State senators already have approved the bill. It faced perhaps a harder test Wednesday with the House Agriculture, Water and Wildlife Committee because most of its members are from rural New Mexico.

The bill, sponsored by Sen. Cisco McSorley, D-Albuquerque, would enable New Mexico State University and the state Department of Agriculture to receive imported hemp seeds from Canada and to begin research on agricultural uses once university regents establish a set of rules. McSorley said he wants New Mexico farmers to be positioned to grow hemp for industrial and commercial customers if Congress removes it from the federal list of illicit drugs.