Growing and processing industrial hemp, granting rule-making authority, and making an appropriation. (FE)

This bill also provides that DATCP or an institution of higher education may establish an agricultural pilot program to study industrial hemp and to grow hemp for this purpose. In addition, the bill requires a tribe or an individual tribal member to have a license from DATCP to grow or process industrial hemp. The bill also provides that a tribe may establish, with the assistance of DATCP or an institution of higher education other than a tribal college or university, an agricultural pilot program to study industrial hemp. The bill also allows the committee on state-tribal relations to study economic development ventures related to industrial hemp.

This bill requires DATCP, the University of Wisconsin-Madison College of Agriculture and Life Sciences (UW-CALS), and the Wisconsin Crop Improvement Association to administer a voluntary seed certification program for industrial hemp and allows DATCP and UW-CALS to develop a Wisconsin heritage seed for industrial hemp. In addition, the bill requires any industrial hemp or industrial hemp product intended for human consumption to be tested, in its final consumer-ready state, by an independent testing laboratory. The bill sets out requirements related to the laboratory's accreditation, testing, and reporting.

This bill also creates an exemption from the controlled substances law for growing, processing, or possessing industrial hemp in conformity with a license issued by DATCP. Under the bill, if a plant being grown for industrial hemp tests at a higher concentration of tetrahydrocannabinol than 1.0 percent, the entire crop is to be seized and destroyed. The bill also provides that a licensed grower of industrial hemp is not subject to criminal penalties if a crop is found to have a tetrahydrocannabinol concentration of 1.5 percent or less or if the grower planted certified seed. Additionally, the bill creates an exemption for possessing, transporting, delivering, selling, distributing, and buying industrial hemp if the industrial hemp was planted, grown, cultivated, and processed by a person licensed by DATCP or by a person in another state or country in accordance with the laws of that state or country.

Finally, the bill requires DATCP to promulgate rules for the administration of the licensing law, as well as for certifying industrial hemp and for developing programs for researching industrial hemp genetics.

This bill does not change federal law. Growing and possessing the plant Cannabis is generally prohibited by federal law. The 2014 federal farm bill, 7 USC 5940 , authorizes a state agriculture department or an institution of higher education to grow industrial hemp for research purposes, if the state's laws allow the growing of industrial hemp by a state agricultural agency or institute of higher education.