republic-os/legislation/us/states/va/2021/hb-2078.md

---
type: "Bill"
title: "Industrial hemp; updates laws to address the new hemp producer license."
description: "Industrial hemp; federal hemp producer license; emergency. Updates Virginia's industrial hemp laws to address the new hemp producer license issued by the U.S. Department of Agriculture. The bill changes drug laws to exclude the industrial hemp possessed by a federally licensed hemp producer from the definition of \"marijuana\" and to exclude certain amounts of tetrahydrocannabinol (THC) in such industrial hemp from the prohibition on THC. The bill exempts federally licensed hemp producers from state industrial hemp registration requirements and adds such producers to the list of those eligible to receive funds from the Tobacco Indemnification and Community Revitalization Fund.The bill provides that no grower, agent of such grower, or federally licensed producer shall be prosecuted for possession of industrial hemp or Cannabis sativa with a THC concentration that does not exceed the concentration established in certain federal regulations and prohibits the Commissioner of Agriculture and Consumer Services from deeming a grower negligent if the grower makes reasonable efforts to grow industrial hemp but grows Cannabis sativa with a THC concentration that does not exceed the concentration established in federal regulations.The bill makes other changes to industrial hemp laws, including (i) limiting the application fee for registration of growers, dealers, and producers to $250; (ii) excluding from the definition of \"dealer\" any retail establishment that sells a completed product containing industrial hemp; (iii) making optional the monitoring and random testing of industrial hemp by the Commissioner and authorizing the random sampling of such hemp; (iv) removing the requirement that the Attorney General of the United States be notified when a Virginia grower, dealer, or processor exceeds the federal THC limit; and (v) directing the Commissioner to adopt regulations establishing a fee structure for registration.Finally, the bill exempts employees of the Virginia Department of Agriculture and Consumer Services from prosecution for possession or distribution of industrial hemp when possession is necessary in the performance of their duties. The bill contains an emergency clause."
jurisdiction: "us/states/va"
legislature: "Virginia General Assembly"
session: "2021"
identifier: "HB 2078"
citation: "Virginia HB 2078 (2021)"
classification: ["bill"]
subjects: []
status: "enacted"
primary_sponsors: ["Daniel W. Marshall, III"]
version_count: 4
action_count: 40
vote_count: 10
first_action: "2021-01-12"
last_action: "2021-03-12"
source: "openstates"
source_identifier: "ocd-bill/fd3617d1-cef0-4f06-ba06-6a645becfa95"
source_url: "https://lis.virginia.gov/cgi-bin/legp604.exe?212+sum+HB2078"
source_hash: "4e6bbac5d779682d93e2a6383be8dfaf81caefd6ac1b5ab3e77bc21865483042"
vintage: "2026-07-01"
source_snapshot: "https://data.openstates.org/daily/2026-07-01/public.pgdump"
retrieved_at: "2026-07-06"
confidence: "reported"
tags: ["legislation", "bill", "us-va"]
---

# Virginia HB 2078 (2021) — Industrial hemp; updates laws to address the new hemp producer license.

Industrial hemp; federal hemp producer license; emergency. Updates Virginia's industrial hemp laws to address the new hemp producer license issued by the U.S. Department of Agriculture. The bill changes drug laws to exclude the industrial hemp possessed by a federally licensed hemp producer from the definition of "marijuana" and to exclude certain amounts of tetrahydrocannabinol (THC) in such industrial hemp from the prohibition on THC. The bill exempts federally licensed hemp producers from state industrial hemp registration requirements and adds such producers to the list of those eligible to receive funds from the Tobacco Indemnification and Community Revitalization Fund.The bill provides that no grower, agent of such grower, or federally licensed producer shall be prosecuted for possession of industrial hemp or Cannabis sativa with a THC concentration that does not exceed the concentration established in certain federal regulations and prohibits the Commissioner of Agriculture and Consumer Services from deeming a grower negligent if the grower makes reasonable efforts to grow industrial hemp but grows Cannabis sativa with a THC concentration that does not exceed the concentration established in federal regulations.The bill makes other changes to industrial hemp laws, including (i) limiting the application fee for registration of growers, dealers, and producers to $250; (ii) excluding from the definition of "dealer" any retail establishment that sells a completed product containing industrial hemp; (iii) making optional the monitoring and random testing of industrial hemp by the Commissioner and authorizing the random sampling of such hemp; (iv) removing the requirement that the Attorney General of the United States be notified when a Virginia grower, dealer, or processor exceeds the federal THC limit; and (v) directing the Commissioner to adopt regulations establishing a fee structure for registration.Finally, the bill exempts employees of the Virginia Department of Agriculture and Consumer Services from prosecution for possession or distribution of industrial hemp when possession is necessary in the performance of their duties. The bill contains an emergency clause.

## Version chain

The bill's text revisions, in order — the diff chain from filing to enrollment.

