Words used in this chapter in the singular form shall be deemed to impart the plural, and vice versa, as the case may demand. For the purposes of provisions and regulations of this chapter, unless the context otherwise requires, the following terms shall mean:

(1) "Act" means Texas House Bill 1325, relating to the production and regulation of hemp in Texas, as codified in Chapters 121 and 122 of the Code.

(2) "Acceptable hemp THC level" means a delta-9 tetrahydrocannabinol content concentration level on a dry weight basis, that, when reported with the laboratory's measurement of uncertainty, produces a distribution or range that includes a result of 0.3% or less. For example, if the reported delta-9 tetrahydrocannabinol content concentration level on a dry weight basis is 0.35% and the measurement of uncertainty is +/- 0.06%, the measured delta-9 tetrahydrocannabinol content concentration level on a dry weight basis for this sample ranges from 0.29% to 0.41%. Because 0.3% is within the distribution or range, the sample is within the acceptable hemp THC level for the purpose of plan compliance. This definition of "acceptable hemp THC level" affects neither the statutory definition of hemp, in 7 U.S.C. §1639o(1) and Texas Agriculture Code §121.001, nor the definition of "marihuana," in 21 U.S.C. §802(16) and in Texas Health and Safety Code §481.002(26).

(3) "Administrative action" includes a denial, revocation or suspension of a license, or an assessed penalty.

(4) "Applicant" means a person, or a person who is authorized to sign for a business entity, who submits an application to participate in the Department's hemp program.

(5) "Cannabis" means a genus of flowering plants in the family Cannabaceae of which Cannabis sativa is a species, and Cannabis indica and Cannabis ruderalis are subspecies thereof. Cannabis refers to any form of the plant in which the delta-9 tetrahydrocannabinol concentration on a dry weight basis has not yet been determined.

(6) "Certified or Approved hemp seed" means seed that meets the legal standards for seed quality and labeling required by Texas and federal law, the legal standards of the jurisdictions from where the seed is originally sold and produced, and the additional hemp seed quality and labeling requirements required by the Department.

(7) "Contiguous" means all of the lots in or on a location owned or controlled by one owner or tenant, or the same owner and tenant, and no lot is separated from the other lots on the location by different ownership or control, or a public right of way, a navigable waterway, or an area greater than sixty feet.

(8) "Controlled Substance" is defined in Tex. Health & Safety Code §481.002(5). The term does not include hemp, as defined by Tex. Agric. Code §121.001, or the tetrahydrocannabinols in hemp.

(9) "Conviction" means any plea of guilty or nolo contendere, or any finding of guilt, except when the finding of guilt is subsequently overturned on appeal, pardoned, or expunged. For purposes of this chapter, a conviction is expunged when the conviction is removed from the individual's criminal history record and there are no legal disabilities or restrictions associated with the expunged conviction, other than the fact that the conviction may be used for sentencing purposes for subsequent convictions. In addition, where an individual is allowed to withdraw an original plea of guilty or nolo contendere and enter a plea of not guilty and the case is subsequently dismissed, the individual is no longer considered to have a conviction for purposes of this chapter.

(10) "Corrective action plan" means a plan established by the Department for a licensed hemp producer to correct a negligent violation or non-compliance with the hemp program, this chapter, or other state or federal statute. Based upon a stated breach of law or rule, a corrective action plan provides proof of and explains how past actions or omissions were compliant with law and regulation, and/or how future activities will comply with law and regulation.

(11) "Criminal History" means the results of a criminal background investigation conducted by the Department.

(12) "Culpable mental state greater than negligence" means to act intentionally, knowingly, willfully, or recklessly.

(13) "Cultivate" as defined by Tex. Agric. Code §122.001(1) means to plant, irrigate, cultivate or harvest a hemp plant.

(14) "Days" means business days unless otherwise specified.

(15) "Decarboxylation" means the removal or elimination of carboxyl group from a molecule or organic compound.

(16) "Decarboxylated" means the completion of the chemical reaction that converts THC-acid into delta-9-THC, the intoxicating component of cannabis. The decarboxylated value is also calculated using a conversion formula that sums delta-9-THC and eighty-seven and seven tenths (87.7) percent of THC-acid.

(17) "Delta-9 tetrahydrocannabinol or THC or Delta-9-THC" means the primary psychoactive component of cannabis. For the purposes of this chapter, the terms delta-9-THC and THC are interchangeable.

(18) "Department or TDA" means the Texas Department of Agriculture.

(19) "Drug Enforcement Administration or DEA" means the United States Drug Enforcement Administration.

(20) "DPS" means the Texas Department of Public Safety.

(21) "Dry weight basis" means the ratio of the amount of moisture in a sample to the amount of dry solid in a sample. Dry weight is a basis for expressing the percentage of a chemical in a substance after removing the moisture from the substance. The percentage of THC on a dry weight basis means the percentage of THC, by weight, in a cannabis item (plant, extract, or other derivative), after excluding moisture from the item.

(22) "Entity" means a corporation, general partnership, joint stock company, association, limited partnership, limited liability partnership, limited liability company, series limited liability company, irrevocable trust, estate, charitable organization, or other similar organization, including any such organization participating in hemp production as a partner in a general partnership, a participant in a joint venture, or a participant in a similar organization. The term entity includes a domestic or foreign entity defined in Texas Business Organizations Code §1.002 that will be, or proposes to be, in hemp production within the State of Texas.

(23) "Facility" means a location with a legal description and is within the legal control of a person or entity. A facility may consist of multiple fields, greenhouses, storage, and/or lots.

