License Application And Fees

(1) All persons to whom these rules apply shall obtain a license in accordance with this chapter. (2) Application for any license under this chapter shall be made on forms provided by the department, which shall be completed in full and shall include: (a) Name of the applicant; (b) Date of birth for any applicant who is an individual or a partner in a general partnership; (c) Proof of one of the following for any applicant that is not an individual or a partner in a general partnership: 1. Applicant’s registration in its state of incorporation; 2. Applicant’s registration with the Tennessee Department of Revenue; or, PLANT SALES AND DISTRIBUTION CHAPTER 0080-06-01 3. Applicant’s business license issued by a local governmental authority; (d) Contact information for applicant, to include name of person legally responsible for applicant’s operations, telephone number, email address, address of the principal place of business, and address of the facility to be licensed; (e) Name and address of applicant’s registered agent for service of process, if any; (f) Identification of plants intended to be grown and sources of plants intended to be kept for sale or distribution during the licensure year; (g) Other information as necessary for departmental certification of plants or regulated articles. (3) Licensees shall notify the department of any changes to the information or contents of an application within 30 days after the change takes place. (4) Applicants for licensure shall include with their application payment of an annual license fee as appropriate for the following categories of licenses. (a) Greenhouse License. A greenhouse license is required for each location where a person uses a greenhouse to grow or propagate nursery stock or annual plants for sale or distribution on a commercial basis. The annual fee for a greenhouse license is assessed under T.C.A. § 43-1-703(f) and is determined according to the size of the total growing or propagating area for plants under greenhouse structure(s), as follows: 1. Less than 600 square feet: Tier 4 fee; 2. 600 to 1,000 square feet: Tier 6 fee; 3. 1,001 to 25,000 square feet: Tier 7 fee; 4. More than 25,000 square feet: Tier 9 fee. (b) Nursery License. A nursery license is required for each location where a person grows or propagates nursery stock or annual plants for sale or distribution on a commercial basis. The annual fee for a nursery license is assessed under T.C.A. § 43-1-703(f) and is determined according to the size of the total growing or propagating area for plants, as follows: 1. Less than 600 square feet: Tier 4 fee; 2. 600 square feet to one acre: Tier 6 fee; 3. More than one acre to 25 acres: Tier 7 fee; 4. More than 25 acres: Tier 9 fee. (c) Plant Dealer License. A plant dealer license is required for each location where a person who is not the original grower of nursery stock or annual plants sells, offers for sale, distributes, or holds the plants for distribution on a commercial basis. The annual fee for a plant dealer license is assessed under T.C.A. § 43-1-703(f) and is determined according to the size of the area where plants are sold, offered for sale, distributed, or held for distribution, as follows: PLANT SALES AND DISTRIBUTION CHAPTER 0080-06-01 1. Less than 101 square feet: Tier 2 fee; 2. 101 to 4,000 square feet: Tier 6 fee; 3. 4,001 to 20,000 square feet: Tier 7 fee; 4. 20,001 to 32,500 square feet: Tier 9 fee; 5. More than 32,500 square feet: Tier 10 fee. (d) Florist License. A florist license is required for each location where a person otherwise subject to licensure as a plant dealer is engaged in business as a florist. The fee for a florist license is a Tier 2 annual fee under T.C.A. § 43-1-703(f). (e) Landscaper License. A landscaper license is required for any person engaged in business as a landscaper. The fee for a landscaper license is a Tier 6 annual fee under T.C.A. § 43-1-703(f). (f) Wild Plant Collector License. A wild plant collector license is required for any person who acquires wild plants to be grown or kept for sale or distribution on a commercial basis. The fee for a wild plant collector license is a Tier 5 annual fee under T.C.A. § 43- 1-703(f). (g) Sweet Potato License. A sweet potato license is required for any person who sells, offers for sale, distributes, holds for distribution, or holds as certified stock on a commercial basis any viable sweet potato plant or plant part. The fee for a sweet potato license is a Tier 5 annual fee under T.C.A. § 43-1-703(f). (h) Turfgrass License. A turfgrass license is required for any person who sells, offers for sale, distributes, or holds for distribution certified turfgrass sod on a commercial basis. A turfgrass license issued under this part shall serve as departmental certification that turfgrass sod sold or held by the licensee is apparently free of pests, pest plants, disease, weeds, and other grasses. The fee for a turfgrass license is a Tier 5 annual fee under T.C.A. § 43-1-703(f). (i) Educational/Nonprofit Plant Organization License. An educational/nonprofit plant organization license may be issued to any person in lieu of any license otherwise required under this chapter. A person may be eligible for an educational/nonprofit plant organization license if the person operates primarily as an educational or nonprofit organization. There is no fee for an educational/nonprofit plant organization license; however, proof of the licensee’s valid status as an educational or nonprofit organization in the person’s state of incorporation may be required by the department prior to issuing the license. (j) The fee for any license under this chapter shall be waived for any licensee not primarily engaged in the business of producing and selling plants or seedlings. (5) It is the intent of the department that licensees not be unduly required to pay multiple license fees under this chapter. In order to minimize requirements for multiple licenses, the department may, in lieu of requiring separate licensure for ancillary plant operations, determine in its discretion the primary business of any licensee and aggregate under the fee structure of that business license category any additional areas of the licensee’s ancillary operations where plants are grown, sold, offered for sale, distributed or held for distribution on a commercial basis. PLANT SALES AND DISTRIBUTION CHAPTER 0080-06-01 (6) The fee for nematode sample analysis is a Tier 1 fee under T.C.A. § 43-1-703(f). No nematode sample analysis shall be conducted by the department prior to receipt of the analysis fee. (7) The fee for phytosanitary certificates shall be equivalent to those of the United States Department of Agriculture, Animal Health Inspection Service (USDA APHIS), as set in 7 C.F.R. § 354.3. (8) An applicant for licensure under this chapter shall remit its application and annual license fee to the department on or before July 1 of each year. All licenses issued under this chapter shall expire on June 30 following their issuance. If an applicant for renewal fails to remit payment of the license fee on or before July 16 of the licensure year for which renewal is sought, the applicant shall also be required to pay a late charge assessed under T.C.A. § 43-1-703 prior to renewal of the applicant’s license. (9) Applications for licensure may be denied where applicants do not undergo prior to the licensure year an adequate inspection of their plants necessary for certification. Applicants are encouraged to notify the department as early as possible of their intention to seek licensure so that adequate inspection of plants can be conducted prior to the licensure year. (10) The department may deny any application for licensure that is not completed in accordance with this rule.