An estimated 3,332 acres of hemp were grown in California in 2020, down from an estimated 21,844 acres in 2019 (CDFA only reports licensed acres) On this page you will find California hemp law along with a history of how California hemp bills have progressed through the State capitol over the years. We also provide links to important information concerning California hemp programs and state agency advisories or opinion letters.
California Department of Food & Agriculture hemp page
CDFA Hemp Licensing Regulations – DPH-22-002E Industrial Hemp Fee
California Industrial Hemp Law (PDF)
California Proposition 64 text with hemp language (PDF)
California Attorney General (Kamala Harris) legal opinion on hemp cultivation – 6/6/14
California Crop Improvement Association Industrial Hemp Seed Certification Standards
Vote Hemp responds to misguided California Dept. of Health statement on CBD – 7/23/18
Vote Hemp one pager on CBD – 8/16/18
On Wednesday October 6, 2021, AB 45 was Signed into law by Governor Newsom. The official announcement can be...
On Monday October 4th, Governor Gavin Newsom signed SB 292 (Wilk), the CHC sponsored measure that will conform California...
Our multiyear effort to address the issuance of a California Department of Public Health (CDPH) FAQ in July of...
California Industrial Hemp Law (PDF)
2021
SB 292
This bill requires hemp sampling to occur within a timeframe determined by the department. The bill requires a registrant to destroy or dispose of the industrial hemp grown upon receipt of a laboratory test result described above. The bill requires that laboratory test reports of hemp include the measurement of uncertainty, as defined, associated with the test results. The bill also requires laboratories to use appropriate, validated methods and procedures for all testing activities, including when estimating the measurement of uncertainty. By adding new requirements for hemp testing, the violation of which could be a crime, this bill would impose a state-mandated local program.
Position: Vote Hemp is a sponsor of this bill
Status: Signed into law by Gov. Newsom on Oct. 4, 2021
This bill requires a manufacturer of dietary supplements and food that includes industrial hemp to register with the State Department of Public Health and to be able to demonstrate that all parts of the plant used come from a state or country that has an established and approved industrial hemp program, as defined, that inspects or regulates hemp under a food safety program or equivalent criteria to ensure safety for human or animal consumption and that the industrial hemp cultivator or grower is in good standing and compliance with the governing laws of the state or country of origin.
This bill would state that a dietary supplement, food, beverage, cosmetic, or pet food is not adulterated by the inclusion of industrial hemp or cannabinoids, extracts, or derivatives from industrial hemp if those substances meet specified requirements, and would prohibit restrictions on the sale of dietary supplements, food, beverages, cosmetics, or pet food that include industrial hemp or cannabinoids, extracts, or derivatives from industrial hemp based solely on the inclusion of those substances.
The bill prohibits a manufacturer, distributor, or seller of an industrial hemp product from including on the label, or publishing or disseminating in advertising or marketing, a health-related statement, as defined, that is untrue in any particular manner as to the effects on health of consuming products containing industrial hemp or cannabinoids, extracts, or derivatives from industrial hemp. By creating a new crime, this bill would impose a state-mandated local program.
This bill establishes a registration process, under the State Department of Public Health, for hemp manufacturers who produce specified products that include industrial hemp or who produce raw hemp extract, as defined, including requirements for testing and labeling on products. The bill defines “THC” for these purposes and would authorize the department to include or exclude comparable compounds from the definition of THC for purposes of regulation as industrial hemp based on the compound’s intoxicating effect, or lack thereof. The bill authorizes the department to collect specified fees, which would be used, upon appropriation, to implement the program. By creating a new crime, this bill would impose a state-mandated local program.
This bill, upon the enactment of a tax on inhalable products, would require the CDPH to regulate those products, as specified, or enter into a memorandum of understanding or other interagency agreement with another state agency to do so. Until that tax is enacted, the bill prohibits the manufacture and sale of inhalable products, except for the sole purpose of sale out of state.
This bill requires the Department of Cannabis Control to prepare a report to the Governor and the Legislature outlining the steps necessary for the incorporation of hemp products into the cannabis supply chain, as specified. The bill would also require the Department of Food and Agriculture and the State Department of Public Health, in consultation with the Department of Cannabis Control, if necessary, to develop a process to share license, registration, cultivar, and enforcement information to facilitate compliance and enforcement against unlicensed manufacturers or the sale of hemp that does not meet specified requirements. The bill would make communications shared between these agencies and local law enforcement for this purpose exempt from the California Public Records Act.
Existing constitutional provisions require that a statute that limits the right of access to the meetings of public bodies or the writings of public officials and agencies be adopted with findings demonstrating the interest protected by the limitation and the need for protecting that interest. This bill would make legislative findings to that effect.
