There’s a lot of exciting news coming out of the cannabis industry today! First, the Washington State Legislature unanimously passed Senate Bill 5276, authorizing hemp production in conformance with the agriculture improvement act of 2018 (more on that coming soon). Then the U.S. Department of Agriculture (USDA) announced that the Plant Variety Protection Office (PVPO) — which provides intellectual property protection to breeders of new varieties of seeds and tubers — will begin accepting applications of seed-propagated hemp for plant variety protection. Applications can be submitted online through the PVPO’s application filing system by choosing “Hemp” in the “Crop Kind” dropdown box. To learn more about how to file an application, view the USDA’s announcement.