Business Impact Surveys for Proposed Hemp Regulation Changes

The Nevada Department of Agriculture’s Division of Plant Health and Compliance is conducting a survey to evaluate the potential impacts of proposed revisions to Nevada Administrative Code Chapter 557 on affected businesses. 

The proposed changes are intended to align Nevada’s hemp regulations with federal definitions and requirements in order to maintain a federally compliant hemp program. According to the department, the revisions would apply only to hemp production and preharvest testing, and would not affect hemp products, postharvest uses, or the current allowable THC limit of 0.3 percent on a dry-weight basis. 

Revisions include changing some terminology. Nevada will be adopting the exact federal definition of “total THC.” Instead of looking at just delta-9 THC, “total THC” now means looking at THC and THCA. THC is the psychoactive compound, and THCA is the non-psychoactive form that turns into THC when heated. This means that labs and regulators must now look at combined THC potential, not just what shows up immediately as THC.

A general definitions rule will also be updated, so that “total THC” will be officially recognized everywhere in Nevada hemp regulations. This will ensure that the new definition is applied consistently throughout the rules.

Acceptable hemp THC level may change as well. Previously, Nevada has referenced the federal law’s definition of hemp. The proposed change is to directly reference the federal “acceptable hemp THC level” rule. This means that hemp is still capped at .3% THC, but now the measurement uses total THC, and includes a lab margin-of-error. Nevada will explicitly adopt the USDA testing standard.

Hemp testing rules are also being revised. New changes would mean that testing must convert TCHA into THC using heat, or use another federally approved method. Labs will have to test hemp as if it were going to be used, meaning they can’t exclude THCA from testing anymore. This matches USDA testing rules. If a lab result is close to the limit, the lab’s margin of error will be used. Because of the uncertainty range being considered, this helps avoid penalizations over tiny variations.

A grower cannot sell or move hemp until the state issues a report confirming the crop is complaint. Without a test result, there can be no legal sale. It is important to note that this rule already existed, but now it is tied to total THC compliance.

In summary, Nevada is updating its hemp regulations so THC testing, limits, and enforcing all exactly match federal USDA rules.

According to the Nevada Department of Agriculture, “This survey is the first step in assessing the impact of these proposed changes in accordance with Nevada Revised Statute…” The survey is voluntary, and data provided in the survey will be used to help the NDA draft a business impact statement. It will take about 5 – 10 minutes to complete, and the deadline to complete the survey is Jan. 19, 2026.

To learn more about proposed changes, or to complete the survey, visit agri.nv.gov/survey