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Committee approves trigger bill to ban intoxicating hemp products; industry warns of business losses
Summary
The House Rules Committee approved Senate Bill 533, a trigger-based law that would ban intoxicating hemp-derived products and set rules for non-intoxicating consumable hemp; supporters said it protects children, while retailers, manufacturers and medical providers warned it would shut small businesses and restrict therapeutic options.
Representative Jimmy Gazzaway, State Representative, District 31, asked the House Rules Committee to consider Senate Bill 533, a bill his office and the Arkansas Attorney General’s office said is designed to regulate consumable hemp products and to ban intoxicating hemp-derived products if specified federal or judicial conditions occur.
The measure passed the committee on a voice vote after an extended public-comment period featuring retailers, manufacturers, medical providers and families who said the bill would close small businesses and limit access to products they use for pain and symptom relief.
The bill establishes three categories of hemp-related products, according to Representative Jimmy Gazzaway: industrial hemp (cultivation and industrial uses subject to the Arkansas Industrial Hemp Production Act), consumable hemp products (finished products intended for human consumption that are non-intoxicating), and intoxicating hemp products (which would be unlawful under the bill). Alex Benton of the Attorney General’s office told the committee the consumable category would be legal only if products were non-intoxicating, registered with the Arkansas Tobacco Control Board, passed testing by independent laboratories and met labeling and formulation rules.
"To be a consumable hemp product, the product must be a finished product, be intended for human consumption, not be marketed for intoxicating effect, be either a cosmetic or generally recognized as safe by the FDA, have no more than 1 milligram of total THC per container, and a minimum ratio of CBD to THC of greater than 15 to 1," Alex Benton said.
Benton and Representative Gazzaway said the bill includes four trigger conditions that must occur before it takes effect. Those conditions include a final judgment in the pending federal litigation mentioned in the committee record (referred to in testimony as "Biogen versus Sanders") upholding Act 629 (02/2023); explicit congressional delegation allowing states to more stringently regulate or ban hemp-derived products; congressional amendment of the Agricultural Marketing Act of 1946 to exclude intoxicating cannabinoids from the definition of hemp; or a change to the Agriculture Improvement Act of 2018 (commonly called the 2018 farm bill) that excludes intoxicating cannabinoids. Benton said an additional certification by the attorney general would be required before the law could take effect even if one of those events occurs.
Industry and patient witnesses urged the committee to reject or amend the bill. Kimberly Pitts, who identified herself as manager of two SunMed stores in Hot Springs, said the bill’s $5,000 annual retail permit fee would be punitive for small operators and that the 1-milligram-per-container limit and restrictions on solvents such as ethanol would effectively ban many lawful products. "That alone makes this a ban bill in disguise," Pitts said.
Dr. Bridal Nicholl, who identified herself as a board-certified anesthesiologist practicing chronic pain management, told the committee that full‑spectrum hemp extracts with small amounts of THC can be more effective and safer at lower doses than isolated-CBD formulations and warned that a strict ban could push patients back to more toxic prescription drugs.
Small-business and industry speakers — including Roger Crawford of SunMed, Scout Stubbs (retailer), Andrea Harris of Hippie Hounds, Caleb Smith of the Arkansas Hemp Trade Association and Breck Speed of Emergent Beverages — said the measure would destroy jobs, reduce consumer access and drive sales to unregulated online markets. Several witnesses asked for carve-outs for low-dose beverages and for lower fees and higher per‑serving THC caps.
Representative Gazzaway reiterated that the measure is intended to "protect our children and Arkansans from these dangerous products" and emphasized the bill’s trigger design, saying it would not become enforceable unless one of the enumerated federal or judicial events occurred and the attorney general certified that it had occurred.
The committee limited public comment to three minutes per speaker and heard more than a dozen witnesses for and against the bill before voting. A voice vote was taken; committee members answered "aye" and "nay" without a roll-call tally and the chair announced the bill passed out of committee.
Implementation would depend on events outside the committee’s control and on subsequent certification steps described in the bill. The measure also assigns enforcement authority to the attorney general and local prosecuting attorneys and references existing deceptive-trade and regulatory statutes as enforcement tools.
The bill will proceed from the committee with a committee endorsement; under the bill’s language it would not become effective until the trigger conditions are met and the attorney general certifies that status.
