Legislative efforts to bring hemp farming to California began in 1999, with a resolution sponsored by the Hempstead Company that outlined the benefits of the plant and its products and encouraged California to legalize its use. Three years later, Vote Hemp began working to pass state legislation by sponsoring, AB 388 (Strom-Martin), to authorize hemp research, but that measure was vetoed by Governor Davis. Subsequent legislative efforts continued to gain bipartisan support, but were vetoed by Governors Schwarzenegger and Brown in 2006, 2008 and 2011. Each year, the bills were modified to address veto message concerns, but without success. Finally, in 2013 the legislature passed SB 566, which was authored by Senator Leno and signed it into law by Governor Brown. That new law had been weakened by years of negotiated compromises and amendments, but there was hope that with the passage of SB 566 and the 2014 Federal Farm Bill, which authorized hemp pilot programs, that the hemp industry could begin operation in California. Unfortunately, the industry was again thwarted after Attorney General Kamala Harris ruled that California law only authorized universities to conduct pilot programs.

Vote Hemp worked with proponents of Prop 64 to include hemp language which was approved by voters in November of 2016. In the winter of 2017, Vote Hemp and Ojai Energetics retained Politico Group to develop and execute a strategy that would update California law and remove remaining barriers relating to the production and use of industrial hemp in the state. This relationship produced SB 1409 (Wilk), which was signed into law and will take effect January 1, 2019.  The bill clarified state law to allow California farmers to enter the industrial hemp market and meet the growing demands of hemp product companies.  While the bill will take effect at the beginning of the new year, the formal framework for how new hemp growers will begin to operate in California has not been established. There will be a real need to influence proposed laws and regulations regarding hemp production, manufacturing and sale in the coming years.