We searched for common ground but just couldn’t find any. It’s hard to imagine that anything will get off the House Floor.
The Texas Tribune, Alex Nguyen & Kaye Guo
Texas’ legislature ended yet another round of legislative overtime without banning THC or further regulating the majority of THC products. This follows a long-running battle between lawmakers over how to curb an exploding industry.
Texas House voted to end the second special session on Wednesday evening, but Senate Bill 6 remained. This bill would have banned all hemp-based products that contain “any detectable amount of cannabinoids.” Cannabidiol, or cannabigerol (both non-psychoactive), would be the only ones that remained legal.
In Texas, hemp products in most of their forms are still legal. These products, such as gummies and smokeable flowers, are available to all ages. Yet it is now illegal to sell—but not possess—THC vape pens under a separate law, passed earlier this year, that went into effect Monday.
House Republicans made a last-minute attempt to find a solution earlier today, when SB 6, which had not been heard in a House Committee for the past two weeks, sat unheard.
In the early hours of this morning, Lieutenant Governor Dan Patrick (R) announced that in a post on X there would be no new THC restrictions or bans. Dan Patrick (R), in a blog post, announced that Senate will wrap up its second special session with no new THC bans or restrictions. Patrick also said he and Gov. Greg Abbott (R), and House Speaker Dustin Burrows, (R), were unable to come to an agreement after “long discussions.”
He said that his position remained unchanged. “The Senate and I support a total THC prohibition,” he added, adding the Senate would adjourn once it had finalized its remaining flood legislation.
Upper chamber concluded their work in special session early on Thursday.
Abbott’s decision to call a second special session in order to examine more THC regulations was unclear. In June, Abbott vetoed a ban outright and placed the matter on both special session agendas. A request for comment was not immediately answered by his office. Abbott, in vetoing the bill, said it would violate federal law. In his veto, Abbott called for an alternative regulatory approach, which would include restrictions on potency and age, as well as enforcement mechanisms, along with a ban of synthetically-modified hemp compounds.
Patrick told Texans that a ban is necessary for their safety, arguing it’s impossible to control the more than 8,000 hemp retailers in the fast-growing market. In 2019, the Texas Legislature accidentally opened up the market for consumable hemp products when it passed a hemp-legalization bill to comply with federal laws.
Abbott has received support from the industry for his position of restrictions rather than prohibition.
Cynthia Cabrera is the president of The Texas Hemp Business Council. She said, “This ban has been a resounding failure.” She is the Chief Strategy Officer for Hometown Hero of Austin which manufactures hemp-derived THC. “And that the lieutenant Governor continues to push an idea everyone in Texas has essentially rejected speaks volumes of how disconnected he really is from what Texans and the governor want, as well as what consumers desire.”
Even so, there could be a shift in the enforcement of existing laws that restrict the use of the drug.
At present, products cannot contain more that 0.3 percent delta-9-THC, which is the psychoactive component in cannabis plants, by weight. The enforcement of this rule is challenging because it’s difficult to test the products or cite retailers.
Patrick’s promise to finish the Senate work without a prohibition was an unexpected development, after Texas Republicans had spent the majority of the day working to reach a compromise. Five legislative staffers as well as three legislators familiar with these discussions said that this decision came out of nowhere. But those last-minute talks were also an unexpected twist: The main legislative proposal—an outright ban on THC products—had been dormant since August 20. It wasn’t clear Wednesday morning what an agreement might look like.
Briscoe Kain (R-Deer Park) also proposed legislation during the special session that created the Texas Hemp Council. The council would study THC products, develop regulations, and require hemp testing, licensing, and other requirements. Rep. Charlie Geren of Fort Worth also introduced a bill that would prohibit the sale THC products under 21.
Abbott and Patrick’s split marked an unusual public disagreement for two men who had been in government together over the past decade.
In both summer special sessions the Senate approved a complete ban, however the House was unable to approve it. Some House members voted in favor of a total THC ban during the regular session because they thought that they would lose their bills if they didn’t get on board.
Gary VanDeaver of New Boston, the author and sponsor of the ban and a Republican, stated on Tuesday, before final-ditch discussions began, “We tried hard to find common ground but just couldn’t seem to find it.” “We don’t believe that anything will get off the House Floor.”
Kyle Bingham said that it was frustrating for him to deal with the political uncertainty of recent months. In the past few months, Bingham has focused on growing wheat and cotton instead of hemp.
It’s difficult enough to be in business, he added.
Still, Bingham and Cabrera said that there could be improved regulations such as age restrictions—even as they oppose a full ban. Cabrera in particular said the Legislature would have been better off focusing on a bill to raise the age restriction instead, and that it’s disappointing that lawmakers could not reach this simple fix.
She said, “But I can breathe a big sigh after hearing Patrick’s news.”
Katherine Neill Harris, drug policy fellow for Rice University’s Baker Institute for Public Policy, similarly said it’s worth another session to address specific issues such as the sale and marketing of THC products towards minors—separate from a blanket ban.
She said: “If they are banned, then they will be unregulated since they’ll go on the illegal market.” We know there is no regulation for illegal drugs.
This article originally appeared in The Texas Tribune at https://www.texastribune.org/2025/09/03/texas-legislature-thc-deal-ban-hemp/.