Boise (670 KBOI News) – Hemp production is literally one step away from passing the 2019 Idaho legislature, and going to Governor Little for approval.

Monday, the Senate State Affairs Committee voted unanimously to send House Bill 122 to the full Senate with a do-pass recommendation.

Representative Dorothy Moon of Stanley, one of the co-sponsors, told committee members contrary to what many of them are being told in the media, there are ways to test hemp, right here in Idaho, to determine the THC content.

“If we’re the 48th state to conform, there are already tools out there,” said Moon.  ” We do have places that can test, we do have the time to establish what protocols we want to put in place, with this plan, as far as testing, and there are roadside devices that can be used.”

Genesee Representative Caroline Nilsson-Troy, the other co-sponsor, said other states began embracing industrial hemp production after the federal 2014 farm bill, but Idaho dithered…and now we’re playing catch up.