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.
Sponsorship: 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. | ||
