2-516. State plan; director; duties; contents; disapproval; amended plan; alteration or amendment authorized.

(1) No later than December 31, 2019, the director, in consultation with the Governor and the Attorney General, shall submit to the United States Secretary of Agriculture for approval a state plan by which the department shall regulate the cultivation, handling, and processing of hemp. Such state plan shall include, at a minimum:

(a) A practice to maintain relevant information regarding land on which hemp is cultivated, handled, or processed in Nebraska, including a legal description of the land, for a period of not less than three calendar years;

(b) A procedure for testing, using post-decarboxylation or other similarly reliable methods, delta-9 tetrahydrocannabinol concentration of hemp cultivated in Nebraska;

(c) A procedure for the effective destruction of hemp that is cultivated, processed, or handled in violation of the Nebraska Hemp Farming Act;

(d) A procedure to implement enforcement procedures under the act;

(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 being cultivated, processed, or handled in violation of state or federal law;

(f) A procedure for submitting required information to the United States Department of Agriculture, as required; and

(g) A certification that the state has the resources and personnel needed to carry out the practices and procedures required by the act and federal law.

(2) If the United States Secretary of Agriculture disapproves the plan, the director, in consultation with the Governor and the Attorney General, shall submit an amended state plan to the secretary within ninety days after such disapproval.

(3) The director shall have the authority to alter or amend the state plan as required, consistent with the Nebraska Hemp Farming Act and federal law.

(4) Nothing in the Nebraska Hemp Farming Act shall be construed to be less restrictive than the federal Agriculture Improvement Act of 2018.

Source:Laws 2019, LB657, § 16; Laws 2020, LB1152, § 11.