Procedure for Licensing; Fees; Qualified Agricultural Producer; Requirements; Limitations on Licenses

  1. Law
  2. Georgia Code
  3. Agriculture
  4. Hemp Farming
  5. Procedure for Licensing; Fees; Qualified Agricultural Producer; Requirements; Limitations on Licenses

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    1. Except as otherwise provided in this chapter, application for, consideration and issuance of, and revocation of hemp grower licenses issued by the department pursuant to this Code section shall be accomplished in accordance with Chapter 5 of this title, and such licenses shall otherwise be governed by such chapter. No such license shall be valid unless the licensee has and maintains in effect an agreement with a permittee pursuant to Code Section 2-23-7.
    2. Hemp grower licenses shall be issued for one calendar year at an annual license fee of $50.00 per acre cultivated up to a maximum license fee of $5,000.00.
  2. Any person applying for a hemp grower license shall be a qualified agricultural producer, as defined in Code Section 48-8-3.3, and shall provide with such application to the department:
    1. A legal description and global positioning coordinates sufficient for locating fields and greenhouses to be used to cultivate and harvest hemp;
    2. Unless the licensee is also a permittee or a licensee who will only provide or sell hemp to other licensees, the name of the permittee with whom the applicant has entered into or intends to enter into an agreement pursuant to Code Section 2-23-7 and the affidavit required by Code Section 2-23-6;
    3. Written consent, allowing representatives of the department, the Georgia Bureau of Investigation, and other affected state and local law enforcement agencies to enter all premises where hemp is being cultivated, harvested, or handled for the purpose of conducting physical inspections and ensuring compliance with the requirements of this chapter; and
      1. A criminal background check, as described in subparagraph (B) of this paragraph, of all key participants conducted within 60 days prior to the application submission date. No license shall be issued to any applicant who has been convicted of a misdemeanor involving sale of or trafficking in a controlled substance or a felony or materially falsifies any information contained in a license application.
      2. At least one set of classifiable electronically recorded fingerprints of each key participant shall be submitted to the department in accordance with the fingerprint system of identification established by the director of the Federal Bureau of Investigation. The department shall transmit the fingerprints to the Georgia Crime Information Center, which shall submit the fingerprints to the Federal Bureau of Investigation for a search of bureau records and an appropriate report and shall promptly conduct a search of state records based upon the fingerprints. After receiving the report from the Georgia Crime Information Center and the Federal Bureau of Investigation, the department shall review the record for all key participants.
    1. No person shall be issued more than one hemp grower license, nor shall any person be permitted to have a beneficial interest in more than one hemp grower license issued under this chapter, regardless of the degree of such interest.
    2. Nothing contained in this subsection shall prohibit the reissuance of a valid hemp grower license if the license has been held by marriage prior to the creation of any of the relationships defined in paragraph (3) of this subsection.
    3. For purposes of this subsection:
      1. The term "person" shall include all members of a licensee's family and all corporations, limited partnerships, limited liability companies, and other business entities in which a licensee holds more than a 50 percent ownership interest; the term "family" shall include any person related to the holder of the hemp grower license within the first degree of consanguinity and affinity as computed according to the canon law and who is claimed as a dependent by the licensee for income tax purposes; and
      2. The beneficiaries of a trust shall be considered to have a beneficial interest in any business forming a part of the trust estate.

(Code 1981, §2-23-5, enacted by Ga. L. 2019, p. 1030, § 1/HB 213; Ga. L. 2020, p. 292, § 3/HB 847.)

The 2020 amendment, effective July 22, 2020, inserted "or a licensee who will only provide or sell hemp to other licensees" in the beginning of paragraph (b)(2); designated the existing provisions of paragraph (b)(4) as subparagraph (b)(4)(A); in the first sentence of subparagraph (b)(4)(A), inserted ", as described in subparagraph (B) of this paragraph, of all key participants" in the beginning, and substituted "within 60 days prior to the application submission date" for "by local law enforcement" at the end; and added subparagraph (b)(4)(B).


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