(24) "Farm Service Agency or FSA" means an agency of the United States Department of Agriculture.

(25) "Field" means an outdoor area of land consisting of one or more lots on which the producer will produce or store hemp.

(26) "Final test" means the last Department-authorized laboratory test conducted from a final sample collected.

(27) "Final sample" means the last Department-authorized sample collected from a lot.

(28) "Gas chromatography or GC" means a type of chromatography in analytical chemistry used to separate, identify, and quantify each component in a mixture. GC relies on heat for separating and analyzing compounds that can be vaporized without decomposition.

(29) "Geospatial location" means a location designated through a global system of navigational satellites used to determine the precise ground position of a place or object. This includes GPS coordinates.

(30) "Greenhouse" means any indoor structure consisting of one or more lots on which the producer will produce or store hemp.

(31) "Governing person" has the meaning assigned by Tex. Bus. Orgs. Code §1.002.

(32) "GPS" means Global Positioning System.

(33) "Handle" as defined by Tex. Agric. Code §122.001(3) means to possess or store a hemp plant on premises owned, operated, or controlled by a license holder for any period of time, or in a vehicle for any period of time other than during the actual transport of the plant from a premises owned, operated or controlled by a license holder to a premises owned, operated or controlled by another license holder, or a person licensed under Tex. Health & Safety Code, Chapter 443. "Handle" also means to harvest or store hemp plants or hemp plant parts prior to the delivery of such plants or plant parts for further processing. "Handle" also includes the disposal of cannabis plants that are not hemp for purposes of chemical analysis and disposal of such plants.

(34) "Harvest" means to cut, gather, take, or remove all or part of the cannabis plants growing in a lot or lots, for the purpose of disposal, cloning, distribution, processing, storage, sale, or any other use. "Harvest" does not include transplants from one lot to another lot if both lots are within the same license holder's control, and the plants are transplanted according to the hemp program rules and procedures.

(35) "Hemp" or "industrial hemp" as defined Tex. Agric. Code §121.001 means the plant species Cannabis sativa L. and any part of that plant, including the seeds thereof and all derivatives, extracts, cannabinoids, isomers, acids, salts, and salts of isomers, whether growing or not, with a delta-9 tetrahydrocannabinol concentration of not more than 0.3 percent on a dry weight basis.

(36) "Hemp research license" means a license issued to an institution of higher education to produce or handle hemp for research purposes.

(37) "High-performance liquid chromatography or HPLC" means a type of chromatography technique in analytical chemistry used to separate, identify, and quantify each component in a mixture. HPLC relies on pumps to pass a pressurized liquid solvent containing the sample mixture through a column filled with a solid adsorbent material to separate and analyze compounds.

(38) "Information sharing system" means the database which allows the Department to share Texas hemp program information with federal and state agencies.

(39) "Institution of higher education" has the meaning assigned by Texas Education Code §61.003.

(40) "Key participants" means a sole proprietor, a partner in a general partnership, a general partner in a limited partnership, or a person with executive managerial control in an entity. A person with executive managerial control includes persons such as a trustee, independent or dependent executor or administrator of an estate, chief executive officer, managing member, manager, president, vice president, general partner, chief operating officer and chief financial officer, or their equivalents. This definition does not include non-executive employees such as farm, field, or shift managers that do not make financial planning decisions and that do not vote or exercise control of an entity.

(41) "Law enforcement agency" means any federal or Texas law enforcement agency.

(42) "License" as defined by Tex. Agric. Code §122.001(6) means a hemp producer, handler, or sampler license issued by the Department.

(43) "License holder" as defined by Tex. Agric. Code §122.001(7) means an individual or business entity holding a license.

(44) "License holder who transplants" means a license holder who cultivates cannabis plants for the purpose of transplanting all living parts of those same cannabis plants according to Department rules and procedures.

(45) "Lot" means a contiguous area in a facility, field, greenhouse, or indoor growing structure containing the same variety or strain of cannabis throughout the area.

(46) "Lot permit" means a document issued by the Department authorizing a license holder to produce or handle a hemp crop within a lot.

(47) "Marijuana or marihuana" means all parts of the plant Cannabis sativa L., whether growing or not, the seeds thereof, the resin extracted from any part of such plant, and every compound, manufacture, salt, derivative, mixture, or preparation of such plant, its seeds or resin. The term "marihuana" does not include hemp and does not include the mature stalks of such plant, fiber produced from such stalks, oil or cake made from the seeds of such plant, any other compound, manufacture, salt, derivative, mixture, or preparation of such mature stalks (except the resin extracted therefrom), fiber, oil, or cake, or the sterilized seed of such plant which is incapable of germination. "Marihuana" means all cannabis that tests as having a concentration level of THC on a dry weight basis of higher than 0.3 percent.

(48) "Measurement of Uncertainty (MU)" means the parameter, associated with the result of a measurement, that characterizes the dispersion of the values that could reasonably be attributed to the particular quantity subject to measurement.

(49) "Negligence" means failure to exercise the level of care that a reasonably prudent person would exercise in complying with the regulations set forth under this chapter.

(50) "Nonconsumable hemp product" as defined by Tex. Agric. Code §122.001(8) means a product that contains hemp, other than a consumable hemp product as defined by Tex. Health & Safety Code §443.001. The term includes cloth, cordage, fiber, fuel, paint, paper, particleboard, construction materials, and plastics derived from hemp.

(51) "Person" means an individual or entity, unless otherwise indicated.

Cont'd...