Texas Governor Greg Abbott convenes another special session. He again directs lawmakers to pass legislation that regulates consumable hemp, sets an age limit for access to cannabinoids and addresses several unrelated topics.
The first special session was called by Gov. Greg Abbott (R) convened—denying the chamber a quorum in protest of a proposed redistricting plan for the state’s congressional map—the governor on Friday issued a proclamation to start a second special session.
The state constitution limits the length of special sessions to 30 calendar days. However, there are no restrictions on how many they can be.
This latest proclamation reiterates Governor’s Call for Legislation “making it an offense to provide products derived from hemp to children younger than 21.”
He also wants the lawmakers to send him a bill that “would comprehensively regulate hemp products including limiting their potency, restricting synthetically modified compounds and setting up enforcement mechanisms without prohibiting lawful hemp-derived goods.”
An initial version of the new proclamation said cannabinoid products should be age-gated to prohibit access for people under 18, but that was quickly revised and republished with the age limit of 21—similar to the call for the prior special session—for reasons that are unclear.
Proclamation of the New Session specifies also that “lawful hemp-derived product” should not be prohibited, whereas proclamation from the previous session referred to “lawful agricultural commodities.”
In anticipation of the new legislative session, the Senate and House are already working on hemp bills. Charles Perry’s (R) bill would ban all 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 cannabis products that are prohibited. 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.
Advocates of hemp and stakeholders in the industry say it would endanger the market because there are so few firms that make isolated CBD or CBG, which contain no trace amounts of THC. Federal law allows hemp-based products to have up to 0.3% THC dry weight.
A bill similar to Perry’s passed through the Senate in the first session of the special session, but failed to advance the House.
Rep. Charlie Geren’s (R) second new special session bill would implement the Governor’s directive that hemp-based products can only be bought by those 21 years old and over.
The House Public Health Committee, before the close of the special session in the House, took up and did not act on the previous bill that would have banned consumable hemp products with THC.
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.
Among them, 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 flooded the market since federal legalization of the crop in 2018. Some say that the state legislature should enact legislation to regulate the market in order to limit youth access to the product while preserving and protecting the industry.
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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 this week—posting a draft of proposed rules to let physicians recommend new qualifying conditions for cannabis and create standards for allowable inhalation devices.
It was a little over a month after the Department of Public Safety had announced a new set of regulations to expand the number of dispensaries licensed under a recently-passed law.
During the special session of the legislature, Rep. Nicole Collier, (D), introduced HB 42. The bill was designed to shield consumers from being charged with criminal offenses if they were wrongly led to believe that a hemp-based product contained excessive THC and therefore was illegal marijuana. The bill would protect consumers from criminal charges if they are found to be in possession of hemp-based products that contain excessive amounts of THC, making them illegal marijuana.
To be eligible for legal protection, a person would have to purchase the product “from a retailer they reasonably believed had the authority to sell hemp consumable 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 people would prefer 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.
Side Pocket Images. Photo by Chris Wallis.
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