KENTUCKY — The 2025 legislative session of the Kentucky General Assembly is in the books.

This year, lawmakers in the State House and Senate, introduced 1,167 bills and resolutions for consideration.

Senate Bill 202 was sponsored by Sen. Julie Raque Adams, R-Louisville. It passed out of the General Assembly with bipartisan support and was signed into law by Gov. Andy Beshear, D-Ky., at the end of March. It sets product limits, licensing structure and directs future study of cannabis-infused beverages in Kentucky.

Katie Moyer, owner of Kentucky HempWorks, joined along with other hemp advocates asking state lawmakers not to approve the bill, saying their input was not included in the drafting of the legislation and believed the new regulations would only harm existing companies that follow current state rules.

"My thoughts are not very positive regarding the legislation itself, and the reason is that there was no discussion with the stakeholders in the industry," Moyer said. "We have people that have taken all the risk in this market and are finally, after years of research and development, pushing products into markets and disposing of products that didn't sell well ... what we had here is not a consumer protection bill. Rather, it's a bill that protects the alcohol industry."

"I met with the alcohol lobbyists about five months ago, and they were not concerned about kids getting a hold of these beverages. They were not trying to save grandma. What they were concerned about was that 90% of the approved adult-use products on the Kentucky registry were beverages and that dug into their market, and we were clearly directly competing with that. That's what this bill is all about." 

You can watch the full In Focus Kentucky segment in the player above.