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House panel rejects Senate amendments to Idaho hemp bill

A House panel has voted not to agree with amendments the Senate added to a bill originally intended to allow hemp-loaded trucks to cross Idaho, where hemp is illegal.
Credit: Dylan Lovan
FILE - In this Sept. 23, 2014, file photo, a tractor cuts a small plot of hemp at a University of Kentucky research plot near Lexington, Ky. The Oregon Agriculture Department has begun accepting applications to grow industrial hemp, in time for spring planting. Industrial hemp is the cousin of marijuana that doesn't cause a high.

BOISE, Idaho — A House panel has voted not to agree with amendments the Senate added to a bill originally intended to allow hemp-loaded trucks to cross Idaho, where hemp is illegal.

The House Transportation and Defense Committee on Thursday voted not to concur with the amendments that lawmakers say turned the bill into a decision to create a state plan for hemp or go with a federal plan yet to be released.

Republican Rep. Judy Boyle sponsored the original bill but asked the committee not to concur so that Idaho could go with the federal plan when it comes out.

Boyle says the federal plan has a better chance of allowing Idaho farmers to start growing hemp next spring. She says efforts to create a state plan could get bogged down.

The committee's vote is a recommendation to the full House, but is not binding.

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