1. **CHAP0110** (committee substitute) — [source](https://lis.virginia.gov/cgi-bin/legp604.exe?212+ful+CHAP0110)
2. **Committee substitute printed 21103954D-H1** (committee substitute) — [source](https://lis.virginia.gov/cgi-bin/legp604.exe?212+ful+HB2078H1)
3. **HB2078ER** (committee substitute) — [source](https://lis.virginia.gov/cgi-bin/legp604.exe?212+ful+HB2078ER)
4. **Prefiled and ordered printed with emergency clause; offered 01/13/21 21102692D** (committee substitute) — [source](https://lis.virginia.gov/cgi-bin/legp604.exe?212+ful+HB2078)

## Votes

- Reconsideration of Senate passage agreed to by Senate (39-Y 0-N) — **39–0** (pass) · upper
- Passed Senate (38-Y 0-N) — **38–0** (pass) · upper
- Constitutional reading dispensed (39-Y 0-N) — **39–0** (pass) · upper
- Reported from Agriculture, Chesapeake and Natural Resources with amendment(s) (22-Y 0-N) — **22–0** (pass) · lower
- Reported from Agriculture, Chesapeake and Natural Resources with substitute (22-Y 0-N) — **22–0** (pass) · lower
- Continued to 2021 Sp. Sess. 1 in Agriculture, Conservation and Natural Resources (14-Y 0-N) — **14–0** (pass) · upper
- VOTE: Passage Emergency (77-Y 22-N 1-A) — **76–22** (pass) · lower
- VOTE: Passage Emergency #2 (87-Y 10-N 2-A) — **86–10** (pass) · lower
- Passed Senate (39-Y 0-N) — **39–0** (pass) · upper
- Reported from Agriculture, Conservation and Natural Resources (13-Y 0-N) — **13–0** (pass) · upper

## Sponsors

- Daniel W. Marshall, III — primary (person)
- James E. Edmunds, II — cosponsor (person)
- Mark L. Keam — cosponsor (person)

## Timeline

The legislative action history — every referral, reading, and vote.

- **2021-01-12** Prefiled and ordered printed with emergency clause; offered 01/13/21 21102692D `introduction`
- **2021-01-12** Referred to Committee on Agriculture, Chesapeake and Natural Resources `referral-committee`
- **2021-01-20** Reported from Agriculture, Chesapeake and Natural Resources with amendment(s) (22-Y 0-N) `committee-passage`
- **2021-01-21** Impact statement from DPB (HB2078)
- **2021-01-21** Read first time `reading-1`
- **2021-01-22** Passed by for the day
- **2021-01-22** Passed by for the day
- **2021-01-25** Motion to rerefer to committee agreed to
- **2021-01-25** Rereferred to Agriculture, Chesapeake and Natural Resources `referral-committee`
- **2021-02-03** House committee, floor amendments and substitutes offered
- **2021-02-03** Reported from Agriculture, Chesapeake and Natural Resources with substitute (22-Y 0-N) `committee-passage`
- **2021-02-03** Committee substitute printed 21103954D-H1 `substitution`
- **2021-02-03** Read first time `reading-1`
- **2021-02-04** Read second time `reading-2`
- **2021-02-04** Committee on Agriculture, Chesapeake and Natural Resources amendments rejected
- **2021-02-04** Committee on Agriculture, Chesapeake and Natural Resources substitute agreed to 21103954D-H1
- **2021-02-04** Engrossed by House - committee substitute HB2078H1
- **2021-02-05** Read third time and defeated by House (77-Y 22-N 1-A) `failure`
- **2021-02-05** VOTE: Passage Emergency (77-Y 22-N 1-A)
- **2021-02-05** Constitutional reading dispensed
- **2021-02-05** Reconsideration of defeated action agreed to by House
- **2021-02-05** Referred to Committee on Agriculture, Conservation and Natural Resources `referral-committee`
- **2021-02-05** Passed by temporarily
- **2021-02-05** Passed House (87-Y 10-N 2-A) `passage`
- **2021-02-05** VOTE: Passage Emergency #2 (87-Y 10-N 2-A)
- **2021-02-05** Continued to 2021 Sp. Sess. 1 in Agriculture, Conservation and Natural Resources (14-Y 0-N)
- **2021-02-15** Impact statement from DPB (HB2078H1)
- **2021-02-16** Reported from Agriculture, Conservation and Natural Resources (13-Y 0-N) `committee-passage`
- **2021-02-17** Constitutional reading dispensed (39-Y 0-N)
- **2021-02-18** Read third time `reading-3`
- **2021-02-18** Passed Senate (38-Y 0-N) `passage`
- **2021-02-18** Reconsideration of Senate passage agreed to by Senate (39-Y 0-N)
- **2021-02-18** Passed Senate (39-Y 0-N) `passage`
- **2021-02-22** Enrolled
- **2021-02-22** Impact statement from DPB (HB2078ER)
- **2021-02-22** Signed by President
- **2021-02-24** Signed by Speaker
- **2021-02-25** Enrolled Bill communicated to Governor on February 25, 2021
- **2021-02-25** Governor's Action Deadline 11:59 p.m., March 31, 2021
- **2021-03-12** Approved by Governor-Chapter 110 (effective 3/12/21) `executive-signature`

## Source

OpenStates / OpenCivicData bulk snapshot [2026-07-01](https://data.openstates.org/daily/2026-07-01/public.pgdump); origin `ocd-bill/fd3617d1-cef0-4f06-ba06-6a645becfa95`. Confidence: reported (aggregated from official Virginia legislature records).