2018 South Carolina Code of Laws
Title 46 - Agriculture
CHAPTER 55 - INDUSTRIAL HEMP CULTIVATION
Section 46-55-20. Industrial Hemp Program; research; permits; regulations.
(1) The South Carolina Industrial Hemp Program is created.
(2) Industrial hemp is an agricultural crop. Any public institution of higher education offering a four-year baccalaureate degree or private institution of higher education accredited by the Southern Association of Colleges and Schools offering a four-year baccalaureate degree throughout the State may conduct research, pursuant to Public Law 113-79, contingent upon funding. The institution may conduct research or pilot programs as an agricultural commodity and may work with growers located in South Carolina. Once the institution of higher education engages in research on industrial hemp, the institution shall work in conjunction with the Department of Agriculture to identify solutions for applications, applicants, and new market opportunities for industrial hemp growers. The purchaser or manufacturer will be included under the provisions of this chapter.
(3) The Department of Agriculture will allow up to twenty permits for the first year and up to forty permits for the second year and third year, and every year after, the Department of Agriculture, along with the institutions of higher learning, will evaluate the program to determine the number of permits to be issued. The permits are to be given to South Carolina residents for the purposes of a pilot program. Each permittee is permitted to grow industrial hemp on up to twenty acres of land the first year and up to forty acres the second year and third year, and every year after, the Department of Agriculture, along with the institutions of higher learning, will evaluate the program to determine the amount of acreage permitted. When applying for a permit, each applicant, at a minimum, must submit to the department global positioning system coordinates of where the industrial hemp will be grown and must submit any and all information, including, but not limited to, fingerprints, and the appropriate fees, required by the South Carolina Law Enforcement Division (SLED) to perform a fingerprint-based state criminal records check and for the Federal Bureau of Investigation to perform a national fingerprint-based criminal records check.
(4) The department shall require a state criminal records check, supported by fingerprints, by SLED and a national criminal records check, supported by fingerprints, by the Federal Bureau of Investigation. The results of these criminal records checks must be reported to the department. SLED is authorized to retain the fingerprints for certification purposes and for notification of the department regarding criminal charges. No person who has been convicted of any felony, or any person convicted of any drug-related misdemeanor or violation in the previous ten years from the date of the application, shall be eligible to obtain a permit.
(5) Before the department will issue a permit to the applicant, the applicant must have proof of a signed purchaser with a contract.
(6) Industrial hemp is an agricultural crop subject to regulations by the Department of Agriculture.
(7) To grow industrial hemp, a person must be registered with the department as a grower.
(8) To register, an applicant, under this section, must submit to the department, in a manner prescribed by the department, the following information:
(a) the name and address of the applicant;
(b) the name and address of the industrial hemp operation of the applicant;
(c) the Global Positioning System coordinates of the land on which the industrial hemp will be planted, grown, cultivated, or processed;
(d) any other information required by the department through regulation; and
(e) written consent allowing SLED and the Department of Agriculture to enter onto all premises where industrial hemp is cultivated, processed, or stored for the purpose of conducting physical inspections or ensuring compliance with the Industrial Hemp Pilot Program.
(9) A grower may renew a registration under this section in the manner prescribed by the department.
(10) The department may charge growers application, registration, and renewal of registration fees reasonably calculated by the department to pay the cost of administering the South Carolina Industrial Hemp Program, not to exceed one thousand dollars annually per registrant. Monies from fees collected under this subsection shall be continuously appropriated to the department for purposes of carrying out the duties of the South Carolina Industrial Hemp Program under this section.
(11) It is lawful for a permitted individual to cultivate, produce, or otherwise grow industrial hemp in this State to be used for any lawful purpose, including, but not limited to, the manufacture of industrial hemp products, and scientific, agricultural, or other research related to other lawful applications for industrial hemp.
(12) Growers or processors may retain any industrial hemp that tests between three-tenths of one percent to one percent delta-9 tetrahydrocannabinol on a dry weight basis and recondition the hemp product by grinding it with the stem and stalk. Industrial hemp products must not exceed three-tenths of one percent delta-9 tetrahydrocannabinol.
(13) For the purposes of Chapter 25, Title 39, industrial hemp or industrial hemp products may not be considered to be an adulterant.
HISTORY: 2014 Act No. 216 (S.839), Section 2, eff June 2, 2014; 2017 Act No. 37 (H.3559), Section 1, eff May 10, 2017.
Effect of Amendment
2017 Act No. 37, Section 1, rewrote the section, creating the South Carolina Industrial Hemp Program.
