2-504. Authorized activities; department; duties; rules and regulations.

(1) Subject to the Nebraska Hemp Farming Act, it shall be lawful:

(a) For a licensee or his or her employee or agent to cultivate, handle, process, or broker hemp in Nebraska and to transport hemp outside of Nebraska; and

(b) To possess, transport, sell, and purchase lawfully produced hemp products.

(2) The department shall establish, operate, and administer a program to license and regulate cultivators, processor-handlers, and brokers that meets the requirements of the federal Agriculture Improvement Act of 2018 and the Nebraska Hemp Farming Act.

(3) The department may adopt and promulgate rules and regulations to implement the Nebraska Hemp Farming Act and administer programs, including, but not limited to, the following:

(a) Practices to maintain relevant information regarding land where hemp is cultivated, handled, or processed in the state, including a legal description of such land, for a period of not less than three calendar years;

(b) Procedures governing the sampling, chain of custody, and testing of hemp cultivated, handled, or processed in the state;

(c) Procedures for the effective destruction of plants cultivated, handled, or processed in violation of the Nebraska Hemp Farming Act and hemp products made from those plants;

(d) Procedures implementing enforcement provisions outlined in the Nebraska Hemp Farming Act, including factors to be considered when issuing administrative fines;

(e) A procedure for conducting, at a minimum, annual inspections of a random sample of hemp cultivators and processor-handlers to verify that hemp is not cultivated, processed, or handled in violation of the Nebraska Hemp Farming Act or the state plan as described in section 2-516. The department may, at its discretion, conduct other inspections of a cultivator's or processor-handler's operation, including all sites registered with the department;

(f) A procedure for submitting required information to the United States Secretary of Agriculture not more than thirty days after the information is received;

(g) Standards governing the approval and denial of license applications by cultivators, processor-handlers, and brokers;

(h) Developing a bill of lading form for use by a person transporting hemp as provided in section 28-476. Such bill of lading shall, at a minimum:

(i) Identify the transporting person;

(ii) List a traceable reference, in accordance with the federal Agriculture Improvement Act of 2018, to the lot in which the hemp was grown, matching the lot listed on the test results or other documentation required by section 2-515 or section 28-476; and

(iii) Indicate the owner, shipping point of origin, and destination of the hemp;

(i) In consultation with the Nebraska State Patrol, standards for transporting hemp in this state to ensure that marijuana or any other controlled substance is not disguised as hemp and transported into, within, or through this state;

(j) Record-keeping requirements and procedures; and

(k) Any other standard, practice, or procedure required by the Nebraska Hemp Farming Act or the federal Agriculture Improvement Act of 2018.

Source:Laws 2019, LB657, § 4; Laws 2020, LB1152, § 2.