GREAT FALLS — The Montana Department of Agriculture hosted a public hearing on Thursday to consider adopting proposed rules for the Montana Hemp Research and Market Development Program.
The proposed rules pertain to how the Montana Hemp Advisory Committee will operate, and includes information on applications for hemp research, annual hemp assessments and collection, and more.
Anyone who did not attend the hearing by Zoom may submit their data, views, or arguments by sending them to the Montana Department of Agriculture by 5:00 p.m., August 21, 2020.
According to the Montana Administrative Register on the Secretary of State’s website, the rules proposed to be adopted provide as follows:
NEW RULE I MONTANA HEMP ADVISORY COMMITTEE
(1) The committee shall be an eight member committee consisting of six voting members actively involved in the production of hemp, one non-voting processing industry representative, and one non-voting representative from the Montana State University System.
(2) A majority of the committee members must be hemp "producers" per 80- 11-510(3), MCA. Producer is defined in 80-11-503(5), MCA.
(3) Appointment terms shall be made at the director's discretion and reviewed annually.
NEW RULE II DEFINITIONS
(1) "Department" means the Montana Department of Agriculture.
(2) "Hemp" means all parts and varieties of the plant Cannabis sativa L. containing no greater than 0.3% tetrahydrocannabinol.
(3) "Net receipts" are defined as net weight multiplied by the price paid to the producer.
NEW RULE III ANNUAL HEMP ASSESSMENT - COLLECTION
(1) Section 80-11-516, MCA charges the Montana Department of Agriculture with collecting the commodity assessment.
(2) The assessment shall be 1% of the net receipts of all hemp crops produced in Montana.
(3) The assessment per 80-11-515, MCA, will occur at the time of first sale by a seller and must be collected by the first purchaser of the commodity from the seller. It shall occur at the time of each settlement for the commodity purchased or by invoice form provided by the Montana Department of Agriculture.
(4) If the first purchaser is not a licensed Montana commodity dealer, producers must make a good faith effort to ensure that the assessment is collected and paid to the department.
NEW RULE IV APPLICATIONS FOR HEMP RESEARCH AND MARKETING PROJECT FUNDS
(1) Applications for project funding shall be filed with the department on or before December 1 of each year. Filing requirements will be made available publicly online no later than 30 days prior to application deadline.
(2) The advisory committee will review all research and marketing project applications at the first regular meeting each year and make a recommendation to the department as to which projects to fund and the amount of funding.
(3) Applicants shall be notified within 30 days after the committee's meeting concerning the disposition of their application(s).
(4) The department shall periodically evaluate all outstanding project agreements for adequate and satisfactory financial control, accounting, and performance by project participants.
(5) The department may modify or terminate the funding of any project if a determination is made that the grantee has not complied or cannot comply with a provision of the project agreement. The department shall notify the grantee in writing within 30 days of such determination, of the reasons for the determination, and the effective date of the modification or termination.
