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Illinois Department of Agriculture (IDOA) staff
drafted proposed rules after the Industrial Hemp Act was signed
into law in August 2018. This new law allows individuals or
corporations licensed through IDOA to cultivate industrial hemp.
IDOA will also register individuals or corporations that will
process industrial hemp.
During the First Notice comment period, IDOA received dozens of
comments from the public and various associations related to
Illinois agriculture. “There’s a tremendous amount of interest
from farmers across the state for this new industry. We heard
from about a hundred farmers and organizations. We’re now
reviewing the comments we received and are making adjustments as
needed to our proposed rules – we’ll get those changes over to
JCAR as quickly as we can,” said IDOA Acting Director John M.
Sullivan.
The public comments will now be compiled and addressed by IDOA
in an analysis to be submitted to the Joint Committee on
Administrative Rules, or JCAR, a bipartisan commission of
legislators that equally represent both the House and Senate.
That analysis may also include any changes IDOA wishes to make
to the proposed industrial hemp regulations.
Once IDOA submits its comment responses and any proposed rule
modifications to JCAR for review, that will open the Second
Notice period. During that at least 45-day period, public
comments on the updated proposed rules should be submitted
directly to JCAR by letter, fax, phone, or email. IDOA will
publish instructions on its website as to how to submit comments
to JCAR once the Second Notice period is open.
As soon as the rules are finalized and approved by JCAR, IDOA
will begin accepting applications for industrial hemp licenses
and registrations.
[Illinois Department of Agriculture]
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