Position: Vote Hemp is a sponsor of this bill
Status: Signed into law by Gov. Newsom on Oct. 6, 2021
2019
SB 153
This bill would revise the provisions regulating the cultivation and testing of industrial hemp to conform with the requirements for a state plan under the federal Agricultural Marketing Act of 1946, as amended by the federal Agriculture Improvement Act of 2018, by, among other things, revising the definition of industrial hemp, expanding the registration requirements to apply to growers of industrial hemp for noncommercial as well as commercial purposes, imposing new requirements on the department and county agricultural commissioners for the handling and transmittal of registration information, imposing new testing requirements, providing new enforcement procedures, to be operative as of the effective date of an approved state plan, as defined, and imposing new conditions on eligibility to participate in the industrial hemp program, as defined. By expanding registration requirements, including payment of registration fees, to growers of industrial hemp for noncommercial purposes, the bill would establish a new source of revenue for a continuously appropriated fund, thus making an appropriation.
The bill would require the Secretary of Food and Agriculture, in consultation with the Governor and the Attorney General, to develop and submit a state plan to the United States Secretary of Agriculture, as provided, on or before January 31, 2020.
By imposing new registration requirements on growers of industrial hemp for noncommercial purposes, the violation of which would be a misdemeanor, this bill would impose a state-mandated local program.
By increasing the duties of county agricultural commissioners, this bill would impose a state-mandated local program.
Position: Vote Hemp is the sponsor of this bill
Status: Signed into law by Gov. Newsom on Oct. 12, 2019
AB 228
This bill would state that a food, beverage, or cosmetic is not adulterated by the inclusion of industrial hemp or cannabinoids, extracts, or derivatives from industrial hemp, and would prohibit restrictions on the sale of food, beverages, or cosmetics that include industrial hemp or cannabinoids, extracts, or derivatives from industrial hemp based solely on the inclusion of industrial hemp or cannabinoids, extracts, or derivatives from industrial hemp. The bill would specify that a food, beverage, cosmetic, or other product that contains industrial hemp-derived tetrahydrocannabinol (THC) in concentrations above 0.3% by product weight is subject to the provisions of MAUCRSA.
Position: Support
2018
SB 1409
(1) Existing law governs the growth of industrial hemp and imposes specified procedures and requirements on a person who grows industrial hemp, not including an established agricultural research institution. Existing law defines “industrial hemp” to be the same as that term is defined in the California Uniform Controlled Substances Act, which defines that term as a fiber or oilseed crop, or both, that is limited to the nonpsychoactive types of the plant Cannabis sativa L. and the seed produced from that plant, and that meets other specified criteria. Existing law requires that industrial hemp only be grown if it is on the list of approved hemp seed cultivars, which includes industrial hemp seed cultivars certified on or before January 1, 2013, by specific organizations, except as specified. Existing law requires industrial hemp to be grown only as a densely planted fiber or oilseed crop, or both, in minimum acreages, as provided, except as specified. Existing law prohibits the ornamental and clandestine cultivation of industrial hemp plants, and, except under specified circumstances, pruning and tending of individual industrial hemp plants and culling of industrial hemp.
Existing law requires a grower of industrial hemp, as specified, and a seed breeder, as defined, to register with the county agricultural commissioner and to pay a registration or renewal fee, as specified. Existing law requires that the fees be deposited into the Department of Food and Agriculture Fund and continuously appropriated for use in the administration and enforcement of these provisions. Existing law requires that an application for registration include information about the approved seed cultivar to be grown and whether the seed cultivar will be grown for its grain or fiber, or as a dual purpose crop, or, in the case of a seed breeder, for seed production.
This bill would delete the requirement that industrial hemp seed cultivars be certified on or before January 1, 2013, in order to be included on the list of approved hemp seed cultivars. The bill would also delete the prohibitions on ornamental cultivation of industrial hemp plants, pruning and tending of individual industrial hemp plants, and culling of industrial hemp. By establishing removing limitations on the types of industrial hemp seed cultivars that may be cultivated, and the purposes for which they may be cultivated, with payment of a registration or renewal fee, this bill would establish new sources of revenue for a continuously appropriated fund, the bill would make thereby making an appropriation. The bill would authorize a county agricultural commissioner or a county, as appropriate, to retain the amount of a registration or renewal fee necessary to reimburse direct costs incurred by the commissioner in the collection of the fee. The bill would also authorize the board of supervisors of a county to establish a registration or renewal fee to cover other costs of the county agricultural commissioner and the county of implementing, administering, and enforcing these provisions, as provided.
Under the bill, “industrial hemp” would no longer be defined in the California Uniform Controlled Substances Act as a fiber or oilseed crop. The bill would delete the requirement that industrial hemp be grown as a fiber or oilseed crop, or both. The bill would also delete the requirement that an application for registration include information about whether a seed cultivar is being grown for its grain or fiber, or as a dual purpose crop.
The bill would authorize a city or county, by local ordinance, to prohibit growers or seed breeders from conducting, or otherwise limit growers’ or seed breeders’ conduct of, industrial hemp cultivation, regardless of whether growers or seed breeders meet, or are exempt from, the registration requirements in the above-described provisions or any other law. The bill would authorize a city or county, by local ordinance and upon making a specified finding, to prohibit growers from conducting, or otherwise limit growers’ conduct of, industrial hemp cultivation, regardless of whether growers meet, or are exempt from, the registration requirements in the above-described provisions or any other law.
