4 Pillars Approach to Consumer Safety Included in House Appropriations Managers Amendment

As a refresher, Congresswoman Mary Miller (R-IL) offered an amendment intended to decimate the hemp industry during the House Agriculture Committee’s markup of the Farm, Food, and National Security Act of 2024 (Farm Bill). The Mary Miller amendment, going so far as excluding CBD from the definition of a hemp product and eliminating promising animal feed applications, was included en bloc in the Farm Bill (a legislative procedure used to package unrelated and noncontroversial amendments together for a single voice vote) without any recorded vote or opportunity for input from hemp stakeholders. Despite this legislative tactic, we are grateful for Representatives Jim Baird (R-IN), Zach Nunn (R-IA) and Derrick Van Orden (R-WI) for registering their opposition to the amendment during the hearing.

The Mary Miller amendment was then included in the House FY 2025 Agriculture, Rural Development, Food and Drug Administration, and Related Agencies Appropriations Act, once again without any input from the hemp industry or public discussion. This morning, the House Appropriations Committee held a full mark up on the bill. While the Mary Miller amendment remains in the underlying bill passed out of committee today, we are encouraged by Congressman Dan Newhouse’s (R-WA) efforts to include the Four Pillars approach in the bill’s report. Bill report language is non-binding, but it plays an crucial role in determining how federal agencies use the funds provided by appropriations measures. The language included is as follows:

Intoxicating Cannabidiols.—The Committee directs the FDA to evaluate the public health and safety implications of ingestible, inhalable, or topical products on the market that contain intoxicating cannabinoids. The Committee encourages the FDA to assert a stronger commitment to identifying lawful federal regulatory parameters that will protect the public health, such as labeling requirements on all hemp-derived products; testing procedures and standards to ensure product compliance and adverse event reporting; packaging requirements to prevent marketing to minors; and mandatory age limits for these products at the point of purchase. FDA should provide a briefing to the committee within 180 days of the passage of this bill on the authorities needed to adequately regulate cannabinoid hemp products, including authorities to support consumer safety.

This Four Pillar approach to addressing genuine consumer safety concerns is universally accepted in the hemp industry. It sets a federal consumer safety floor by creating packaging and labeling standards, uniform testing requirements and appropriate age restrictions—all designed to allow the hemp industry to continue to flourish while directing resources to prohibit bad actors from participating in the marketplace without consequence. 

There is a still a long process that needs to play out before these issues are resolved on the Hill. If either of these bills pass out of the Republican-controlled House, it does not guarantee their success in the Democratically-controlled Senate. In fact, the Senate will introduce its own version these bills that will reflect stark differences from what the House has offered, and these differences will need to be ironed out via a Conference Committee. We continue educating Members of Congress on this issue and increasing support for our efforts, which will help ensure that final legislation addresses consumer safety concerns without destroying the hemp industry.