• Senate Bill 202, from Sen. Julie Raque Adams, would put a moratorium on hemp beverage sales until mid-2026 and would require the state to put new regulations in place in the meantime.

FRANKFORT, Ky. — A revised bill that would ban the sale of THC beverages in Kentucky is moving through the General Assembly after a committee meeting Wednesday evening, despite concerns over how the legislation could affect the burgeoning industry.

Senate Bill 202, from Sen. Julie Raque Adams, R-Louisville, was filed last month, with language at the time that would have changed “web site” to “website” in an obscure state statute. Ahead of Wednesday’s meeting, the bill was rewritten to temporarily ban the sale of hemp-based drinks in Kentucky.

The new version of the bill was not publicly available online as of Thursday morning.

It was approved by the Senate Licensing and Occupations Committee on a 7-2 vote but faces an uncertain future — with some supporters even questioning whether they’d be able to vote in favor of the bill on the Senate floor.

Sens. Jimmy Higdon, R-Lebanon, and Michael Nemes, R-Shepherdsville, voted against it, while two Louisville Democrats, Sens. Cassie Chambers Armstrong and Karen Berg, passed during the vote, citing a need for more information. Sen. Stephen Meredith, R-Leitchfield, voted in favor of it in the committee meeting but said he would not repeat that vote in the Senate if a proposed moratorium on sales remains in the bill.

The new language in the bill would ban the sale of drinks containing hemp and cannabinoid products until July 2026 to allow further studies to take place. It would also call on the Cabinet for Health and Family Services to put new regulations in place by the start of 2026 (regulations for some hemp products currently exist, Raque Adams said, but they do not apply to beverages) and would require the University of Kentucky to study manufacturing, testing procedure, distribution, sales and consumer effects.

Raque Adams said the moratorium isn’t ideal, but the bill would address “a really serious issue, because we have an explosion of intoxicating beverages that are being sold to places that are available to kids, and there’s really no regulatory structure around it.”

“In order to get the conversation moving in the right direction, we felt like we had to put (the moratorium) in there,” she said after the meeting. “We had to show how serious we were taking this issue.”

CFHS is currently in charge of regulating the industry in Kentucky. Hemp-based products are not supposed to be sold to anyone under 21.

Hemp beverages are a growing industry nationally. The Washington Post reported hemp-based beverages brought in an estimated $382 million in sales in 2024, with indications that figure could rise to nearly $750 million by 2029.

Still, the industry has been met with pushback in some states. California has banned products infused with THC — the intoxicating chemical in cannabis, a plant family that includes hemp — along with states such as Colorado and New York.

Jim Higdon, CCO and co-founder of Louisville-based Cornbread Hemp (and the son of Sen. Higdon), criticized the bill as one that could significantly hurt his business and took issue with the speed in which it advanced in the legislature. The deadline to file new bills was two weeks ago, but Adams was able to file the proposal through a “shell bill” — a piece of legislation put forward before the deadline that’s later rewritten.

“Because of this surprise beverage ban, Cornbread Hemp could lose its entire beverage investment,” Higdon said in a statement before testifying at the hearing. “This is a manufactured emergency generated by special interests trying to keep Kentucky in the past. We will fight this until the last day of the session.”

Cornbread Hemp employs more than 70 people and has shipped more than 600,000 orders, according to the company. It announced a $1 million expansion last week that would create more than 50 new jobs, with support from Louisville Mayor Craig Greenberg and Greater Louisville Inc. CEO Sarah Davasher-Wisdom.

Higdon said a moratorium would end the momentum Cornbread Hemp and similar companies have at their backs. Dee Dee Taylor, the CEO and founder of 502 Hemp who testified alongside Higdon, added even a temporary ban would “kill their business in the state.”

“Once you lose ground in a state, you don’t come back, you move on,” she said, noting online retailers can ship directly to customers, giving an edge in the meantime to companies outside Kentucky.

Two organizations reported lobbying on “intoxicating hemp” during January, according to Kentucky Legislative Ethics Commission records — the Kentucky Restaurant Association and Wine and Spirits Wholesalers of Kentucky. That organization’s chief lobbyist, Charles George, told The Courier Journal in a text message its members “simply want intoxicating hemp beverages regulated in the same manner as alcoholic beverages.”

Raque Adams, co-chair of the Senate committee, said discussions about a hemp beverage bill first took place during an interim committee meeting in September but stalled through the fall until the General Assembly reconvened in January.

Committee chairs often file shell bills “just in case something comes up,” she said. In this case, another legislator had been working on a hemp beverage bill as well, but the pair were unable to come to an agreement with stakeholders about what the legislation should look like.

