Texas House panel advances THC bill with stricter regulations — but no ban — for hemp industry

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A Texas House panel late Wednesday advanced a bill to tighten regulations on Texas' consumable hemp industry, setting up a potential clash with Lt. Gov. Dan Patrick and the Senate, who are pursuing a total ban on THC products.

The latest draft of the lower chamber’s THC regulation bill would allow retailers to continue selling edibles and drinks, along with low-dose smokable hemp flowers. It would ban vapes and allow counties to vote to ban consumable hemp.

The bill calls for a much tighter regulatory system than what exists today, six years after the GOP-controlled Legislature inadvertently set off the state’s booming consumable hemp market. It would require products to be sold in child-resistant packaging that does not resemble popular snacks or otherwise appear marketed to kids. And it would establish an age limit that does not exist under the current law, restricting sales to those 21 and older.

Sales would also be barred within 1,000 feet of a school or certain other areas frequented by children.

Still, the restrictions fall well short of the full ban on THC products that would be codified under the version of the measure, Senate Bill 3, advanced by the upper chamber in March. It is also more permissive than an earlier draft floated last month by the House sponsor, Rep. Ken King, that would have allowed only THC drinks.

Patrick, a Republican who presides over the Senate, has threatened to force an overtime legislative session if lawmakers failed to pass an all-out THC ban.

King, a Canadian Republican who chairs the House State Affairs Committee, described his latest draft as a “regulatory bill” that is “substantially different” from earlier versions. The committee advanced the bill on a 15-0 vote. It now heads to the House Calendars Committee, which will decide whether to schedule it for a floor vote.

Since Patrick launched his crusade to ban THC products in December, hemp industry leaders have turned to the House as the bulwark that would, they hope, pass tighter regulations rather than quash the industry altogether. Hemp retailers have largely backed calls for the regulations included in King’s latest draft of SB 3, such as restrictions aimed at keeping hemp products out of the hands of minors.

The legislation comes in response to the more than 8,000 cannabis retailers that have popped up across Texas since 2019, when the GOP-controlled Legislature authorized the sale of consumable hemp. That law, passed one year after hemp was legalized nationwide, was intended to boost Texas agriculture by allowing the commercialization of hemp containing trace amounts of non-intoxicating delta-9 THC, the psychoactive element in marijuana.

While hemp products are not allowed to contain more than a 0.3% concentration of delta-9 THC — anything higher is classified as marijuana — critics say the industry has exploited a loophole that set the 0.3% threshold for delta-9 THC but not other hemp derivatives.

These other hemp-derived products still look, taste and sometimes have intoxicating effects similar to their more potent sibling. (Hemp and marijuana plants are both cannabis plants; the difference lies in their THC levels.)

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