The South Dakota House is passing along the bill legalizing industrial hemp.
House lawmakers approved the bill 54 to 12 and without debate. There’s a discrepancy between lawmakers and the governor’s office how much enacting the program will cost.
The governors office says the program will cost about $2 million to prop up, and about $1.5 million each year after.
House Majority Leader Lee Qualm says house lawmakers are in talks with the governor’s office about cost.
“We’re having a lot of conversations talking about where we’re going to find this,” Qualm says. “The one time money is easy to come up with. The ongoing stuff, I don’t think that’s going to be a big problem either, because we’re looking where we can take out of. The second floor, we’re working with them. Obviously, as we do this, we want to make sure it’s palatable to everybody. That’s where we’re at.”
Qualm says the best thing lawmakers can do is keep moving the bill forward.
The industrial hemp legislation now heads to the state Senate.