(1) Any person
desiring to cultivate and handle hemp in Georgia must submit a complete and
accurate hemp grower license application to the website used by the Department
to administer hemp grower licenses.
(2) Any person producing or intending to
produce hemp must have a valid hemp grower license prior to receiving,
producing, cultivating, handling, or storing hemp. A valid license means that
the license has been issued and is unexpired, unsuspended, and
unrevoked.
(3) As part of a hemp
grower license application, each applicant must submit to the Department the
following:
(a) An annual hemp grower license
fee of $50.00 per acre cultivated up to a maximum application fee of $5,000.00;
1. The applicant must provide the maximum
total acres of hemp intended to be cultivated in fields during the relevant
licensing period.
2. Applicants
cultivating hemp in covered growing facilities must identify the maximum number
and size, in square footage, of covered growing facilities intended to be used
for cultivation during the relevant licensing period.
3. The license fee will not be prorated for
fractions of acres. Fractional acreage will be rounded up to the next whole
number for fee calculation purposes.
4. Each covered growing facility in which
hemp is cultivated will be considered a separate acre for fee calculation
purposes. Acreage calculations for each covered growing facility will be
determined on a 43,560 square-foot basis.
5. No hemp grower licensee may cultivate more
acreage than is listed on the hemp grower license application.
(b) Contact information including,
but not limited to:
1. Name;
2. Street Address;
3. Mailing Address;
4. Telephone Number; and
5. Email Address.
(c) If the applicant is an entity,
information including, but not limited to:
1.
Legal name;
2. Business entity
type;
3. Address of the principal
business location;
4. Primary
contact information;
5. Current
Certificate of Existence obtained through the Georgia Secretary of State's
Office;
(i) If an applicant is an entity
formed in a foreign jurisdiction, including a different state, the applicant
must submit an equivalent certificate of existence from its home jurisdiction,
as well as a Georgia Certificate of Authority to conduct business.
6. Employer Identification Number
(EIN); and
7. Name, title, and
current primary contact information, including telephone number and email
address, for each owner, key participant, and person holding a beneficial
interest in the hemp grower licensee for which an application is being
made.
(d) Information
sufficient for locating fields and covered growing facilities to be used to
cultivate and harvest hemp, specifically;
1.
If hemp is cultivated or is intended to be cultivated in a field:
(i) A legal description, obtained from the
relevant county courthouse property records, of land on which hemp will be
cultivated or handled;
(ii) GPS
coordinates provided in decimal degrees and taken at the approximate center of
each grow site; and
(iii) An aerial
map or photograph that clearly shows the boundaries and dimensions of each grow
site in acres or square feet.
2. If hemp is cultivated or is intended to be
cultivated in a covered growing facility:
(i)
A legal description, obtained from the relevant county courthouse property
records, of land on which hemp will be cultivated or handled;
(ii) GPS coordinates provided in decimal of
degrees and taken at the approximate entrance of the covered growing facility
composing the grow site;
(iii) The
approximate dimension or square feet of the covered growing facility composing
the grow site; and
(iv) An aerial
map or photograph that clearly shows the boundaries and dimensions of each grow
site in acres or square feet.
(e) Information sufficient for locating hemp
storage facilities including, but not limited to:
1. A legal description, obtained from the
relevant county courthouse property records, of land on which hemp will be
stored;
(i) A hemp grower licensee need not
identify a field as a storage facility to the extent that a hemp grower
licensee leaves harvested hemp to ret in a field. However, a hemp grower
licensee must identify a field as a storage facility if the licensee intends to
bail or otherwise prepare the hemp for long term storage in the
field.
2. GPS coordinates
provided in decimal of degrees and taken at the approximate entrance of each
storage facility;
3. The
approximate dimension or square feet of each storage facility; and
4. An aerial map or photograph that clearly
shows the boundaries and dimensions of each storage
facility.
