House Bill 265
By: Representatives Sainz of the 180th, Cooper of the 45th, Stephens of the 164th, and
Townsend of the 179th
A BILL TO BE ENTITLED
AN ACT
To amend Chapter 23 of Title 2 of the Official Code of Georgia Annotated, the "Georgia
Hemp Farming Act," so as to provide limits on the total concentration of THC and other
intoxicating cannabinoids in consumable hemp products; to revise provisions concerning the
certificate of analysis applicable to consumable hemp products; to provide criminal penalties;
to provide limits on the milligrams of THC and other intoxicating cannabinoids in
consumable hemp products in the form of gummies; to revise and provide for definitions; to
provide for related matters; to repeal conflicting laws; and for other purposes.
BE IT ENACTED BY THE GENERAL ASSEMBLY OF GEORGIA:
SECTION 1.
Chapter 23 of Title 2 of the Official Code of Georgia Annotated, the "Georgia Hemp
Farming Act," is amended by revising Code Section 2-23-3, relating to definitions, as
follows:
"2-23-3.
As used in this chapter, the term:
(1) 'Attractive to children' means the use of any characters or symbols designed to
appeal, or would likely appeal, primarily to individuals under 21 years of age, including
but not limited to anthropomorphized animals, creatures, promotional characters, licensed
characters, or inanimate objects; depictions of children; or depictions of candy.
(2) 'Commercial sale' means the sale of products in the stream of commerce at retail, at
wholesale, and online.
(3) 'Consumable hemp product' means a hemp product intended to be ingested, absorbed,
or inhaled by humans or animals.
(4) 'Contaminant' means a foreign substance or compound that may, if ingested,
absorbed, or inhaled, have an adverse effect on the health of a human or animal. Such
term shall include, without limitation, heavy metals, pesticide residues, residual solvents
or processing chemicals, and any other substance or compound that the department
determines could, if ingested, absorbed, or inhaled, have an adverse effect on the health
of a human or animal.
(5) 'Cultivate' means to plant, water, grow, and harvest a plant or crop.
(6) 'Delta-9-THC' means delta-9-tetrahydrocannabinol.
(7) 'Delta-9-THCA' means delta-9-tetrahydrocannabinolic acid.
(8) Reserved.
(9) 'Full panel certificate of analysis' means a report, produced by a laboratory which is
unaffiliated with the processor or manufacturer and which has been accredited pursuant
to the standards of the International Organization for Standardization for the competence,
impartiality, and consistent operation of laboratories, attesting to the composition of a
product.
(10) 'Handle' means to possess or store hemp plants for any period of time other than
during the actual transport of such plants from the premises of a person licensed to
cultivate or permitted to process hemp or a college or university authorized to conduct
research pursuant to Code Section 2-23-4 to the premises of another licensed or permitted
person or to a college or university authorized to conduct research pursuant to Code
Section 2-23-4; provided, however, that such term shall not include possessing or storing
finished hemp products.
(11) 'Hemp' means the Cannabis sativa L. plant and any part of such plant, including the
seeds thereof and all derivatives, extracts, cannabinoids, isomers, acids, salts, and salts
of isomers, whether growing or not, with a total delta-9-THC concentration that does not
exceed the legal limit.
(12) 'Hemp grower licensee' means an individual or business entity possessing a hemp
grower license issued by the department under the authority of this chapter to handle and
cultivate hemp in the State of Georgia.
(13) 'Hemp products' means all products with a total delta-9-THC concentration that does
not exceed the legal limit that are derived from, or made by, processing hemp plants or
plant parts and that are prepared in a form available for commercial sale.
(14) 'Industrial hemp product' means any hemp product that is not a consumable hemp
product.
(15) 'Key participant' means a sole proprietor, a partner in a partnership, or a person with
executive managerial control in a corporation when such sole proprietor, partnership, or
corporation is an applicant to be a hemp grower licensee or a permittee. A person with
executive managerial control in a corporation includes persons serving as a chief
executive officer, chief operating officer, chief financial officer, or any other individual
identified in regulations promulgated by the department. Such term shall not include
nonexecutive managers, such as farm, field, or shift managers.
(16) 'Legal limit' means a total delta-9-THC concentration that is the lesser of:
(A) 0.3 percent; or
(B) The percentage limit set forth in 7 U.S.C. Section 1639o.
(17) 'Licensee' means an individual or business entity possessing a license issued by the
department under the authority of this chapter.
