The federal definition of hemp is changing. H.R. 5371 caps total THC at 0.4 mg per innermost retail container (regardless of serving size or total package volume). There is no per-serving cap. Under §2019 of P.L. 119-103 that cap first applies December 11, 2026 to hemp products containing only cannabinoids capable of being naturally produced by the plant; products containing cannabinoids not capable of being naturally produced are restricted from November 12, 2026. Most cannabinoid products on shelves today — including ordinary full-spectrum CBD, not just delta-8 — will no longer qualify as hemp. If you know "something happens this fall" but don't have dates, tests, and a decision tree written down, this kit is that plan.
Download link after order verification · live state briefs · free updates through December 11, 2026 · 30-day refund, no questions asked.
The rule
A federal law enacted in November 2025 (P.L. 119-37 §781, the hemp provision of H.R. 5371) rewrites the definition of hemp. H.R. 6500 §2019 (P.L. 119-103, signed September 2, 2026) keeps most of §781's hemp restrictions from applying until December 11, 2026; synthetic cannabinoids remain restricted November 12, 2026. Three changes:
Finished products are tested against a strict total-THC limit measured on the whole retail container — not per serving. Most full-spectrum products on the market today fail it.
The plant-level test switches from delta-9 THC to total THC including THCA. Biomass and flower that pass today's test can fail the new one.
Cannabinoids synthesized outside the plant are excluded from the definition of hemp entirely — no math required.
The exact rule, stated once and verified against the enrolled bill text: H.R. 5371 caps total THC at 0.4 mg per innermost retail container (regardless of serving size or total package volume). There is no per-serving cap. Under §2019 of P.L. 119-103 that cap first applies December 11, 2026 to hemp products containing only cannabinoids capable of being naturally produced by the plant; products containing cannabinoids not capable of being naturally produced are restricted from November 12, 2026.
A product over the cap isn't "gray area" — it falls outside federal hemp, which means it's treated as marijuana under the Controlled Substances Act. Payment processors, platforms, and carriers follow that definition, and they tend to move before the legal dates.
The part most operators miss: this is not just a delta-8 story. The per-container test catches most full-spectrum CBD — the products everyone assumes are safe. The kit's worksheet walks your actual SKUs through the math so you know which bucket each one is in.
What's inside
What §781 actually does, and when, in plain English — the product test, the plant standard, the synthetic exclusion. Every number quoted from the enrolled bill text with citations.
Walk each SKU through the per-container test step by step, with worked examples and a printable triage matrix: SAFE / REFORMULATE / SELL-DOWN / KILL.
The congressional reality and the operator dates that fall out of it: the purchase-order freeze, the appropriations checkpoint, the cliff-certain declaration, the final sell-down week.
Pre-decided triggers and branches — framework, extension, injunction, defund, cliff — so a headline in October never sends you improvising. Signed law is the only trigger.
The paths to a catalog that survives: broad-spectrum and isolate bases, the HHS "similar effects" designation risk, and the COA standard that actually proves compliance.
Deep links to all 51 live HempData state briefs (50 states + DC), with statute citations and primary sources. They update as states move — no stale PDF appendix.
The bills that could change the dates, what "passed" actually means, and a monitoring routine you can run yourself — or automate.
The kit is a living document. Buyers get every update through December 11, 2026 — including a mapped decision-tree branch if Congress or the courts move.
Who it's for
You own SKUs and a customer list. You need the per-SKU verdicts, the reformulation clock, and honest sell-down timing that doesn't strand inventory — or trust.
Your customers are about to ask what survives. The worksheet and COA standard give you the answer sheet — and the reformulation primer is your Q4 sales script.
Every supplier will tell you their products are fine. The kit gives you the test to check that yourself, plus a short appendix on running the sell-down window honestly.
If you already have counsel running a §781 project with a written calendar and per-SKU verdicts — you're covered; this kit will mostly confirm your plan. It's for everyone who doesn't.
Pricing
One price, one time. There is no scheduled increase, no expiring discount and no countdown timer — if the price ever changes, this page changes first.
