White House urges Congress to amend federal hemp ban; USVI Act 9072 remains in force

As of June 9, 2026. The White House Office of Management and Budget asked Congress on June 5 to amend the federal hemp definition that takes effect November 12. The Virgin Islands acted on the same products earlier in the year: Governor Albert Bryan Jr. signed Act 9072, the territory’s intoxicating hemp law, on January 23, 2026.

OMB’s statement of administration policy, attached to the Fiscal Year 2027 agriculture spending bill the House passed June 5, asks Congress to “update the statutory definition of final hemp-derived cannabinoid products to allow Americans to benefit from access to appropriate full-spectrum CBD products,” while keeping restrictions on products that pose serious health risks. Marijuana Moment reported the statement the same day.

The federal ban OMB wants softened is part of the Continuing Appropriations and Extensions Act of 2026, signed November 12, 2025. It replaces the 2018 Farm Bill’s limit of 0.3 percent delta-9 THC by dry weight with a cap of 0.4 milligrams of total THC per container, bars cannabinoids made outside the plant, and bans cannabinoids that the Department of Health and Human Services finds have effects similar to THC. It takes effect one year after signing, on November 12, 2026.

Act 9072 does not follow the federal calendar. It took effect on signing, and its ban on selling delta-6 THC, delta-8 THC, delta-10 THC, THCA, and other intoxicating cannabinoid products without a license is in force now.

Where USVI hemp regulation sits

The OMB statement changes none of the local picture:

• The Department of Licensing and Consumer Affairs’ February 17 halt order told retailers to stop selling intoxicating hemp products.
• The inventory provision that the District Court of the Virgin Islands blocked with a temporary restraining order on February 25 is no longer in the law. Act 9079, approved March 26, replaced it with deadlines for retailers to report and sell off existing stock. No ruling in the case brought by Homegrown Bar & Grill, LLC has been reported since an April 1 hearing.
• The Office of Cannabis Regulation has not published rules for the intoxicating hemp retailer license that Act 9072 created. At the February 12 Cannabis Advisory Board meeting, Executive Director Joanne Moorehead described a 90-day rulemaking window running from the law’s signing, which closed on April 23, 2026. No rules have been posted.

The result: intoxicating hemp sales without a license are prohibited, and the licensed retail track exists in the law but not yet in practice.

What an amended federal definition would change

OMB has not released proposed text. According to Marijuana Moment, White House staff Vince Haley and James Braid sent draft legislative text and technical feedback to Representative Andy Barr (R-KY). Hemp industry groups have pushed for an exemption for “full-spectrum” CBD products that contain trace cannabinoids and are not marketed for intoxication.

If Congress amends the federal definition before November 12, Virgin Islands law would not change automatically, because Act 9072 is a territorial law with its own effective date. A federal carve-out for non-intoxicating full-spectrum CBD would keep those products federally lawful, while the territory’s ban on the named intoxicating compounds would stand.

If Congress does nothing, the federal definition tightens on November 12 toward what Act 9072 already prohibits, and the gap between the territory and the rest of the country narrows from the federal side. The CBD and hemp legality guide explains what remains legal to buy here.

What to watch

• Whether Representative Barr or another sponsor introduces the White House text, and whether it moves through the House Agriculture Committee before the August recess.
• Whether OCR publishes the intoxicating hemp retailer rules before the next Cannabis Advisory Board meeting on June 25, 2026.
• Any ruling in the Homegrown Bar & Grill case in the District Court of the Virgin Islands.