(1) The general assembly hereby finds, determines, and declares that the registration of wholesale food manufacturers and the regulation of premises or places wherein manufactured foods are produced, manufactured, packed, processed, prepared, treated, packaged, transported, or held for distribution in accordance with the "Colorado Food and Drug Act", the "Shellfish Dealer Certification Act", and the sanitary regulations administered by the department pursuant to part 1 of article 4 of this title and any rules promulgated thereunder:
Is necessary to protect the public health;
Will benefit consumers by ensuring that the sale and distribution of manufacturedfood is from safe sources;
Will assist retailers by ensuring that manufactured foods have not been adulteratedduring manufacturing, packing, processing, preparing, treating, packaging, transporting, and storage; and
Will contribute to the economic health of the state by assuring that Colorado wholesale food manufacturers are permitted to ship their product in interstate commerce.
(2) As used in this section, unless the context otherwise requires:
"Brew pub" has the same meaning as set forth in section 44-3-103 (5).
"Brewery" has the same meaning as set forth in section 44-3-103 (6).
"Dietary ingredient" means one or any combination of a vitamin, mineral, herb orother botanical, amino acid, and a substance such as an enzyme, organ tissue, glandular, or metabolite.
"Dietary supplement" means a product taken by mouth that contains a dietary ingredient or a new dietary ingredient intended to supplement the diet.
"Distillery" or "distiller" has the same meaning as set forth in section 44-3-103 (13).
"Grain" means a small hard fruit or seed produced by a cereal grass and the seeds ofsuch plants as a whole.
"Grain storage facility" means any establishment, structure, or structures under onemanagement at one general physical location that holds grain without further manufacturing or processing after harvest.
(g.3) "Industrial hemp" has the meaning set forth in section 35-61-101 (7).
(g.5) "Industrial hemp product" means a finished product containing industrial hemp that:
Is a cosmetic, food, food additive, or herb;
Is for human use or consumption;
Contains any part of the hemp plant, including naturally occurring cannabinoids,compounds, concentrates, extracts, isolates, resins, or derivatives; and
Contains a delta-9 tetrahydrocannabinol concentration of no more than three-tenthsof one percent.
"Manufacturing or processing" means making food from one or more ingredients, orsynthesizing, preparing, treating, modifying, or manipulating food, including food crops or ingredients. Examples include: Cutting, peeling, trimming, washing, waxing, eviscerating, rendering, cooking, baking, freezing, cooling, pasteurizing, homogenizing, mixing, formulating, bottling, milling, grinding, extracting juices, distilling, labeling, or packaging.
"New dietary ingredient" means a dietary ingredient that was not sold in the UnitedStates as a dietary supplement before October 15, 1994.
"Nonprofit facility" means a charitable entity that provides food to the public, including food banks and nonprofit food facilities. To qualify as a nonprofit facility, the entity shall be exempt from paying federal income tax under the federal internal revenue code.
"Spirituous liquors" has the same meaning as set forth in section 44-3-103 (54).
"Wholesale food manufacturer" and "storage facility" mean a facility that manufactures, produces, packs, processes, treats, packages, transports, or holds human food, including dietary supplements. These terms include, without limitation, any repacker, reshipper, shell stock shipper, and shucker-packer, as defined in section 25-4-1803 (8), (9), (12), and (13), respectively.
"Winery" has the same meaning as set forth in section 44-3-103 (61).
(3) The department has the following powers and duties:
To grant or refuse to grant registration pursuant to subsection (4) of this section andto grant or refuse to grant the annual renewal of a registration;
To deny, suspend, or revoke a registration;
To issue a certificate of free sale; and
To review any records of a wholesale food manufacturer or storage facility necessaryto verify compliance with the provisions of this section.
(4) (a) Beginning July 1, 2003, and on or before July 1 of each year thereafter, the owner of any wholesale food manufacturer or storage facility shall submit an application to the department. Each wholesale food manufacturer or storage facility shall pay an annual application fee of one hundred dollars, plus any additional registration fee specified in subsection (4)(b) of this section; except that an application fee is not required for a nonprofit facility. The application for registration is valid for one year or for the portion of the fiscal year that remains if an application is submitted after July 1 of any fiscal year. If an application is valid for only a portion of a fiscal year, an application fee reduction is not required by this section. Each application expires on June 30 of the state fiscal year in which the application is submitted.
