[[{“value”:”
A nonprofit and two companies that make hemp products are suing the Tennessee Department of Agriculture (TDA) to try to stop the use of emergency rules that were put in place in June 2024.
The Tennessee Growers Coalition was joined by Saylor Enterprises and Gold Spectrum CBD in filing the lawsuit.
The suit claims the TDA did not comply with Tennessee’s Uniform Administrative Procedures Act, a law that centers on the use of a state agency’s rules, based on its “failure to timely process and file rules through the normal rulemaking process”.
The plaintiffs say the emergency rules were not needed and “placed extensive restrictions” on hemp manufacturers and sales.
“In those rules, it says that no department shall issue emergency rules because they just ran out of time,” said Kelley Hess, Executive Director of the Tennessee Growers Coalition.
The coalition says close to 20,000 public comments were submitted and hundreds of people shared their input during a public hearing.
“They waited to do their job,” Hess said. “They had over a year to promulgate these rules, to write these rules, to get the public comment, and give us some rules that reflect that.”
The lawsuit is asking for an injunction to make the emergency rules null and void.
Officials with the department of agriculture said they could not comment on the lawsuit when asked by Local 3 News, but said final rules must be released by October 1.
Stay with the Local 3 News app for updates to this developing story.
”}]] The suit claims the Tennessee Department of Agriculture did not comply with the state law based on its “failure to timely process and file rules through the normal rulemaking process”. Read More