Digital delivery — checkout on Steve's Goods, then enter your order number and email on the access page to get your download link.
30-day refund, no questions asked. Email [email protected] within 30 days of purchase and we refund it. You keep the PDF; we're not going to argue about a file you already downloaded.
Who wrote this
I'm Steve Schultheis. I've run a hemp CBD manufacturing and retail business for a decade — poured the gummies, written the labels, shipped the orders, and answered the processor emails. My own company runs the same per-container math this kit teaches; the calendar and the triage matrix in here are the ones we use.
I also founded HempData, a verified regulatory-data company. Everything numeric in this kit is traced to primary sources — the enrolled bill text and statutes, cited inline — and gated by the same automated checks HempData runs on its own product before anything ships. Where a figure isn't verified, the kit says so instead of guessing. That's the whole editorial policy.
Why the obsession with verification? In December 2020 the FTC's "Operation CBDeceit" sweep hit the CBD industry over the claims on our websites — my company included, over a disease claim written by a content firm we'd hired. It was the industry's wake-up call, and mine. The lesson I took: if a sentence on your site can become a federal problem, you verify every sentence. HempData exists because of that lesson, and this kit is written under the same rule.
Edition
New in this edition: H.R. 6500 §2019 (P.L. 119-103, signed September 2, 2026) keeps most of §781's hemp restrictions from applying until December 11, 2026; synthetic cannabinoids remain restricted November 12, 2026. The September edition is rebuilt around that law — the two-date rule, a two-track calendar, and the decision tree worked through a signed, scoped extension: H.R. 5371 caps total THC at 0.4 mg per innermost retail container (regardless of serving size or total package volume). There is no per-serving cap. Under §2019 of P.L. 119-103 that cap first applies December 11, 2026 to hemp products containing only cannabinoids capable of being naturally produced by the plant; products containing cannabinoids not capable of being naturally produced are restricted from November 12, 2026.
Every buyer gets every edition through December 11, 2026 at no extra cost, sent to the email on the order. Bought the August edition? Re-download from the access page with your original order number — same link, new file.
Questions
No. The kit is informational — regulatory data and operator planning tools, not legal advice. It will make the conversation with your attorney shorter and cheaper, not replace it. Always consult a qualified hemp compliance attorney for legal determinations.
That's exactly what the Decision Tree and Watchlist chapters are for. The kit pre-decides what you do on a framework, an extension, an injunction, or a defund — and buyers get updates through December 11, so if the law moves, the kit moves with it. You are not buying a bet that the cliff happens; you're buying the plan for every branch.
Especially then. The new test is measured per container, and most full-spectrum CBD products fail it even though they're fully legal hemp today. The worksheet takes an afternoon and tells you exactly where your catalog stands. If everything passes, you spent an afternoon confirming you're fine — with the COA paperwork to prove it to processors and platforms.
Checkout happens on the Steve's Goods store. Take the order number and email from your order-confirmation email and enter them on the access page; once the order is verified as paid, you get a download link for the PDF plus the live state-brief links. It's usually a matter of minutes, but it is a verification step, not an instant auto-download — if your order is still pending payment, the link waits until it clears. Updates through December 11, 2026 are sent to your purchase email.
Not on any schedule we have announced. The Kit is $199, one time, and there is no dated increase on this page — no countdown timers, no expiring discount, no manufactured scarcity. If that ever changes, this page changes first and the new price applies from then on, not retroactively.
Email [email protected] within 30 days of your purchase and we refund it — no questions asked, no "what didn't you like" form. Keep the PDF; it's a file, and arguing about it would cost more than the refund. The refund exists for one reason: the only version of this that works is the one where you'd buy it again.
From the enrolled bill text (GovInfo) and statutes, cited inline, and cross-checked against HempData's canonical fact registry — the same source of truth behind hempdata.io. Numbers are quoted in canonical wording and machine-checked before publication. Where something isn't verified against a primary source, the kit labels it unverified rather than asserting it.