(18) 'Manufacture' means to create, produce, manipulate, combine, or package.
(19) 'Manufacturer license' means a license issued by the department under the authority
of this chapter to an individual or business entity that manufactures consumable hemp
products or industrial hemp products in this state.
(20) '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.
(21) 'Permittee' means an individual or business entity possessing a hemp processor
permit issued by the department under the authority of this chapter to handle and process
hemp in the State of Georgia.
(22)(A) 'Process' or 'processing,' except as otherwise provided in subparagraph (B) of
this paragraph, means converting an agricultural commodity into a legally marketable
form.
(B) Such term shall not include:
(i) Merely placing raw or dried material into another container or packaging raw or
dried material for resale; or
(ii) Traditional farming practices such as those commonly known as drying, shucking
and bucking, storing, trimming, and curing.
(23) 'QR code' means a quick response code that is a type of machine-readable,
two-dimensional barcode that stores information about a product.
(24) 'Registered laboratory' means an individual or business entity that tests or analyzes
any plant within the genus Cannabis, including but not limited to hemp, and products
made from or derived from such plant, including but not limited to hemp products and
consumable hemp products, and that has registered with the department under this
chapter.
(25) 'Research' or 'researching' means experimental field, greenhouse, or laboratory
activity for the ultimate purpose of developing new hemp varieties and products,
improving existing hemp products, developing new uses for existing hemp products, or
developing or improving methods for producing hemp products.
(26) 'Retail consumable hemp establishment license' means a license issued by the
department under the authority of this chapter to an individual or business entity that
prepares or sells prepackaged consumable hemp products to consumers.
(27) 'THC' means tetrahydrocannabinol, <del>tetrahydrocannabinolic acid, or a combination
of tetrahydrocannabinol and tetrahydrocannabinolic acid.
</del> <ins>(28) 'THC and other intoxicating cannabinoids' means and includes:
(A) THC and any isomers, derivatives, salts, isomers of salts, analogues, halogen
analogues, or homologues of THC, including, but not limited to,
delta-8-tetrahydrocannabinol (delta-8-THC), delta-9-tetrahydrocannabinol
(delta-9-THC), delta-10-tetrahydrocannabinol (delta-10-THC),
delta-11-tetrahydrocannabinol (delta-11-THC), tetrahydrocannabinolic acid (THCA),
exo-tetrahydrocannabinol (exo-THC), THC-O-acetate (THC-OA), THC-O-phosphate
(THC-O), tetrahydrocannabiphorol (THCP), tetrahydrocannabivarin (THCV),
tetrahydrocannabihexol (THCH), tetrahydrocannabioctyl (THCJD), and
tetrahydrocannabutol (THCB);
(B) Cannabinol (CBN) and any isomers, derivatives, salts, isomers of salts, analogues,
halogen analogues, or homologues of CBN; and
(C) Hexahydrocannabinol (HHC) and any isomers, derivatives, salts, isomers of salts,
analogues, halogen analogues, or homologues of HHC.
(29) 'Total concentration of THC and other intoxicating cannabinoids' means the
concentration of all THC and other intoxicating cannabinoids within a sample.
</ins> <del>(28)(30)</del> 'Total delta-9-THC concentration' means a concentration of delta-9-THC as
determined by Code Section 2-23-3.1.
<del>(29)(31)</del> 'Wholesale consumable hemp license' means a license issued by the department
under the authority of this chapter to an individual or business entity that sells, in bulk,
prepackaged consumable hemp products to retail consumable hemp establishment
licensees or to other retail establishments located outside of the State of Georgia that are
authorized to sell consumable hemp products to consumers in the jurisdiction where such
establishments are located."
SECTION 2.
Said chapter is further amended by revising Code Section 2-23-9.1, relating to consumable
hemp products, certificate of analysis, THC warning, and inspections, as follows:
"2-23-9.1.
(a) <ins>No consumable hemp product shall be sold or otherwise distributed in this state if such
product has a total concentration of THC and other intoxicating cannabinoids that exceeds
0.3 percent, determined on a dry weight basis where applicable.
