LAKEPORT — Next week, the Lake County Board of Supervisors will consider its approach to the recently federally legalized cousin of the marijuana industry—industrial hemp.
Lake County Agricultural Commissioner Steven Hajik is asking for the board’s direction on whether to place a 45-day moratorium on industrial hemp as other Californian counties like Mendocino and Yolo have done, or to allow the crop to be grown with some extra regulations beyond that of other agricultural products in Lake County.
Industrial hemp has been federally legalized since Jan. 1, 2019 when Congress’s 2018 “Farm Bill” took effect, which deleted the crop from the fed’s list of Schedule 1 controlled substances.
Unlike the legal commercial marijuana industry, which is subject to heavy taxes and regulations and is regulated differently from other agriculture by federal or California agencies, industrial hemp is more closely aligned with other farm products and is taxed less.
While states like Oregon, Kentucky and Colorado have already allowed the hemp industry to grow, California is moving more slowly. The California Industrial Hemp Farming Act of 2013, which authorized hemp production and allowed for registration of hemp farmers, took effect only after Proposition 64 passed in 2016, legalizing recreational marijuana and activating the 2013 hemp farming laws. The state then formed the Industrial Hemp Advisory Board to develop regulations for the hemp industry.
After proposing an initial plan in 2017 and an updated set of rules in May 2018, that board’s recommended method of regulating the hemp industry is just now coming up for an April 3 decision by the California State Office of Administrative Law. Among other things, the regulations would set an annual $900 registration fee for hemp farmers and a limitation on the amount of tetrahydrocannabinol (THC, pot’s psychoactive ingredient) allowed to be present in a hemp crop.
But Hajik and other agricultural commissioners are concerned about how their counties will react to the state’s decision next week.
Without regulations in place at the county level, a white paper drafted by the California Agricultural Commissioner and Sealer Association argues that “there is no clarity regarding many significant items of concern,” which include how to enforce THC content limits, and what credentials are required for a hemp farmer to be registered as being affiliated with an Established Agricultural Research Institution. With such EARI registration, hemp crops are allowed to contain more than the standard 0.3 percent THC content, blurring the line between industrial hemp and pot, its psychoactive counterpart.
Should the state approve the proposed regulations, as Hajik writes it will “probably” do, Lake County would have to issue registrations for hemp farmers. A 45-day moratorium on industrial hemp would give time to Lake County to create regulations to “catch up with the registration process,” writes Hajik.
Other business
Also Tuesday, the board of supervisors will discuss a limited moratorium on commercial cannabis cultivation that would restrict the influx of new cannabis permits until Oct. 1 to 12 each month. The moratorium follows a recent amendment to the county’s cannabis cultivation ordinance that allowed new permit applications to be considered.
The board will also consider appointments based on applications from residents to several county advisory boards. The appointments will fill vacancies at the Lucerne Area Town Hall, the Middletown Area Town Hall, the Scotts Valley Community Advisory Council, and the Maternal Child Adolescent Health Advisory Board.
The Lake County Board of Supervisors meets on the first, second, third and fourth Tuesdays of each month beginning at 9 a.m. in the board chambers at the Lake County Courthouse, 255 N. Forbes St., Lakeport. Agendas can be found online at countyoflake.legistar.com.