(f) An
attestation that property to be used for the cultivation, handling, or storage
of hemp is not used for residential purposes;
(g) Written consent allowing representatives
of the Department, the Georgia Bureau of Investigation, and other Federal,
State, and local law enforcement agencies to enter all premises where hemp is
being cultivated, harvested, stored, or handled for the purpose of conducting
physical inspections and ensuring compliance with the requirements of the
Georgia Hemp Farming Act and this Chapter;
(h) An acknowledgement of the hemp grower
license terms and conditions;
(i)
An attestation that the applicant owns or has legal permission to cultivate,
handle, or store hemp on the property listed on the application; and
1. For purposes of satisfying this
requirement, sufficient ownership of property or legal permission to cultivate,
handle, or store hemp on property includes property specifically deeded or
leased to the respective applicant, whether an individual or entity, use of
which will not be in violation of local zoning or other real estate
ordinances.
(j) Any other
information, disclosure, or documents required to be submitted by Georgia or
Federal law or regulation.
(4) Upon receipt of an otherwise complete
application for a hemp grower license, the Department will conduct a criminal
background check and obtain a Federal Criminal History Report for the applicant
or, if the applicant is a business entity, all key participants, as outlined
below:
(a) At least one set of classifiable
electronically recorded fingerprints of the individual applicant or, if the
applicant is a business entity, one set of classifiable electronically recorded
fingerprints of each key participant must be submitted to the Department in
accordance with the fingerprint system of identification established by the
director of the Federal Bureau of Investigation.
(b) The Department will transmit the
fingerprints to the Georgia Crime Information Center, which will submit the
fingerprints to the Federal Bureau of Investigation for a search of records and
generation of an appropriate report, and the Georgia Crime Information Center
will promptly conduct a search of state records based upon the fingerprints and
generate an appropriate report.
(c)
After receiving reports from the Georgia Crime Information Center and the
Federal Bureau of Investigation, the Department will review the record for all
individuals or key participants, as applicable.
(5) Hemp grower licenses will be issued on
January 1 of each year, or otherwise when approved by the Department.
(6) Hemp grower licenses will expire on
December 31 of each year unless suspended, cancelled, or revoked at an earlier
date.
(7) A current and valid hemp
grower license may be renewed by submitting a renewal application, annual
license fee, annual criminal background checks dated within 60 days prior to
the renewal application submission date, and all other required information
online at the Department's website, agr.georgia.gov, by December 1 of each
year.
(a) A licensee may not renew their hemp
grower license until they have submitted all required Disposal or Remediation
Reports and their Annual Report.
(b) A licensee that begins, but does not
finalize, a renewal application of its hemp grower license within 60 days after
January 1 of a given year, must subsequently complete a full application as if
applying for the first time.
(8) A hemp grower licensee may request select
changes to the information associated with a hemp grower license. To request a
change, the licensee must, at least ten (10) calendar days prior to making the
change, provide written notice of the proposed change to the Department via
e-mail to hemp@agr.georgia.gov, or submit the proposed changes on the
Department's website used to administer hemp grower licenses. Changes in
accordance with such written notice and updated information will be valid only
upon the Department's approval. No such change will exempt a licensee from
compliance with all requirements of a hemp grower license, including acceptable
background checks for all key participants.
Hemp grower licensees may request changes to the
following:
(a) The information
originally submitted in the licensee's hemp grower license application in
satisfaction of GA. Comp. R. & Regs. r.
40-32-2-.01(3)(b), (c), (d), and
(e).
1. If a
hemp grower licensee provides written notice and updated information regarding
additional acreage, different grow sites locations, or different storage
locations where the hemp grower licensee intends to cultivate, handle, or store
hemp, the hemp grower licensee must submit payment for any additional acreage
within ten (10) days of the Department's approval of the requested
change.
2. Changes reflecting a
reduction in cultivated field or covered growing facility acreage will not
entitle a hemp grower licensee to a refund of previously paid fees.
3. Hemp grower licensees will be limited to a
maximum of ten (10) changes per calendar year made in accordance with this
rule.
(b) Prior to any
change in a hemp grower licensee's key participants, the hemp grower licensee
must submit a proposed change reflecting the change of key participant. The
Department will conduct a background check on new key participants in
accordance with this Subject.
(9) Any person who materially falsifies any
information contained in an application for a hemp grower license will be
ineligible to receive a hemp grower license or otherwise participate in the
Georgia Hemp Program.
