by an Assembly vote of 46-29. As sent to the Governor, the bill provides for a five year pilot program under which industrial hemp may be grown in four California Counties (Imperial, Kings, Mendicino, and Yolo) as field crops on plots of at least one acre in size.
“Industrial hemp is a resilient crop grown in over 30 nations and used in a wide array of products such as auto parts, building materials, skin lotions, and health foods,” explained Assemblyman Mark Leno. “With the majority of hemp industry profits being made by California manufacturers, it is senseless to import hemp from Canada. This is a crop California farmers could be supplying to our own in-state industry, an industry that’s expanding by 10 percent a year.”
The law would require that growers field test the crops to ensure they do not exceed the 3/10th of 1% THC level in order to meet the definition of industrial hemp, and they must provide GPS coordinates on the exact location of their crop. The bill also requires the state’s Attorney General, and the Hemp Industries Association, to report to the California Legislature at the end of the five years on the success of the program.
Sales of hemp based food and body care products are reported to be approaching $300 million annually in the US. The California State Grange worked for passage of the bill because of the new revenue stream this growing market offers California farmers and the resulting off-farm processing jobs it can generate in rural areas.
SB 669 (Torlakson)
The establishment of bikeways on the levee system in the Sacramento-San Joaquin River Delta to be known as the Great California Delta Trail would be the result of the Governor signing SB 669 into law.
The trail will be comprised of a network of non-motorized pathways through the Delta and will act as a link to the San Francisco Bay Trail and the proposed Sacramento River Trail. The Delta Trail will be open to persons on foot, on bicycles, and on horseback and will cover more than 1,000 miles of the Delta waterfront of Solano, Contra Costa, Sacramento, and San Joaquin counties.
“The Sacramento-San Joaquin Delta is one of California’s great natural resources,” said Senator Tom Torlakson. “Creation of this trail system will permit every Californian to appreciate its beauty and will give city residents a chance to visit our farms and fields. The California Grange has been an important ally in turning this idea into a reality,” he concluded.
“The Grange sponsored SB 669 because the trails will provide new opportunities for family farms and rural communities to capitalize on California’s growing agri-tourism industry which allows for those who live in the cities to enjoy a visit to the ‘country’ for day or weekend trips,” said Randall Lewis, President of the California State Grange. “We hope all Californians will join us in asking the Governor to sign this bill.”
The Grange is planning to sponsor a bike ride around the Capitol on October 2nd to demonstrate to the Governor support for this bill. Participating cyclists are asked to gather at the Ceaser Chavez Park at 10th and J Streets at 11:30am.
The California State Grange will celebrate its 135th year of operation in California at its annual meeting, at the Sacramento Holiday Inn October10 – 13th. Its 10,000 members meet regularly at 200 Grange Halls located in 40 of California’s 56 counties.
For more information about AB 684 and SB 669, contact Michael Greene, California State Grange’s Director of Legislative Affairs at 916-736-1572.