WEST virginia legislature
2017 regular session
ENROLLED
for
By Delegates
Eldridge, Butler and Summers
[
AN ACT to amend and
reenact §19-12E-5 of the Code of West Virginia, 1931, as amended, relating to
expanding the list of persons the Commissioner of Agriculture may license to
grow or cultivate industrial hemp.
Be it enacted by the
Legislature of West Virginia:
That §19-12E-5 of the Code of West Virginia, 1931, as
amended, be amended and reenacted to read as follows:
ARTICLE 12E. INDUSTRIAL HEMP DEVELOPMENT ACT.
§19-12E-5. Industrial hemp - licensing.
(a) A person growing
industrial hemp for commercial purposes shall apply to the commissioner for
license on a form prescribed by the commissioner.
(b) The
application for a license must include the name and address of the applicant
and the legal description of the land area to be used for the production of
industrial hemp.
(c) The
commissioner shall require each first-time applicant for a license to file a
set of the applicant's fingerprints, taken by a law-enforcement officer, and any
other information necessary to complete a statewide and nationwide criminal
history check with the criminal investigation bureau of the department of
justice for state processing and with the Federal Bureau of Investigation for
federal processing. All of the costs
associated with the criminal history check are the responsibility of the
applicant. Criminal history records
provided to the department under this section are confidential. The
commissioner may use the records only to determine if an applicant is eligible
to receive a license for the production of industrial hemp.
(d) If the
applicant has completed the application process to the satisfaction of the
commissioner, the commissioner shall issue the license which is valid until
December 31, of the year of application.
An individual licensed under this section is presumed to be growing
industrial hemp for commercial purposes.
(e)
Notwithstanding any provision of this article, rule or the provisions of
chapter sixty-a of this code to the contrary, the Commissioner of Agriculture
may license qualified persons and state institutions of higher learning to
lawfully grow or cultivate industrial hemp in this state, but institutions of
higher learning may only lawfully grow industrial hemp for research and
educational purposes.