North Carolina's House shelved a 0.4mg hemp THC cap after a Capitol rally, and a records correction shows Georgia's beverage-cap bill died in March while a separate hemp bill was actually signed into law back in May.
SOUTH ATLANTIC, August 12, 2026: North Carolina's House tabled a bill that would cap consumable hemp products at 0.4 milligrams of total THC per container after hundreds of hemp industry workers packed the legislative building in Raleigh on August 4. Speaker Destin Hall, R-Caldwell, told reporters the chamber will not vote on House Bill 328 again until after the November election.
The bill, already passed 37-6 in the Senate as a conference report that could only be voted up or down, drew dueling demonstrations before the tabling. Dozens of police chiefs, sheriffs and Republican lawmakers, including Craven County Sheriff Chip Hughes, held a news conference backing the bill over concerns that intoxicating hemp products remain accessible to minors, WBTV reported. Apotheca Cannabis Dispensaries closed all of its more than 50 North Carolina locations for the day so employees could lobby against it. "The main focus is, of course, protecting jobs, protecting constituents, protecting the economy," Apotheca Chief Commercial Officer Josh Lardie said. Hall said he plans to convene a working group "to take a look at this issue and figure out the right path forward," according to NC Newsline, and left open a narrower bill, such as the 21-and-older and testing framework in Senate Bill 265, or reviving H328 after November.
In Virginia, a federal judge had not ruled as of this week on seven hemp businesses' request to block a 2-milligram total THC per package cap set to take effect August 15, three days after this report. New detail entered the record without changing that status, Virginia Mercury reported August 10. Barbara Biddle, founder of Manassas-based District Hemp Botanicals, said the cap "will bankrupt my business" and that she expects to lay off her entire staff. Cypress Hemp says the affected products make up about 95 percent of its revenue. Attorney General Jay Jones, a defendant in the case, said his office "stands ready to defend" the law, while a spokesman for Gov. Abigail Spanberger's administration said the change closes a "loophole."
In a correction to earlier reporting, Georgia's Senate Bill 33 was signed into law by Gov. Brian Kemp on May 11, 2026, not left pending as this pipeline previously described it across three prior editions. The enacted law adds testing and labeling requirements for delta-8, delta-10, HHC and other cannabinoid variants under the state's existing Senate Bill 494 framework, according to LegiScan's bill history. "This bill is not a ban ... it's a consumer protection bill," sponsor Sen. Kay Kirkpatrick, R-Marietta, said on the floor, according to the Georgia Recorder. The bill that would have capped beverage potency outright, Senate Bill 254, died in the House after its last recorded action on March 18, LegiScan shows. Georgia's operative beverage limit remains the Department of Agriculture's rule capping THC at 10 milligrams per 12-ounce container, unchanged since October 2024.
Delaware, Maryland, West Virginia, South Carolina and Florida reported no new hemp beverage activity this week. In Washington, D.C., Mayor Muriel Bowser's proposal to let licensed medical cannabis manufacturers partner with local breweries on cannabis-infused beverages remains before the D.C. Council with no vote scheduled.
The Western District of Virginia's ruling on the injunction request, due before the cap takes effect Saturday, is the region's most closely watched pending item, alongside North Carolina's promised working group and Georgia's prospects for a narrower beverage bill in 2027.
Forma works embedded on hemp and THC beverage formulation and commercial scale-up, from compliant dosing and label claims through co-packer qualification. This wire is a byproduct of the same regulatory tracking that informs that work.
See Beverage Formulation →