Gov. Jared Polis is supportive of a provision in a stopgap federal funding measure to extend a deadline for states’ compliance with national hemp standards from Oct. 31 to next year.

“ I welcome the extension of the 2014 Farm Bill in the Continuing Resolution because it provides Colorado with additional time to engage stakeholders and federal agencies before finalizing our State’s hemp plan with the U.S. Department of Agriculture,” Polis said in a statement. “The passage of the Continuing Resolution with the hemp act extension also provides USDA and the states another year to work together on any challenges with the USDA’s proposed regulations.”

Congress is once again risking a shutdown of the federal government by Oct. 1, and Democrats in the U.S. House of Representatives have proposed a short-term solution through mid-December. The bill includes an extension of the hemp pilot program until September 2021, meaning that states would not have to comply with newly-enacted USDA standards in just over a month.

“Many states were able to transition from their hemp pilot programs to a USDA state approved plan. Notwithstanding this progress, many states will be unable to meet the forthcoming deadline,” wrote the National Association of State Departments of Agriculture and National Industrial Hemp Council in a letter to Congress. “These states have cited that due to the unprecedented national COVID-19 pandemic, state regulators have been unable to work with their state legislatures to acquire necessary statutory amendments.”