(2) Existing federal law, the Agricultural Act of 2014, authorizes an institution of higher education, as defined, or a state department of agriculture, as defined, to grow or cultivate industrial hemp under an agricultural pilot program, as defined, under certain conditions, including the condition that a state department of agriculture is authorized to promulgate regulations to carry out the pilot program in accordance with specified purposes.
The bill would also authorize the department, as part of the industrial hemp registration program, to establish and carry out, by regulation, an agricultural pilot program pursuant to the federal Agricultural Act of 2014 in accordance with those specified purposes.
Position: Vote Hemp is the sponsor of this bill.
Status: Signed into law by Gov. Brown’s on Sept. 30, 2018
2014
SB 1304
Amends S.64, S.81006 is maintenance of the codes legislation that does not make substantive changes to existing law. It includes previously passed hemp legislation.
Position: Support
Status: Approved by Gov. Brown on June 28, 2014
2013
SB 566
An act to add Division 24 (commencing with Section 81000) to, and to repeal Section 81003 of, the Food and Agricultural Code, and to amend Section 11018 of, and to add Section 11018.5 to, the Health and Safety Code, relating to industrial hemp. Introduced on 2/22/13. Download the text of SB 566 as chaptered here (PDF file 294k).
Position: Support
Status: Signed by Governor Brown on 9/27/13.
An act to amend Section 11018 of, and to add Section 11018.5 to, the Health and Safety Code, relating to industrial hemp. Introduced on 2/22/13. Download the text of AB 1137 as Introduced here (PDF file 205k).
2011
SB 676
An Act relating to industrial hemp. Introduced on 2/18/11. Passed the Senate on a vote of 26 to 13 on 9/8/2011. Passed the Assembly on a vote of 49 to 22 on 9/7/2011. Download the text of SB 676 as Introduced here (PDF file 164k). Download the text of SB 676 as amended and Passed in the Senate here (PDF file 164k).
Status: Vetoed by Governor Brown on 10/09/2011. Read the text of the Governor’s SB 676 Veto Message (PDF).
2008
AB 684
An act to amend Section 11018 of, and to add Section 11018.5 to, the Health and Safety Code, relating to industrial hemp. Download the text of AB 684 as Introduced here (PDF file 156k). Download the text of AB 684 as Enrolled here (PDF file 100k)
Status: Vetoed by Governor Schwarzenegger on 10/11/2008. Download the text of the Governor’s Veto Message here (PDF file 12k).
2007
AB 684
An act to amend Section 11018 of, and to add Section 11018.5 to, the Health and Safety Code, relating to industrial hemp. Introduced on 2/21/07. Passed out of the General Assembly on 5/10/07 by a vote of 41 to 29. Passed the Senate Agriculture Committee by a vote of 3-1 on 7/3/2007. Passed the Senate Public Safety Committee by a vote of 3-2on 7/10/2007. Re-referred to the Senate Appropriations Committee. Passed the Senate Appropriations Committee by a vote of 9-1 on 8/21/2007. Passed the Senate by a vote of 26-13 on 9/11/2007. In the Assembly the concurrence vote was 46-29 on 9/12/2007. Download the text of AB 684 as Introduced here (PDF file 156k). Download the text of AB 684 as Enrolled here (PDF file 100k).
Status: Vetoed by Governor Schwarzenegger on 10/11/07. Download the text of the Governor’s Veto Message here (PDF file 12k).
2006
AB 1147
Amends sections of the Health and Safety Code, relating to industrial hemp, and defines the plant as distinct from marijuana. Held over from 2005 (see below). Heard on 1/10/06 before the Assembly Public Safety Committee (passed 4 to 2) and on 1/18/06 before the Assembly Appropriations Committee (passed 13 to 3). Passed out of the General Assembly on 1/26/06 by a vote of 44 to 32. Then made it out of a couple Senate Committees and passed out of the full Senate on 8/16/06 by a vote of 26 to 13. Passed out of the Assembly again on a concurrence vote (for Senate amendments) of 44 to 29 on 8/21/06. Enrolled and sent to the Governor on 9/5/06
for his signature. Vetoed by Gov. Schwarzenegger on 9/30/06.
Download the text of AB 1147 as Introduced here (PDF file 490k).
Download the text of AB 1147 as Enrolled here (PDF file 83k).
Download the text of the Governor’s Veto Message here (PDF file 19k).
2005
AB 1147
Amends sections of the Health and Safety Code, relating to industrial hemp, and defines the plant as distinct from marijuana. Introduced on 2/22/05. Heard on 4/27/05 before the Agriculture Committee. Held over until 2006.
2002
AB 388
Passed on 8/15/02, but vetoed by Gov. Davis on 9/15/02.
Download the text of AB 388 as Introduced here (PDF file 43k).
Download the text of AB 388 as Enrolled here (PDF file 43k).
Download the text of Gov. Davis veto message
2001
AB 448
Died in committee.
Download the text of AB 448 as Introduced here (PDF file 43k).
Download the text of AB 448 as Amended here (PDF file 43k).
1999
HR 32
Passed into law.
Download the text of HR 32 here (PDF file 43k).