Regulating hemp, providing an exemption from emergency rule procedures, granting rule-making authority, and making an appropriation. (FE)

1. Uses the term “hemp” instead of “industrial hemp” throughout current law and defines “hemp” as “ Cannabis sativa L. and any part of that plant, including the seeds thereof and all derivatives, extracts, cannabinoids, isomers, acids, salts, and salts of isomers, whether growing or not, with a delta-9-tetrahydrocannabinol [THC] concentration of not more than 0.3 percent on a dry weight basis or the maximum concentration allowed under federal law up to 1 percent, whichever is greater.” The bill also provides that “hemp” does not include a prescription drug product approved by the U.S. food and drug administration.

2. Prohibits any person from producing hemp in this state without a license from the Department of Agriculture, Trade and Consumer Protection if required under federal law.

3. Allows DATCP to establish procedures for all of the following: a) maintaining information relating to hemp production; b) testing for THC concentrations in hemp;

c) disposing of hemp plants grown illegally; d) complying with enforcement provisions; and e) conducting annual inspections of hemp producers.

4. Provides that a hemp producer who negligently violates the provisions of the hemp program or DATCP's rules relating to the hemp program must comply with a plan established by DATCP to correct the violation. A compliance plan must include a reasonable date by which the hemp producer is required to correct the violation and must require the hemp producer to report to DATCP periodically, for not less than two years, on the status of the producer's compliance with the plan. A hemp producer who negligently violates the provisions of the hemp program or DATCP's rules relating to the hemp program may not be criminally prosecuted; a hemp producer who negligently violates those provisions three times in a five-year period is ineligible to participate in the hemp program for five years.

5. Requires DATCP to immediately report a hemp producer who violates the provisions of the hemp program or DATCP's rules relating to the hemp program with a culpable mental state that is greater than negligence to the Department of Justice and the U.S. attorney general.

6. Prohibits a person who materially falsifies any information contained in an application for the hemp program from participating in the hemp program.

7. Prohibits a person from producing hemp for ten years following a felony conviction relating to a controlled substance under state or federal law, unless the person holds a valid license under any state's hemp pilot program on the effective date of the bill.

8. Redefines “marijuana,” for the purposes of the controlled substances act, to exclude hemp.

9. Excludes THC contained in hemp from the list of Schedule I controlled substances.

10. Changes the current hemp pilot program under DATCP to a permanent program and sunsets the pilot program.

The bill also does the following relating to hemp:

1. Creates an appropriation from the general fund for the hemp program in the 2019-21 biennium, and increases funding to DATCP for the current 2018-19 fiscal year for the purchase of machinery and other assets for the hemp program.

2. Allows DATCP to establish lower license fees for hemp licenses issued for research or noncommercial purposes.

3. Allows DATCP to set criteria for approving persons to undertake any sampling and testing of hemp that DATCP requires by rule and to approve persons that meet the criteria.

4. Prohibits DATCP from requiring sampling and testing of hemp seedlings or clones intended to be planted that originate from certified hemp seed or from hemp seed or clones approved for growing by DATCP.

5. Requires DATCP to issue a fit for commerce certificate after hemp is tested, or if DATCP determines that hemp is not required to be tested.

6. Allows a person, whose personally identifying information relating to the hemp program is in DATCP's possession, to authorize the disclosure of that information.

7. Requires all hemp producers to notify DATCP of the variety of hemp the producer intends to grow, and prohibits a hemp producer from growing hemp unless DATCP has approved that variety of hemp for growing in this state or that variety of hemp has been certified by DATCP.

8. Prohibits a person from mislabeling hemp or a hemp product, knowingly making an inaccurate claim about the content, quality, or origin of hemp or a hemp product in the course of transferring or selling, or knowingly selling at retail mislabeled hemp or hemp products.

9. Requires contracts to purchase hemp from a hemp grower to provide for payment to the grower within seven days of taking possession of the hemp, unless the grower voluntarily and knowingly agrees otherwise.

10. Adds hemp to the list of agricultural products that may not be grown by, or grown on land owned by, a large corporation or trust.

11. Clarifies that THC contained in a CBD product is not a Schedule I controlled substance if the THC and CBD concentration is at a level without a psychoactive effect.

12. Changes the provision under current law that exempts a person from prosecution for selling, transferring, processing, harvesting, or taking possession of cannabis that is over the permissible THC concentration for hemp, so that the exemption applies to cannabis that had been tested and certified, by DATCP or a person approved by DATCP, as meeting the permissible THC concentration for hemp, but that is in fact above the permissible limit, if the person has no reason to believe that the certification is incorrect.

13. Provides that a person may not be prosecuted for temporarily possessing cannabis that is above the permissible THC concentration for hemp during the normal course of processing hemp if the cannabis is reconditioned or processed to meet the permissible THC concentration limit for hemp within a reasonable amount of time.

14. Provides that a person who purchases hemp or a hemp product may not be prosecuted if the product is no more than 0.7 percent over the permissible THC limit for hemp and if the person has no reason to believe that the product is over the permissible THC limit for hemp.

15. Removes THC from the definition of “restricted controlled substance” as applicable to the operation of a motor vehicle, an all-terrain vehicle, a utility terrain vehicle, an off-highway motorcycle, a snowmobile, or a motorboat and the handling of a firearm.