(b)</ins> No consumable hemp product shall be sold or otherwise distributed in this state unless
the processor or manufacturer has, within the last 12 months, contracted for a full panel
certificate of analysis to be conducted on such product and such analysis has been
conducted and made available to the public. Such full panel certificate of analysis shall,
at a minimum:
(1) Attest to the presence and amount, in such product's final packaged form, of the
following compounds <ins>or groups of compounds:
</ins> (A) THC <ins>and other intoxicating cannabinoids;
</ins> (B) Cannabidiol (CBD);
(C) Cannabidiolic acid (CBDA);
(D) Cannabigerol (CBG);
(E) Cannabigerolic acid (CBGA); <ins>and
</ins> <del>(F) Cannabinol (CBN);
</del>
<del>(G) Hexahydrocannabinol (HHC); and
(H)(F)</del> Any other compound <ins>or groups of compounds</ins> that the department determines
is necessary to protect the health and safety of consumers; and
(2) Attest that the product, in its final packaged form, does not contain any contaminants
in excess of the maximum levels established by the department. In establishing such
maximum levels, the department shall consider the American Herbal Pharmacopoeia
monographs or such other scientific resources that the department determines is accurate,
reliable, and relevant.
<del>(b)(c)</del> Any consumable hemp product sold or otherwise distributed in this state shall bear:
(1) A sticker, approved by the department, warning potential consumers that such
product contains THC <ins>and other intoxicating cannabinoids;</ins> and
(2) A conspicuous label providing the information from the full panel certificate of
analysis conducted on such product within the last 12 months pursuant to subsection <del>(a)
</del> <ins>(b)</ins> of this Code section or allowing a consumer to access such information using a QR
code.
<ins>(c)(d)</ins> The department shall randomly inspect and test consumable hemp products
available for purchase at retail establishments to ensure compliance with this Code section.
Such investigations and testing shall be conducted in compliance with this chapter and with
the rules and regulations promulgated by the department.
<del>(d)(e)</del> In the event that an inspection or test of a consumable hemp product conducted by
the department pursuant to subsection <del>(c)</del> <ins>(d)</ins> of this Code section reveals that such product:
(1) Does not bear:
(A) The sticker required under paragraph (1) of subsection <del>(b)</del> <ins>(c)</ins> of this Code section;
or
(B) The label required under paragraph (2) of subsection <del>(b)</del> <ins>(c)</ins> of this Code section;
(2) Has a total delta-9-THC concentration that exceeds the legal limit;
<ins>(3) Has a total concentration of THC and other intoxicating cannabinoids that exceeds
0.3 percent;
</ins> <del>(3)(4)</del> Contains one or more contaminants in excess of the maximum levels established
by the department; or
<del>(4)(5)</del> Has a composition that is materially different from what is shown on the full panel
certificate of analysis conducted on such product within the last 12 months pursuant to
subsection <del>(a)</del> <ins>(b)</ins> of this Code section,
such product and all related consumable hemp products shall be disposed of in compliance
with this chapter and with the rules and regulations promulgated by the department.
<del>(e)(f)</del> Any person who violates the provisions of subsection (a), <ins>(b),</ins> or <del>(b)</del> <ins>(c)</ins> of this Code
section shall be guilty of a misdemeanor."
SECTION 3.
Said chapter is further amended in Code Section 2-23-9.2, relating to consumable hemp
products, packaging, and advertising, by revising subsection (c) as follows:
"(c)(1) As used in this subsection, the term:
(A) 'Food product' means any product intended to be consumed by humans for physical
subsistence; provided, however, that such term shall not include products that constitute
drinks or beverages.
(B) 'Gummy' means a gelatinous substance in the form of a cube, sphere, prismatoid,
ovoid, or other shape that is designed for human ingestion.
(2) No consumable hemp product shall be sold or otherwise distributed in this state if
such product constitutes or is a component of:
(A) A food product; or
(B) A drink or beverage that contains alcohol or constitutes an alcoholic beverage
under Title 3.
<del>(3)</del> Nothing in this <del>subsection</del> <ins>paragraph</ins> is intended to prohibit the sale or distribution
of hemp that is contained within gummies or consumable base oils, provided that such
gummies or consumable base oils are not a component of a food product.
<ins>(3) No consumable hemp product in the form of a gummy shall be sold or otherwise
distributed in this state unless such product has no more than five milligrams of THC and
other intoxicating cannabinoids per serving and, if such product is sold or otherwise
distributed in a container with more than one serving, no more than 150 milligrams of
THC and other intoxicating cannabinoids per container."
</ins> SECTION 4.
All laws and parts of laws in conflict with this Act are repealed.