“We’re running out of days. We had to giddy up and go,” she said. “That’s why I said ‘I’ve got a shell bill that can fit, kind of enhancing this regulatory framework.’”

The bill still faces a full vote in the Senate before being sent to the House. Legislators will meet through next week before recessing for a 10-day veto period, then reconvening for two days at the end of the month.

Reach Lucas Aulbach at laulbach@courier-journal.com.

(WHITLEY CITY, KY) – McCreary County’s Angelina Farwick Philpot has become the second in Kentucky to attain National Certified School Social Worker (NCSSW) certification.

Philpot is a mental health service provider in the McCreary County School District, assigned to Whitley City Elementary School.

The NCSSW program launched in April of 2021, and applicants are required to create a portfolio that centers around the nine competencies associated with the National School Social Work Model. Portfolios are evaluated by experts in the field of school social work.

Philpot provides individual counseling services to students and collaborates with their therapists to provide additional support. In kindergarten, she provides first steps interventions.

She received a bachelor’s degree in social work from Eastern Kentucky University (EKU) in 2017, then got her master’s from Campbellsville University in 2019. She started at McCreary County in September 2023.

Philpot grew up not knowing what she wanted to do, but said she has an uncle who is a social worker.

“He has told me since I was a little girl, ‘You are a social worker,’” Philpot said. “Then I had some life experiences that just made things click for me and I was like, ‘Oh, he’s right.’”

Philpot said she enjoys helping people and lifting them up if she notices they’re down. She loves to see kids progress from being closed off to then opening up and showing more enthusiasm.

“They say that like one trusting relationship with an adult makes such a difference in a kid’s life,” she said. “There are particular kids that I’m working with now who won’t approach you face on. And since working with those kiddos, I was walking down the hallway the other day … and the kid threw his arms out in the air and ran towards me.”

Philpot works under AugmentMC, which is a grant funded by the U.S. Department of Education to provide more mental health services to the McCreary County school district. The program partners McCreary County Schools with Campbellsville University, EKU, Lindsey Wilson College, and University of the Cumberlands, placing their mental health graduate students within the school system for their practicum hours.

The district gets $6 million over the course of five years to expand services and the number of trained providers. They are on year three.

Philpot said she is currently working with a practicum student from EKU who’s working on her master’s degree in social work.

“We have been meeting all our goals with our grant, reaching all of our benchmarks and really making a difference with the kiddos; I think in educating the teachers and staff as well,” Philpot said.

Rebecca Blakley, director of AugmentMC at McCreary County Schools, said Philpot has made a profound difference in the lives of students, families, and staff in the district.

“Her compassionate approach and expertise have helped countless students develop coping skills, build confidence and navigate difficult life circumstances,” Blakely said. “Through individual counseling, group sessions and crisis intervention, Angelina ensures that students have a safe space to express their concerns and receive the guidance they need.”

Philpot said AugmentMC wants to expand the number of nationally certified providers in the school system. Philpot wanted to be certified at the same national level as many of her peers, so she started pursuing the NCSSW certification in May 2024.

The NCSSW program is a new initiative to make a certification that’s similar to the National Board Certified Teacher (NBCT) program.

As a new program, there are currently less than 40 people in the nation who are certified. Philpot is number 34. Kentucky Teacher previously profiled the first person in Kentucky to be certified, Lesley Gilpin.

As part of the certification process, Philpot had to write a paper for each of the nine competencies associated with the National School Social Work Model. Each competency has performance indicators and under each performance indicator she had to explain and provide proof of how she met that indicator as a school social worker.

Philpot ended up with something similar to a dissertation with 111 pages of content, including six pages of references and 99 pages of supporting artifacts. She said the process helped her learn about some of her strengths and weaknesses and the areas she wants to grow.

“We know we’re providing services to students, families and teachers, but you really don’t have the time to sit down and look at what you’re actually doing and the impact that you’re making,” Philpot said. “And when I wrote this paper, I was like, ‘Oh my gosh, I did that. I’ve done way more with my career in my practice as a school social worker than I realized;’ and in writing that, it built a different type of confidence in my professional self.”

Blakely said that while the certification process wasn’t easy, it strengthened Philpot’s leadership skills and reinforced her passion for social work.

“One of the most significant areas of growth has been her ability to assess and address complex student needs with greater confidence and effectiveness,” Blakely said. “She has honed her skills in trauma-informed care, behavior intervention strategies and social-emotional learning, ensuring that students receive the highest level of support.”

Philpot is now a peer reviewer for the NCSSW certification process, helping applicants with their papers and providing positive feedback throughout the process.

She expects the program to grow significantly over the next few years and encourages other school social workers to get certified.