BOISE — While the House has yet to decide on a bill that would legalize hemp in Idaho, representatives voted Wednesday to introduce a new bill that would keep hemp illegal in the state but allow interstate transport between other states where it’s legal.

The House Ways and Means Committee voted to introduce a new proposed bill that would allow the director of Idaho State Police to issue permits for interstate hemp transport. This differs from the current hemp bill up for consideration, HB 122, which would legalize the growth, transportation and sale of hemp in Idaho, but was heavily amended in the Senate.

Rep. Judy Boyle, R-Midvale, who previously pulled her sponsorship from HB 122, introduced the new proposal to the House Ways & Means Committee Wednesday afternoon. Boyle chairs the House Agricultural Affairs Committee, which was scheduled to hold a hearing on HB 122 Wednesday, but the meeting was postponed.

Rep. Mat Erpelding, D-Boise, asked what would happen to HB 122 if the committee moved forward with this proposal, and Boyle said that was “up in the air.”

Boyle said the proposed bill would specifically address hemp transport from one state to another, not hemp transport within Idaho, because hemp would remain illegal in the state under the proposal’s language.

“That part of 122 should never be in the ag code,” Boyle said in the meeting. “Law enforcement should be in their own code.”