Current through Register 2024 Notice Reg. No. 12, March 22, 2024
(a) For purposes of this chapter, the
following definitions apply:
(1) "Acceptable
hemp THC level" means a THC concentration that falls within the distribution or
range that includes three-tenths of one percent or less that is produced when
the measurement of uncertainty is applied to the reported THC concentration.
For example, if the reported THC concentration of a sample is 0.35% and the
measurement of uncertainty is ± 0.06%, the measured THC concentration
would range from 0.29% to 0.41%. Because 0.3% is within the distribution or
range, the sample is within the acceptable hemp THC level.
(2) "Cannabis" has the same meaning as
defined in subdivision (e) of Section
26001
of the Business and Professions Code.
(3) "Central cola" means a cut stem that
could develop into a bud of the flowering top of the plant.
(4) "Criminal history report" means the
Federal Bureau of Investigation's Identity History Summary.
(5) "Cultivar" means a cultivated variety of
industrial hemp.
(6) "Cultivation"
means the planting, growing, irrigation, or harvesting of an industrial hemp
plant or crop.
(7) "Cultivation
site" means contiguous land area on which the applicant plans to engage in
industrial hemp cultivation, storage, or both.
(8) "Cultivator" means a person, or
institution planting, cultivating, growing, irrigating, or harvesting
industrial hemp plants or crop.
(9)
"Destroy" or "dispose" means an activity that transitions the product into a
non-retrievable or non-ingestible form. Such activities include plowing,
tilling, or disking plant material into the soil; mulching, composting,
chopping, or bush mowing plant material into green manure; burning plant
material; burying plant material into the earth and covering with
soil.
(10) "Disqualifying
conviction" means any plea of guilty or nolo contendere, or any finding of
guilt for a State or Federal felony related to a controlled substance, except:
(A) when the finding of guilt is subsequently
overturned on appeal, pardoned, or expunged, or
(B) where an individual is allowed to
withdraw an original plea of guilty or nolo contendere and enter a plea of not
guilty and the case is subsequently dismissed.
(11) "Established agricultural research
institution" means an institution of higher education, as defined in Section
101 of the federal Higher Education
Act of 1965 (20 U.S.C. Sec.
1001), that grows, cultivates, or
manufactures industrial hemp for purposes of agricultural or academic research.
If the hemp to be registered is owned, or the cultivated land is owned or
leased, by a party other than an established agriculture institution, then the
applicant shall register as a grower.
(12) "Gross negligence" is defined as a lack
of care that demonstrates reckless disregard for the safety or lives of others,
which is so great it appears to be a conscious violation of other people's
rights to safety.
(13) "Grower"
means a person that is registered with the commissioner to cultivate hemp for
sale.
(14) "Harvest" means the
collection of any portion of industrial hemp plant.
(15) "Hemp breeder" means a person that is
registered with the commissioner to develop cultivars intended for sale or
research.
(16) "Industrial hemp" or
"hemp" means an agricultural product, whether growing or not, that is limited
to types of the plant Cannabis sativa L. and any part of that
plant, including the seeds of the plant and all derivatives, extracts, the
resin extracted from any part of the plant, cannabinoids, isomers, acids,
salts, and salts of isomers, with a total delta-9 tetrahydrocannabinol
concentration of no more than 0.3 percent on a dry weight basis.
(17) "Industrial hemp nursery stock" means
any industrial hemp plant or any part of an industrial hemp plant for planting
or propagation.
(18) "Key
participants" includes the registrant and means any person in the entity
producing industrial hemp who is:
(A) a sole
proprietor, a partner in partnership, or a person with executive managerial
control in a corporation producing industrial hemp, or
(B) a person with executive managerial
control over the entity producing industrial hemp, including persons such as a
chief executive officer, chief operating officer and chief financial
officer.
(C) This definition does
not include a person in a management position with no executive managerial
control over the entity producing industrial hemp, such as farm, field, or
shift managers.
(D) For established
agricultural research institutions, this definition does not include a person
that is a member of the leadership of the established agricultural research
institution unless the member of the leadership exercises executive managerial
control over the hemp production.
(19) "Measurement of uncertainty" means the
parameter associated with the result of a measurement that characterizes the
dispersion of the values that could reasonably be attributed to the particular
quantity subject to measurement.
(20) "Person" means any individual,
partnership, association, corporation, limited liability company, or any
organized group of persons whether incorporated or not.
(21) "Premises" has the same meaning as
defined in subdivision (aq) of Section
26001
of the Business and Professions Code.
(22) "Recklessness" is defined as a lack of
regard for the danger or consequences of one's actions
(23) "Registration class" means the status of
a registration as either a grower, hemp breeder, or established agricultural
research institution.
(24) Research
plan" means a strategy devised by an established agricultural research
institution, or applicant established agricultural research institution,
detailing its approach to growing or cultivating hemp for academic or
agricultural research. Agricultural and academic purposes do not include
proprietary development.
(25) "THC
concentration" or "percentage concentration of THC" means the
post-decarboxylated value of the percentage of delta-9 THC content derived from
the sum of THC and THCA (Tetrahydrocannabinolic acid) content and reported on a
dry weight basis to the nearest thousandth, or three decimal places. The
percentage concentration of THC may be measured by using either:
(A) a suitable analytical instrumentation
described in Section
4942(b) that
results in the decarboxylation of THC-acid to delta-9 THC, or
(B) a calculated value using a conversion
formula of the percentage concentration of delta-9 THC plus eighty-seven and
seven tenths (87.7) percent of the percentage concentration of THC-acid when a
suitable analytical instrumentation described in Section
4942(b) does not
result in the decarboxylation of THC-acid to delta-9 THC.
(26) "Tissue culture" means in vitro material
introduced into culture from nodal cuttings at a particular time and from a
single plant and grown in aseptic conditions to be used as a source of
propagative plant material.
(27)
"Valid registration" means the registration is unexpired, unsuspended, and
unrevoked.
(28) "Variety
development plan" means a strategy devised by a hemp breeder, or applicant hemp
breeder, detailing their approach to growing and developing a new cultivar for
industrial hemp.
1. New
section filed 7-11-2022 as an emergency; operative 7-11-2022 (Register 2022,
No. 28). A Certificate of Compliance must be transmitted to OAL by 1-9-2023 or
emergency language will be repealed by operation of law on the following
day.
2. New section refiled 1-3-2023 as an emergency; operative
1-3-2023 (Register 2023, No. 1). A Certificate of Compliance must be
transmitted to OAL by 4-3-2023 or emergency language will be repealed by
operation of law on the following day.
3. Certificate of Compliance
as to 1-3-2023 order, including amendment of subsections (a)(8)-(9) and
(a)(11), new subsections (a)(12) and (a)(22)-(23), subsection renumbering and
amendment of newly designated subsections (a)(24)-(25), transmitted to OAL
3-29-2023 and filed 5-11-2023; amendments effective 5-11-2023 pursuant to
Government Code section
11343.4(b)(3)
(Register 2023, No. 19).
Note: Authority cited: Sections
407,
81003,
81004,
81004.5,
81006
and
81013,
Food and Agricultural Code. Reference: Sections
81000,
81003,
81004,
81004.5,
81006
and
81013,
Food and Agricultural Code.