Kentucky Administrative Regulations › Title 302 - DEPARTMENT OF AGRICULTURE › Chapter 50 - Industrial Hemp › Section 302 KAR 50:031 - Procedures and policies for hemp processors and handlers

Current through Register Vol. 51, No. 1, July 1, 2024
RELATES TO:
				KRS
				61.870 - 61.844, 260.850-260.869,
				7
				U.S.C. 1639,
				21
				U.S.C. Chapter 9
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 process or handle 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) "Brokering" means engaging or
			 participating in the marketing of industrial 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 defined as 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 (31) 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 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) "GPS" means Global Positioning
			 System.
(15) "Handling" is defined
			 by
			 KRS
			 260.850(4).
(16) "Hemp" or "industrial hemp" is defined
			 by
			 KRS
			 260.850(5).
(17) "Hemp Grower License" means a document
			 issued by the department authorizing the person to grow, handle, and store hemp
			 in the Commonwealth under the terms established in the document,
			 KRS
			 260.850 through
			 260.863, and this
			 administrative regulation.
(18)
			 "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 this administrative regulation.
(19) "Hemp product" or "industrial hemp
			 product" is defined by
			 KRS
			 260.850(6).
(20) "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 facility managers or shift
			 managers.
(21) "Law
			 enforcement agency" means the Kentucky State Police, DEA, or other federal,
			 state, or local law enforcement agency, or drug suppression unit.
(22) "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
			 260.869,
			 and 302 KAR 50:021.
(23) "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 this administrative regulation.
(24) "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.
(25)
			 "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.
(26)
			 "Nonviable seed" means a seed that has been crushed, dehulled, or otherwise
			 rendered to have a zero percent germination rate.
(27) "Person" means an individual or business
			 entity.
(28) "Prohibited variety"
			 means a variety or strain of cannabis excluded from the Kentucky Hemp Licensing
			 Program.
(29) "Processing" is
			 defined by
			 KRS
			 260.850(9).
(30) "Program" means the department's Hemp
			 Licensing Program.
(31) "Propagule"
			 means a plant or plant part that can be utilized to grow a new plant.
(32) "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 (16) of this section; or
(c) The product is CBD that is approved as a
			 prescription medication by the United States Food and Drug
			 Administration.
(33)
			 "Signing authority" means an officer or agent of the organization with written
			 authorization to commit the legal entity to a binding agreement.
(34) "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.
(35)
			 "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.
(36) "Variety
			 of concern" means any variety of hemp that tests above 0.3000 percent delta
			 9-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.