House File 2105 - Introduced HOUSE FILE 2105 BY SHIPLEY A BILL FOR An Act eliminating acreage limitations for the production of 1 hemp, and including effective date provisions. 2 BE IT ENACTED BY THE GENERAL ASSEMBLY OF THE STATE OF IOWA: 3 TLSB 5309YH (3) 88 da/ns
H.F. 2105 Section 1. Section 204.2, subsection 3, Code 2020, is 1 amended to read as follows: 2 3. “Crop site” or “site” means a single contiguous parcel 3 of agricultural land suitable for the planting, growing, or 4 harvesting of hemp , if the parcel does not exceed forty acres . 5 Sec. 2. Section 204.4, subsection 6, Code 2020, is amended 6 to read as follows: 7 6. A person may hold any number of licenses at the same 8 time. However, the person shall not hold a legal or equitable 9 interest in a licensed crop site, if the total number of acres 10 of all licensed crop sites in which the person holds all such 11 interests equals more than forty acres. 12 Sec. 3. EFFECTIVE DATE. This Act, being deemed of immediate 13 importance, takes effect upon enactment. 14 EXPLANATION 15 The inclusion of this explanation does not constitute agreement with 16 the explanation’s substance by the members of the general assembly. 17 HEMP PRODUCTION —— ACREAGE LIMITATION. This bill amends 18 Code chapter 204, the Iowa hemp Act (IHA) (Code section 204.1), 19 which in part requires the department of agriculture and land 20 stewardship (DALS) to regulate the production of hemp. Hemp is 21 defined as a species of cannabis (sativa L.) having a maximum 22 concentration of delta-9 tetrahydrocannabinol that does not 23 exceed three-tenths of 1 percent (Code section 204.2). DALS 24 is required to establish and administer a process to issue 25 and renew one-year hemp licenses to qualified producers (Code 26 section 204.4). DALS may issue any number of licenses to a 27 qualified producer so long as all licensed crop sites do not 28 exceed a total of 40 acres. The bill eliminates the 40-acre 29 limitation. 30 BACKGROUND. The IHA must comply with the relevant 31 provisions of the federal Agriculture Improvement Act of 2018, 32 Pub. L. No. 115-334, that allows states and tribes to assume 33 primary regulatory authority over the production of hemp by 34 submitting a plan for approval by the United States department 35 -1- LSB 5309YH (3) 88 da/ns 1/ 2
H.F. 2105 of agriculture (USDA). DALS is required to prepare the state 1 plan, any amended state plan, or amendment to an approved 2 state plan, by adopting rules pursuant to Code chapter 17A 3 (Code section 204.3). The USDA has published interim rules to 4 implement the federal legislation (7 C.F.R. pt. 990). The USDA 5 has neither approved nor disapproved Iowa’s state plan. 6 EFFECTIVE DATE. The bill takes effect upon enactment. 7 -2- LSB 5309YH (3) 88 da/ns 2/ 2