The second session of Texas’ legislature is underway, and the Texas Senate has once again passed a bill that will ban products containing hemp THC.
Even though Gov. Greg Abbott’s (R), who renewed his calls for a model of regulation for cannabinoids that are intoxicating and a 21-year-old age limit for purchasing such products, was defeated by the Senate in a vote on 2nd reading. The Senate voted 22-8 to pass the legislation.
It comes just days after the Senate State Affairs Committee unanimously passed the bill, and just weeks after the Senate full session approved an identical measure in its first regular session.
Perry, speaking ahead of Monday’s vote, said: “Nothing has changed other than that every week, more and more research is published about THC and its effects on the mind, the body, long-term use and their impacts.” “This stuff does not work and is harmful, especially for long-term users.”
Democratic House lawmakers staged a walkout during the first special session Abbott convened—denying the chamber a quorum in protest of a proposed redistricting plan for the state’s congressional map. As these members return to the state legislature after ending their protest, hemp legislation has advanced again.
Bill approved by the Senate continues to ban outright cannabis products that contain “any” amount of cannabinoids, other than CBD and CBG. A Class B misdemeanor would apply to the mere possession or use of any prohibited cannabis product. This could result in up 180 days behind bars and a fine of $2,000, as well as being punished by a class C felony.
It still requires a vote on the final third reading before heading to the House of Representatives.
Perry’s bill, which has been moving through the Senate, would ban hemp products containing THC. Abbott, however, said that in his most recent proclamation, he would like to receive a law that “would comprehensively regulate hemp products and include a limit on potency as well as establishing enforcement measures, without limiting legal hemp products.”
The hemp industry and advocates say this would eliminate the market in that state, since there are only a few companies that produce isolated CBD products or CBG that do not contain any traces of THC or cannabinoids. The federal law permits hemp products to contain up to 0.3 per cent THC in dry weight.
During the first session of the special Senate, Perry’s bill passed through the Senate but failed to advance in the House.
Other hemp and marijuana-related bills were filed in the second special legislative session. One from Rep. Charlie Geren, (R), would implement the Governor’s directive that hemp products can only be bought by those 21 years old and over.
Ahead of the end of the first special session, the House Public Health Committee took up the prior bill to ban consumable hemp products containing THC, without taking action on it.
Abbott vetoed an earlier version of the controversial proposal that passed during this year’s regular session, and he more recently outlined what he’d like to see in a revised version of the bill.
The Lt. Dan Patrick (R), and Senate Bill sponsor Perry have argued that a ban outright is necessary to protect the public from intoxicating substances that have proliferated in the state since federal legalization of the crop in 2018. Other people say it is better to regulate access for adults over 21 years old to keep the huge industry going.
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Meanwhile, Abbott in June signed a bill into law that expanded the state’s list of medical cannabis qualifying conditions, adding chronic pain, traumatic brain injury (TBI), Crohn’s disease and other inflammatory bowel diseases, while also allowing end-of-life patients in palliative or hospice care to use marijuana.
Texas officials took another step toward implementing that law last week—posting a draft of proposed rules to let physicians recommend new qualifying conditions for cannabis and create standards for allowable inhalation devices.
That came about a week after the the Department of Public Safety (DPS) previewed a separate set of rules to increase the number of licensed dispensaries under recently passed legislation.
During the first special session, Rep. Nicole Collier (D) introduced a one-page bill, HB 42, designed to protect consumers in the state from criminal charges if what they believed was a legal hemp product turned out to contain excessive amounts of THC, making it illegal marijuana. This bill prevents criminalizing someone who is found with a hemp product but it turns out to have “a controlled substance, or marijuana.”
For the purchaser to be entitled to legal protection the hemp-based product must have been bought “from an authorized retailer that the buyer reasonably believed to be authorized to sell consumable hemp products.”
Another bill—HB 195, introduced by Rep. Jessica González (D)—would legalize marijuana for people 21 and older, allowing possession of up to 2.5 ounces of cannabis, with no more than 15 grams of that amount being in concentrated form.
A third proposal requires state officials conduct an intoxication test for THC.
As for what Texans themselves want to see from their representatives, proponents of reining in the largely unregulated intoxicating hemp industry in Texas shared new polling data indicating that majorities of respondents from both major political parties support outlawing synthetic cannabinoids, such as delta-8 THC.
In the same survey, it was found that respondents preferred to purchase therapeutic cannabis products from state-licensed medical programs than from “smoking stores selling unregulated and nontested hemp.”
Ahead of the governor’s veto in June of SB 3—the earlier hemp product ban—advocates and stakeholders had delivered more than 100,000 petition signatures asking Abbott to reject the measure. Critics argued that the industry—which employs an estimated 53,000 people—would be decimated if the measure became law.
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