Procedure for Permitting; Limitations on Permits and Interests

  1. Law
  2. Georgia Code
  3. Agriculture
  4. Hemp Farming
  5. Procedure for Permitting; Limitations on Permits and Interests

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  1. Except as otherwise provided in this chapter, consideration, issuance, and revocation of hemp processor permits issued by the department pursuant to this Code section shall be accomplished in accordance with Chapter 5 of this title, and such permits shall otherwise be governed by such chapter. No such permit shall be valid unless the permittee has and maintains in effect an agreement with a licensee pursuant to Code Section 2-23-7.
  2. Any person applying for a hemp processor permit pursuant to this Code section shall provide to the department:
    1. A legal description and global positioning coordinates sufficient for locating facilities for processing hemp;
    2. Affidavits of such applicant and every licensee with whom such applicant has entered into a written agreement pursuant to Code Section 2-23-7 in which both parties swear that they have entered into or intend to enter into such an agreement. Such affidavits shall be in a form to be provided by the department;
    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 processed or handled for the purpose of conducting physical inspections and ensuring compliance with the requirements of this chapter;
    4. A surety bond in the amount of $100,000.00 issued by a surety company authorized by law to do business in this state pursuant to a current certificate of authority to transact surety business by the Commissioner of Insurance. If any party is aggrieved or adversely affected by the permittee's failure to comply with the requirements of this chapter, the Commissioner may commence and maintain an action against the principal and surety on the bond; 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 permit 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 permit 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.
  3. The department shall annually accept applications for hemp processor permits to be issued by the department.
  4. Hemp processor permits shall be issued for one calendar year at an annual permit fee of $25,000.00, provided that after the first calendar year, a permittee shall be entitled to automatic permit renewals annually for a permit fee of $50,000.00 per year, so long as no administrative action has been taken by the department regarding such permittee under this chapter.
  5. Issuance of any hemp processor permit shall be conditioned upon the permittee's compliance with Code Section 2-23-7 prior to initiating hemp processing activities.
  6. A permittee may also apply for and be issued no more than one hemp grower license.
    1. No person shall be issued more than one hemp processor permit, nor shall any person be permitted to have a beneficial interest in more than one hemp processor permit 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 processor permit if the permit 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 processor permit 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, §2-23-6, enacted by Ga. L. 2019, p. 1030, § 1/HB 213; Ga. L. 2020, p. 292, § 4/HB 847.)

The 2020 amendment, effective July 22, 2020, designated the existing provisions of paragraph (b)(5) as subparagraph (b)(5)(A); substituted the present provisions of the first sentence of subparagraph (b)(5)(A) for the former provisions, which read: "A criminal background check conducted by local law enforcement."; added subparagraph (b)(5)(B); and substituted "$50,000.00" for "$10,000.00" in the middle of subsection (d).


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