Title 2. AGRICULTURE · Chapter 23. HEMP FARMING
2-23-10. Enforcement; corrective action plan; revocation of licenses; reporting of licensees and permittees to Attorney General.
Current through: Including Acts of the 2025 Regular Session of the General Assembly.
- (a)
A violation of a plan authorized by Code Section 2-23-11 and approved by the secretary of agriculture of the United States by a licensee or permittee shall be subject to enforcement in accordance with this Code section.#
- (b)
- (1)
A hemp grower licensee under this chapter shall be required to conduct a corrective action plan if the Commissioner determines that the hemp grower licensee has negligently violated this chapter or has violated rules and regulations promulgated by the department pursuant to this chapter by:#
- (A)
Failing to provide a legal description and global positioning coordinates sufficient for locating fields and greenhouses the hemp grower licensee uses to cultivate and harvest hemp;#
- (B)
Failing to properly obtain a hemp grower license from the department;#
- (C)
Producing Cannabis sativa L. with a total delta-9-THC concentration that exceeds the legal limit; or#
- (D)
Otherwise negligently violating this chapter.#
- (2)
A corrective action plan required by this Code section shall include:#
- (A)
A reasonable date by which the hemp grower licensee shall correct the negligent violation; and#
- (B)
A requirement that the hemp grower licensee shall periodically report to the Commissioner on the compliance status of the hemp grower licensee with the corrective action plan for a period of not less than two calendar years after the violation.#
- (c)
Except as provided in subsection (d) of this Code section, a hemp grower licensee that negligently violates this chapter or rules and regulations promulgated by the department pursuant to this chapter shall not as a result be subject to any criminal or civil enforcement action by any government agency other than the enforcement action authorized under subsection (b) of this Code section.#
- (d)
A hemp grower licensee that negligently violates this chapter or the rules and regulations promulgated by the department pursuant to this chapter three times in a five-year period shall have its hemp grower license issued pursuant to this chapter immediately revoked and shall be ineligible to reapply for a hemp grower license for a period of five years after the date of the third violation.#
- (e)
If the Commissioner determines that a hemp grower licensee has violated state law with a culpable mental state greater than negligence, the Commissioner shall immediately report the hemp grower licensee to the United States Attorney General and the state Attorney General, and subsection (a) of this Code section shall not apply to the violation.#
- (f)
Laws enacting criminal offenses, including laws provided for in Title 16, not in conflict with this chapter shall continue to be enforceable and of full force and effect.#
Reading note: a word broken across two lines in the printed volume was joined by rule and could not be checked against the volume's own vocabulary. The official page linked below settles any doubt.
History
Code 1981, § 2-23-10, enacted by Ga. L. 2019, p. 1030, § 1/HB 213; Ga. L. 2020, p. 292, § 8/HB 847; Ga. L. 2024, p. 455, § 15/SB 494, effective October 1, 2024.
Amendments
The 2020 amendment, effective July 22, 2020, in subsection (a), substituted “a plan authorized by Code Section 2-23-11 and approved by the secretary of agriculture of the United States by a licensee or permittee” for “this chapter or the rules and regulations promulgated by the department pursuant to this chapter” and deleted “solely” following “enforcement”. The 2024 amendment, effective October 1, 2024, substituted “hemp grower licensee” for “licensee or permittee” twice in paragraph (b)(1), in subparagraph (b)(2)(A), twice in subparagraph (b)(2)(B), in subsection (c), in subsection (d), and twice in subsection (e); substituted “hemp grower license” for “license or permit” in subparagraph (b)(1)(B) and twice in subsection (d); in subparagraph (b)(1)(A), inserted “hemp grower” and deleted “or facilities at which the permittee processes hemp” from the end; substituted “a total delta-9-THC concentration that exceeds the legal limit” for “more than the federally defined THC level for hemp” in subparagraph (b)(1)(C); and substituted “this chapter or the rules and regulations promulgated by the department pursuant to this chapter” for “the corrective action plan under subsection (b) of this Code section” in subsection (d).
Code Commission notes
Pursuant to Code Section 28-9-5, in 2022, “permittee” was substituted for “permitee” in subsection (a).
Read the official page (the state's PDF, opened at the page this text was read from).
Current through: Including Acts of the 2025 Regular Session of the General Assembly.
Text read from t1-3-(v3)-pdf.pdf, Volume V3, 2019 edition, 2025 supplement, pages 102 to 104; merge action: replaced; file SHA-256 19703c1bece5.
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