Bill Text: TX HB557 | 2015-2016 | 84th Legislature | Comm Sub
Bill Title: Relating to the growth or cultivation of industrial hemp for certain research purposes.
Spectrum: Slight Partisan Bill (Democrat 2-1)
Status: (Introduced - Dead) 2015-05-14 - Placed on General State Calendar [HB557 Detail]
Download: Texas-2015-HB557-Comm_Sub.html
84R21000 BEF-D | |||
By: Farias, Simpson, Israel | H.B. No. 557 | ||
Substitute the following for H.B. No. 557: | |||
By: González | C.S.H.B. No. 557 |
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relating to the growth or cultivation of industrial hemp for | ||
certain research purposes. | ||
BE IT ENACTED BY THE LEGISLATURE OF THE STATE OF TEXAS: | ||
SECTION 1. Chapter 12, Agriculture Code, is amended by | ||
adding Section 12.050 to read as follows: | ||
Sec. 12.050. INDUSTRIAL HEMP RESEARCH. (a) In this | ||
section: | ||
(1) "Industrial hemp" means the plant Cannabis sativa | ||
L. and any part of that plant, whether growing or not, with a | ||
delta-9 tetrahydrocannabinol concentration of not more than 0.3 | ||
percent on a dry weight basis. | ||
(2) "Institution of higher education" has the meaning | ||
assigned by 20 U.S.C. Section 1001. | ||
(b) The department or an institution of higher education may | ||
grow or cultivate industrial hemp as provided by 7 U.S.C. Section | ||
5940. | ||
(c) A person does not violate Section 481.120, 481.121, or | ||
481.125, Health and Safety Code, if the person grows, cultivates, | ||
manufactures, delivers, or possesses industrial hemp, or | ||
manufactures, delivers, or possesses paraphernalia used for the | ||
cultivation or processing of industrial hemp, as part of research | ||
allowed under Subsection (b) and the person is: | ||
(1) the department or an institution of higher | ||
education participating in research allowed under Subsection (b); | ||
or | ||
(2) an employee, student, or other person affiliated | ||
with the department or an institution of higher education | ||
participating in research allowed under Subsection (b). | ||
SECTION 2. Section 481.062(a), Health and Safety Code, as | ||
amended by S.B. No. 219, Acts of the 84th Legislature, Regular | ||
Session, 2015, is amended to read as follows: | ||
(a) The following persons are not required to register and | ||
may possess a controlled substance under this chapter: | ||
(1) an agent or employee of a registered manufacturer, | ||
distributor, analyzer, or dispenser of the controlled substance | ||
acting in the usual course of business or employment; | ||
(2) a common or contract carrier, a warehouseman, or | ||
an employee of a carrier or warehouseman whose possession of the | ||
controlled substance is in the usual course of business or | ||
employment; | ||
(3) an ultimate user or a person in possession of the | ||
controlled substance under a lawful order of a practitioner or in | ||
lawful possession of the controlled substance if it is listed in | ||
Schedule V; | ||
(4) an officer or employee of this state, another | ||
state, a political subdivision of this state or another state, or | ||
the United States who is lawfully engaged in the enforcement of a | ||
law relating to a controlled substance or drug or to a customs law | ||
and authorized to possess the controlled substance in the discharge | ||
of the person's official duties; [ |
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(5) if the substance is tetrahydrocannabinol or one of | ||
its derivatives: | ||
(A) a Department of State Health Services | ||
official, a medical school researcher, or a research program | ||
participant possessing the substance as authorized under | ||
Subchapter G; or | ||
(B) a practitioner or an ultimate user possessing | ||
the substance as a participant in a federally approved therapeutic | ||
research program that the commissioner has reviewed and found, in | ||
writing, to contain a medically responsible research protocol; or | ||
(6) if the substance is industrial hemp, as defined by | ||
Section 12.050, Agriculture Code, the Department of Agriculture or | ||
an institution of higher education participating in research | ||
allowed under Section 12.050, Agriculture Code, or an employee, | ||
student, or other person affiliated with the Department of | ||
Agriculture or the institution of higher education participating in | ||
that research. | ||
SECTION 3. This Act takes effect immediately if it receives | ||
a vote of two-thirds of all the members elected to each house, as | ||
provided by Section 39, Article III, Texas Constitution. If this | ||
Act does not receive the vote necessary for immediate effect, this | ||
Act takes effect September 1, 2015. |