Kentucky Administrative Regulations › Title 302 - DEPARTMENT OF AGRICULTURE › Chapter 50 - Industrial Hemp › Section 302 KAR 50:021 - Procedures and policies for hemp growers

Current through Register Vol. 51, No. 1, July 1, 2024
RELATES TO:
				KRS
				61.870 - 61.844, Chapter 217B,
				260.850-260.869,
				7
				U.S.C. 1639,
				7
				C.F.R. Part 990
NECESSITY, FUNCTION, AND CONFORMITY:
				KRS
				260.862(1) authorizes the
				department to promulgate administrative regulations for a Hemp Licensing
				Program in the Commonwealth of Kentucky.
				KRS
				260.862(1)(a) authorizes the
				department to license persons who wish to participate in a Hemp Licensing
				Program by cultivating, handling, processing, or marketing hemp. This
				administrative regulation establishes procedures and requirements for licensing
				persons who wish to grow or cultivate hemp as a participant in the department's
				Hemp Licensing Program.
Section 1.
			 Definitions.
(1) "Agent" means a person who is
			 employed by or working under contract for a license holder, and who does not
			 have any ownership interest in the hemp.
(2) "Applicant" means a person who submits an
			 application on his or her behalf or on behalf of a business entity to
			 participate in the Hemp Licensing Program.
(3) "Broker" means to engage or participate
			 in the marketing of hemp by acting as an intermediary or negotiator between
			 prospective buyers and sellers.
(4)
			 "Cannabis":
(a) Means the plant that,
			 depending on its THC concentration level, is either "hemp" or "marijuana."
			 Cannabis is a genus of flowering plants in the family Cannabaceae of which
			 Cannabis sativa is a species, and Cannabis indica and Cannabis ruderalis or
			 subspecies thereof. Cannabis includes all parts of the plant, whether growing
			 or not, including its seeds, resin, compounds, salts, derivatives, and
			 extracts; and
(b) Does not mean a
			 "publicly marketable hemp product," as defined by subsection (37) of this
			 section.
(5) "CBD" means
			 cannabidiol.
(6) "Commissioner" is
			 defined by
			 KRS
			 260.850(1).
(7) "Commonwealth" means the Commonwealth of
			 Kentucky.
(8) "Conviction":
(a) Means an adjudication or finding of
			 guilt, including a plea of guilty or nolo contendere; and
(b) Does not mean a conviction subsequently
			 overturned on appeal, pardoned, or expunged.
(9) "Corrective action plan" means a document
			 established by the department for a licensee to correct a negligent violation
			 of, or non-compliance with, KRS 260.850-260.869 or a requirement of 302 KAR
			 Chapter 50.
(10) "Culpable mental
			 state greater than negligence" means to act intentionally, knowingly,
			 willfully, or with criminal negligence.
(11) "Decarboxylation" means the completion
			 of the chemical reaction that converts the delta-9-THC-acid into delta-9-THC,
			 the intoxicating component of cannabis. The decarboxylated value is also
			 calculated using a conversion formula that sums delta-9-THC and eighty-seven
			 and seven-tenths (87.7) percent of delta-9-THC-acid.
(12) "delta-9-THC" means
			 delta-9-tetrahydrocannabinol concentration (the primary intoxicating component
			 of cannabis). For compliance purposes, all delta-9-THC concentrations are
			 measured post- decarboxylation (result commonly referred to as total
			 THC).
(13) "Department" or "KDA" is
			 defined by
			 KRS
			 260.850(3).
(14) "Geospatial location" means a location
			 designated through a GPS or other global system of navigational satellites used
			 to determine the precise ground position of a place or object.
(15) "GPS" means Global Positioning
			 System.
(16) "Handling" is defined
			 by
			 KRS
			 260.850(4).
(17) "Hemp" or "industrial hemp" is defined
			 by
			 KRS
			 260.850(5).
(18) "Hemp Grower License" means a document
			 issued by the department authorizing the person to grow, handle, market, and
			 store hemp in the Commonwealth under the terms established in the document,
			 KRS
			 260.850 through
			 260.869,
			 and this administrative regulation.
(19) "Hemp Processor/Handler License" means a
			 document issued by the department authorizing the person to process, handle,
			 market, and store hemp in the Commonwealth under the terms established in the
			 document,
			 KRS
			 260.850 through
			 260.869,
			 and 302 KAR 50:031.
(20) "Hemp
			 product" or "industrial hemp product" is defined by
			 KRS
			 260.850(6).
(21) "Key participant":
(a) Means a person who has a direct or
			 indirect financial interest in the entity producing hemp, such as an owner or a
			 partner in a partnership and includes an entity's chief executive officer,
			 chief operating officer, and chief financial officer; and
(b) Does not mean farm managers, field
			 managers, or shift managers.
