Texas Republican Gov. Rick Perry says that after this year’s legislature, which failed to act on the matter, people need to “stay informed” about future legislation to regulate products made from hemp containing THC.
Without getting into specifics, Governor. Greg Abbott (R) signaled on Friday that the issue isn’t going away—even after lawmakers were unable to pass legislation to address intoxicating hemp products during two consecutive special sessions he convened this summer.
Governor Abbott has not been in favor of the outright ban some Republican legislators have called for, but has called instead for a regulation model that focuses on public health and age restrictions. Abbott vetoed a ban during the regular legislative session. It remains to be determined what kind of action he expects to take in future.
When asked Friday by a reporter if he wanted to delay the discussion until 2027’s regular session or convene a new special session, the Governor replied with a big smile that he preferred to stay informed. “Something could be happening very soon.”
It was primarily to pass a bill on electoral redistricting that would benefit conservative candidates. The measures filed both times were to prevent hemp with a quantifiable level of THC. This would have effectively eliminated the market, according to industry stakeholder.
Last month—shortly after the governor signed a proclamation to convene a second special legislative session—the Senate passed the hemp ban measure again, sending it back to the House. In part, the prior version of the bill failed to advance because many Democrats fled the state so as to not have a necessary quorum to pass the redistricting legislation.
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.
Some, like Lt. Dan Patrick, the Republican sponsor of Senate Bill Perry’s bill, has insisted an outright banning is necessary to protect the public from intoxicating substances that have spread since the federal legalization in 2018. Some say that the state legislature should pass regulations to restrict access to the product for youth, while allowing 21-year-olds to purchase the product and preserve the industry.
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. 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.
Meanwhile, the Department of State Health Services (DSHS) has separately taken steps to implement medical cannabis expansion with proposed rules to let physicians recommend new qualifying conditions for cannabis and create standards for allowable inhalation devices.
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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 “smoke shops selling hemp unregulated and not tested.”
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.
AnonMoos. Image element.
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