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Page 9 C O L O R A D O R I V E R I N D I A N T R I B E S CONTINUED FROM PAGE 8 Colorado River Indian Tribes is the first tribe in Arizona approved to grow industrial hemp Background In order for tribes to fully participate, and not give full licensure control to the USDA, they had to come up with their own intentions and decisions about what they are going to do with hemp. This Hemp plan in place is the only way the tribes can have the power to issue their own licenses and regulate this commodity on their lands. If they could not achieve this, then it would have fallen under the jurisdiction of the USDA to issue licenses and regulate Hemp crops. So, the purpose of the Colorado River Indian Tribes Hemp plan is not only to allow the tribes an opportunity to grow hemp, but it is also an-- assertion of sovereignty. After drafting this Hemp code, they submitted it to the USDA for approval; the USDA approved it on January 27, granting the Colorado River Indian Tribes the authority to administer their own domestic hemp program on their private lands. This hearing is the second to the final step of the legal process on the reservation to adopt this Hemp Code as law. Now that the tribes’ Hemp code has been received and approved under the USDA’s requirements, after this hearing, the final step will be for Tribal Council to approve it. Upon approval, the tribe will begin establishing a reg- ulatory body that will issue licenses to grow hemp under this code, they will also be responsible for monitoring the grows, and compliance of the crops under Federal law. The hearing then opened for questions: Q - Will farmers be able to ride those shirttails of the tribes and be able to grow and have their own crops? A - Yes, this is not limited to just the tribes itself growing hemp, other farmers will have the opportunity to obtain their own licenses (following the parameters) within this code to obtain a license to grow hemp. Q - Would the testing, regulations, and everything go through the tribe’s agency? A - Correct. When the tribe approves this code, the tribal council will then create a regulatory agency to oversee or administer their own hemp growing program. They may choose to put these duties within an existing tribal agency. Then that agency will create the application process, the background checks, issuing the licensing, and they will be the agency responsible for ensuring that the inspections and the testing occur of the hemp. It will be an outside entity that will do the testing, but it will be the responsibil- ity of the agency to make sure that testing is occurring. Q - What is your forecasted timeline? A - To developing this agency? That has not been deter- mined yet. Once this Hemp code gets passed and depend- ing on the demand of licenses. The tribal council will dis- cuss how to move forward on whether to create a stand- alone agency or if they would be able to put these respon- sibilities on an existing entity or department. Q - Do you have a tentative timeline to when you would like to see the crop being cultivated? A -Ideally the tribe was more hopeful for a spring season, but we don’t see that it is practical at this point, so it would likely be whatever the next potential growing season is. Q - Is there any distinction made between growing hemp on tribal land as opposed to say individually owned land? A - Both tribal lands and individually allotted land would all be subject to the same code provisions. Q - Have there been any growing sites identified yet? A - I am not aware of any specific growing sites that have been identified. I do know, one of my understandings from a practical standpoint is that there are some potential issues with how different close sites are to each other, because of seeds and cross-pollination and such. That will be one thing that the agency will work out. Q - Would (the code) cover research growing activities of hemp? A - Yes, well, the original 2014 Farm Bill is what was put in place that allowed more research-based hemp growing. This code would cover ALL hemp growing – whether it is for commercial, industrial, or research- any hemp growing on the reservation would be covered under this code. Q - Does the tribe plan on mirroring the AZ Dept. of Agriculture’s Hemp program? They offer a total of five licenses for growers, harvesters, transporters, processors, and nurseries. A - At this point, it is not set up to be that separated; this is just a license for hemp production. Q - Will we be able to produce it, harvest it, store it, transport it all under this one license? A - You will if the entity that is doing all of these steps is the same. If you are using another entity to do another phase of the process, that entity will have to get their own license. Presuming, you are one entity that is taking responsibility for all of those steps, then it will all fall under the one license. If it is a separate entity that is taking control of the product at some point, then they would need that license. Q - Will you have a person or persons inspecting the farmers periodically? A - Yes. Within the code, there is an inspection section, where it does say the tribe shall conduct scheduled inspec- tions of all hemp growers and growing sites at least once per growing season. Also, the purpose is to verify compli- ance with all the requirements as well as applicable tribal and federal law. Sampling to test the hemp products THC levels will take place. CONTINUED PAGE 10