This bill is part of the 2019 Cannabis Bills section of our ongoing update on California Cannabis Legislation – see the full California Cannabis Law Legislative Update which includes information on cannabis bills from other years.
SB 153 (Wilk R) Industrial hemp.
Existing federal law, the Agricultural Act of 2014, authorizes an institution of higher education, as defined, or a state department of agriculture, as defined, to grow or cultivate industrial hemp under an agricultural pilot program, as defined, under certain conditions. Existing federal law, the Agricultural Marketing Act of 1946, as amended by the Agriculture Improvement Act of 2018, requires a state or Indian tribe desiring to have primary regulatory authority over the production of industrial hemp in the state or territory of the Indian tribe to submit to the United States Secretary of Agriculture, through the state department of agriculture or the tribal government, as applicable, a plan, with specified contents, under which the state or Indian tribe monitors and regulates that production.
Existing state law regulates the cultivation and testing of industrial hemp, as defined. Existing state law requires an entity that is either a grower of industrial hemp for commercial purposes or a seed breeder that develops varieties of industrial hemp for sale or research to register with the county agricultural commissioner of the county in which it intends to cultivate industrial hemp and to annually renew its registration. Existing state law exempts an established agricultural research institution, as defined, from these registration requirements. Existing state law requires the Department of Food and Agriculture to establish a registration fee and appropriate renewal fee to be paid by registrants. Under existing state law, these fees are deposited in the Department of Food and Agriculture Fund and continuously appropriated to the department for the administration and enforcement of this registration program and other provisions regulating the cultivation of industrial hemp. Existing state law requires a county agricultural commissioner to transmit information collected pursuant to these provisions to the department. Under existing state law, violation of these provisions is a misdemeanor.
Under existing state law, these provisions are only operative to the extent authorized by federal law, as set forth in an opinion of the Attorney General. Before enactment of the federal Agriculture Improvement Act of 2018, an opinion of the Attorney General issued pursuant to existing state law concluded that industrial hemp may only be grown pursuant to these provisions to the extent authorized by the federal Agricultural Act of 2014.
This bill would revise the provisions regulating the cultivation and testing of industrial hemp to conform with the requirements for a state plan under the federal Agricultural Marketing Act of 1946, as amended by the federal Agriculture Improvement Act of 2018, by, among other things, revising the definition of industrial hemp, expanding the registration requirements to apply to growers of industrial hemp for noncommercial as well as commercial purposes, imposing new requirements on the department and county agricultural commissioners for the handling and transmittal of registration information, imposing new testing requirements, providing new enforcement procedures, to be operative as of the effective date of an approved state plan, as defined, and imposing new conditions on eligibility to participate in the industrial hemp program, as defined. By expanding registration requirements, including payment of registration fees, to growers of industrial hemp for noncommercial purposes, the bill would establish a new source of revenue for a continuously appropriated fund, thus making an appropriation.
The bill would require the Secretary of Food and Agriculture, in consultation with the Governor and the Attorney General, to develop and submit a state plan to the United States Secretary of Agriculture, as provided, on or before January 31, 2020 May 1, 2020.
Read more about California Cannabis Legislation – see the full California Cannabis Law Legislative Update.
Contact us by phone or email to learn more about California cannabis law including state, county or city cannabis licensing and cannabis regulations, cannabis regulatory compliance, and cannabis litigation.