(b) In addition to the application fee a facility is required to pay pursuant to subsection (4)(a) of this section, the schedule for annual registration fees for wholesale food manufacturers or storage facilities is as follows:
A registration fee is not required for a nonprofit facility, grain storage facility, brewery, brew pub, winery, or a distiller of spirituous liquors.
Except as provided in subsection (4)(b)(IV) of this section, a wholesale food manufacturer or storage facility with gross annual sales of less than one hundred fifty thousand dollars shall pay the department a registration fee of sixty dollars.
Except as provided in subsection (4)(b)(IV) of this section, a wholesale food manufacturer or storage facility with gross annual sales of one hundred fifty thousand dollars or more shall pay the department a registration fee of three hundred dollars.
A wholesale food manufacturer that produces an industrial hemp product shall paythe department a registration fee of three hundred dollars, regardless of its gross annual sales.
Upon issuing a certificate of free sale, the department shall collect a fee of one hundred fifty dollars.
Industrial hemp products produced by wholesale food manufacturing facilities registered in accordance with this subsection (4) shall not be deemed adulterated, as defined in sections 25-5-410 and 25-5-416, unless the products meet one or more of the criteria set forth in section 25-5-410 or 25-5-416.
Fees collected by the department pursuant to subsection (4) of this section shall betransmitted to the state treasurer, who shall credit such fees to the wholesale food manufacturing and storage protection cash fund, which is hereby created in the state treasury. The general assembly shall annually appropriate the moneys in such fund to the department for the payment of expenses necessary for the administration of this section. Any unexpended and unencumbered moneys remaining in the fund at the end of any fiscal year shall remain in the fund and shall not revert to the general fund or any other fund.
Repealed.
(a) If Senate Bill 19-220 is enacted in 2019, the department, in conjunction with the commissioner of the department of agriculture or the commissioner's designee, shall participate in any stakeholder process convened pursuant to Senate Bill 19-220 to develop the state's hemp management plan in accordance with the federal "Agricultural Improvement Act of 2018".
(b) (I) Additionally, the department may convene a stakeholder work group to study the regulation of industrial hemp products. In addition to representatives from the department, the department shall invite representatives of the following groups to participate in the stakeholder work group:
Industrial hemp processors;
Marijuana processors;
Supplements retailers;
Legal experts on the sale of products containing cannabidiol and THC;
Organizations with specific expertise in the federal supplements regulatory framework;
Consumer advocates;
Hemp growers;
Hemp seed producers;
Anyone else involved in the hemp industry;
Licensed marijuana retailers; and
Any other group the department determines would facilitate an understanding of thelegal, practical, or business considerations of regulating industrial hemp products in Colorado and in coordination with federal authority.
The stakeholder work group shall have its first meeting as soon as practicable afterMay 29, 2019. On or before December 1, 2019, the stakeholder work group shall prepare a written summary of its conclusions, including any recommendations for legislation, and furnish copies of the written summary to the legislative committees with jurisdiction over agricultural matters.
This subsection (7) is repealed, effective September 1, 2021.
Source: L. 2003: Entire section added, p. 1460, § 1, effective May 1. L. 2004: (2),
(4)(a), and (4)(b) amended and (6) added, p. 628, § 1, effective April 23. L. 2007: (6) amended, p. 1576, § 1, effective May 31. L. 2008: (4)(b) amended, p. 1000, § 1, effective July 1. L. 2017:
(2) R&RE, (4) amended, and (6) repealed, (HB 17-1079), ch. 396, p. 2069, § 1, effective June 6. L. 2018: (2)(g.3), (2)(g.5), and (4)(d) added, (HB 18-1295), ch. 341, p. 2032, § 2, effective August 8. L. 2019: (4)(b)(II) and (4)(b)(III) amended and (4)(b)(IV) and (7) added, (SB 19-240), ch. 351, p. 3243, § 1, effective May 29.
Editor's note: Subsection (4)(c) was originally numbered as subsection (4)(b)(IV) in the 2016 Colorado Revised Statutes and was renumbered as subsection (4)(c) in HB 17-1079, but the change was inadvertently not shown in the bill. (See L. 2017, p. 2069.)