(22) "Law enforcement agency" means the
			 Kentucky State Police, DEA, or other federal, state, or local law enforcement
			 agency or drug suppression unit.
(23) "Licensed grower" means a person
			 authorized in the Commonwealth by the department to grow, handle, store, and
			 market hemp under the terms established in a hemp grower license,
			 KRS
			 260.850 through
			 260.859 and this
			 administrative regulation.
(24)
			 "Licensed processor" means a person in the Commonwealth authorized by the
			 department to process, handle, store, and market hemp under the terms
			 established in a hemp processor/handler license
			 KRS
			 260.850 through
			 260.869,
			 and 302 KAR 50:031.
(25) "Location
			 ID" means the unique identifier established by the applicant for each unique
			 set of GPS coordinates where hemp will be grown, handled, stored, or processed,
			 which can include a field name or building name.
(26) "Lot" means a contiguous area in a
			 field, greenhouse, or indoor growing structure containing the same variety or
			 strain of hemp throughout.
(27)
			 "Negligence" means failure to exercise the level of care that a reasonably
			 prudent person would exercise in complying with an administrative regulation,
			 rule, or instruction.
(28)
			 "Nonviable seed" means a seed that has been crushed, dehulled, or otherwise
			 rendered to have a zero percent germination rate.
(29) "Person" means an individual or business
			 entity.
(30) "Pesticide" means any
			 substance or mixture of substances intended to:
(a) Prevent, destroy, control, repel,
			 attract, or mitigate any pest;
(b)
			 Be used as a plant regulator, defoliant, or desiccant; or
(c) Be used as a spray adjuvant, once mixed
			 with a U.S. Environmental Protection Agency registered product.
(31) "Post-harvest sample" means a
			 sample taken from the harvested hemp from a particular lot's harvest in
			 accordance with the procedures as established in 302 KAR 50:056. The entire
			 lot's harvest is in the same form (for example, intact-plant, flowers, ground
			 materials), homogenous, and not mixed with non-hemp materials or hemp from
			 another lot.
(32) "Pre-harvest
			 sample" means a composite, representative portion from living plants in a hemp
			 lot collected in accordance with the procedures as established in 302 KAR
			 50:056.
(33) "Prohibited variety"
			 means a variety or strain of cannabis excluded from the Kentucky Hemp Licensing
			 Program.
(34) "Processing" is
			 defined by
			 KRS
			 260.850(9).
(35) "Program" means the department's Hemp
			 Licensing Program.
(36) "Propagule"
			 means a plant or plant part that can be utilized to grow a new plant.
(37) "Publicly marketable hemp product" means
			 a hemp product that meets one (1) or more of the following descriptions:
(a) The product:
1. Does not include any living hemp plants,
			 viable seeds, leaf materials, floral materials, or delta-9-THC content above
			 zero and three-tenths (0.3) percent; and
2. Does include, without limitation, the
			 following products: bare stalks, bast fiber, hurd fiber, nonviable roots,
			 nonviable seeds, seed oils, and plant extracts (excluding products containing
			 delta-9-THC above zero and three-tenths (0.3) percent);
(b) The product is CBD that was derived from
			 "hemp", as defined by subsection (17) of this section; or
(c) The product is CBD that is approved as a
			 prescription medication by the United States Food and Drug
			 Administration.
(38)
			 "Secondary pre-harvest sample" means a pre-harvest sample that is taken:
(a) In a given lot after the first
			 pre-harvest sample is taken; and
(b) On a different day than the initial
			 pre-harvest sample.
(39)
			 "Signing authority" means an officer or agent of the organization with written
			 authorization to commit the legal entity to a binding agreement.
(40) "Strain" means a group of hemp with
			 presumed common ancestry and identified physiological distinctions. A strain
			 does not meet the uniformity, stability, or distinction requirements to be
			 considered a variety.
(41)
			 "University" means an accredited institution of higher learning located in the
			 Commonwealth.
(42) "Variety" means
			 a subdivision of a species that is:
(a)
			 Uniform, in that the variations in essential and distinctive characteristics
			 are describable;
(b) Stable, in
			 that the variety will remain unchanged in its essential and distinctive
			 characteristics and its uniformity if reproduced or reconstituted as required
			 by the different categories of varieties; and
(c) Distinct, in that the variety can be
			 differentiated by one (1) or more identifiable morphological, physiological,
			 other characteristics from all other publically known varieties, or other
			 characteristics from all other publicly known varieties.
(43) "Variety of concern" means any variety
			 of hemp that tests above 0.3000 percent delta9-THC in one (1) or more
			 pre-harvest samples. A hemp variety designated as a "variety of concern" could
			 be subject to restrictions and additional testing.
(44) "Volunteer cannabis plant" means any
			 cannabis plant that:
(a) Grows of its own
			 accord from seeds or roots in the years following an intentionally planted
			 cannabis crop; and
(b) Is not
			 intentionally planted.