A. The Commissioner shall establish a registration program to allow a person to grow, handle, or process industrial hemp in the Commonwealth.

Terms Used In Virginia Code 3.2-4115

  • Commissioner: means the Commissioner of Agriculture and Consumer Services. See Virginia Code 3.2-100
  • Conviction: A judgement of guilt against a criminal defendant.
  • Department: means the Department of Agriculture and Consumer Services. See Virginia Code 3.2-100
  • Federally licensed hemp producer: means a person who holds a hemp producer license issued by the U. See Virginia Code 3.2-4112
  • Freedom of Information Act: A federal law that mandates that all the records created and kept by federal agencies in the executive branch of government must be open for public inspection and copying. The only exceptions are those records that fall into one of nine exempted categories listed in the statute. Source: OCC
  • Grow: means to plant, cultivate, or harvest a plant or crop. See Virginia Code 3.2-4112
  • Handle: means to temporarily possess industrial hemp grown in compliance with state or federal law that (i) has not been processed and (ii) was not grown by and will not be processed by the person temporarily possessing it. See Virginia Code 3.2-4112
  • Handler: means any person who is registered pursuant to subsection A of § 3. See Virginia Code 3.2-4112
  • Industrial hemp: includes an industrial hemp extract that has not completed all stages of processing needed to convert the extract into a hemp product. See Virginia Code 3.2-4112
  • Jurisdiction: (1) The legal authority of a court to hear and decide a case. Concurrent jurisdiction exists when two courts have simultaneous responsibility for the same case. (2) The geographic area over which the court has authority to decide cases.
  • Process: means to convert industrial hemp into a hemp product. See Virginia Code 3.2-4112
  • Process site: means the location at which a processor processes or intends to process industrial hemp. See Virginia Code 3.2-4112
  • Production field: means the land or area on which a grower or a federally licensed hemp producer is growing or intends to grow industrial hemp. See Virginia Code 3.2-4112
  • State: when applied to a part of the United States, includes any of the 50 states, the District of Columbia, the Commonwealth of Puerto Rico, Guam, the Northern Mariana Islands, and the United States Virgin Islands. See Virginia Code 1-245

B. Any person seeking to grow, handle, or process industrial hemp in the Commonwealth shall apply to the Commissioner for a registration on a form provided by the Commissioner. At a minimum, the application shall include:

1. The name and mailing address of the applicant;

2. The legal description and geographic data sufficient for locating (i) the land on which the applicant intends to grow industrial hemp, (ii) the site at which the applicant intends to handle industrial hemp, or (iii) the site at which the applicant intends to process industrial hemp. A registration shall authorize industrial hemp growth, handling, or processing only at the location specified in the registration;

3. A signed statement indicating whether the applicant has ever been convicted of a felony. A person with a prior felony drug conviction within 10 years of applying for a registration under this section shall not be eligible to be registered;

4. Written consent allowing the sheriff’s office, police department, or Department of State Police, if a registration is ultimately issued to the applicant, to enter the premises on which the industrial hemp is grown, handled, or processed to conduct physical inspections of the industrial hemp and to ensure compliance with the requirements of this article. No more than two physical inspections shall be conducted under this subdivision per year, unless a valid search warrant for an inspection has been issued by a court of competent jurisdiction;

5. Written consent allowing the Commissioner or his designee to enter the premises on which the industrial hemp is grown, handled, or processed to conduct inspections and sampling of the industrial hemp to ensure compliance with the requirements of this article;

6. A statement of the approximate square footage or acreage of the location he intends to use as a production field, handler‘s storage site, or process site;

7. Any other information required by the Commissioner; and

8. The payment of a nonrefundable application fee, in an amount set by the Commissioner.

C. Each registration issued pursuant to this section shall be valid for a period of one year from the date of issuance and may be renewed in successive years. Each annual renewal shall require the payment of a registration renewal fee, in an amount set by the Commissioner.

D. All records, data, and information filed in support of a registration application submitted pursuant to this section and all information on a hemp producer license issued by the U.S. Department of Agriculture submitted to the Commissioner pursuant to this section shall be considered proprietary and excluded from the provisions of the Virginia Freedom of Information Act (§ 2.2-3700 et seq.).

E. Notwithstanding the provisions of subsection B, no federally licensed hemp producer shall be required to apply to the Commissioner for a registration to grow industrial hemp in the Commonwealth. Each federally licensed hemp producer shall submit to the Commissioner a copy of his hemp producer license issued by the U.S. Department of Agriculture pursuant to 7 C.F.R. part 990.

2015, cc. 158, 180; 2018, cc. 689, 690; 2019, cc. 653, 654; 2021, Sp. Sess. I, c. 110; 2023, cc. 744, 794.

  Previous section
Next section  
 Article 2 Contents