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Lawmakers recently tabled a bill that sought to reduce the regulator fees hemp sellers pay to operate at pop-up events and limit the products sold at the events to those without THC. (BizSense file)
Legislation to tweak regulations on the sale of CBD and hemp products at Virginia farmers markets won’t be among the hundreds of bills heading to Gov. Glen Youngkin’s desk.
Lawmakers opted earlier this month to table Senate Bill 1483, which would have loosened the fees associated with selling CBD and hemp at events and also restricted what kinds of hemp products could be sold at farmers markets.
With the bill defeated, sellers of smokable and edible CBD products will continue to be required to pay a $1,000 registration fee for each location where they want to operate, whether they are brick-and-mortar stores or pop-up events.
SB 1483 sought to allow retailers to carry over the annual registration fee for a “primary” retail location and apply it to multiple “temporary events” such as farmers markets, according to the language of the bill.
The failed bill also would have prohibited sales of hemp products with any amount of tetrahydrocannabinol, or THC, at such events. The THC chemical found in cannabis plants is what produces the high associated with marijuana consumption. Some CBD and hemp products have small amounts of THC in them, and there are others that do not.
During the House of Delegates committee meeting where SB 1483 was tabled, the bill’s chief sponsor, Democratic Sen. Jennifer Boysko, said it would have addressed a perceived lack of clarity in 2023 legislation that changed the definition of hemp and instituted the $1,000 annual registration fee on CBD retailers, which has been required since November.
“When we passed the hemp bill a couple years ago, the language was silent on whether or not when you have a license you could go to a festival or somewhere else and set up a pop-up shop,” Boysko said.
She said paying the fee for a physical store and then paying the fee again to participate in a pop-up event was too costly for a small business to bear.
“The people who are trying to do the right thing are the ones who are being punished in this process,” Boysko said.
The bill would have required CBD sellers to alert state regulators of their intention to participate at a pop-up event at least 14 days before the event.
In arguing against the bill, Nikeya Thomas, program manager for the office of hemp enforcement at the Virginia Department of Agriculture and Consumer Services, told lawmakers that it would have created a burden on the agency’s regulation and enforcement of the hemp industry, and posed a public health safety challenge.
“It does create a loophole for other businesses to use their registration and operate other brick-and-mortar establishments as pop-up shops. Our concern is that it limits VDACS’ ability to properly regulate these retail establishments that sell these products,” Thomas told lawmakers. “In addition to that, we have a number of temporary festivals and a number of temporary events that occur not only in Richmond but the entire state, and our resources are limited.”
Thomas said VDACS has eight inspectors to monitor CBD stores in Virginia.
After passing in the Senate, SB 1483 was tabled by a House committee in mid-February. The committee didn’t return to the legislation before a deadline last week for committees to take action on bills before them. As a result the bill didn’t get voted on by the full House and therefore won’t be considered by Youngkin to potentially sign into law. The General Assembly ended its 2025 session last weekend.
State lawmakers changed the definition of what types of hemp products are legal to sell in Virginia in 2023. Currently, products with a total THC concentration of no greater than 0.3% are considered legal hemp products, and the products also must have no more than 2 milligrams of total THC per package unless the total package has at least a 25:1 ratio of CBD to THC.
“}]] With the bill defeated, sellers of smokable and edible CBD products will continue to be required to pay a $1,000 registration fee for each location they want to operate, whether they are brick-and-mortar stores or pop-up events. Read More
