Gov. Greg Abbott vetoes THC ban, calls for regulation instead

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Gov. Greg Abbott on Sunday vetoed a contentious state ban on THC products and shortly after called a special legislative session asking lawmakers to instead strictly regulate the substance.

The late-night action just minutes before the veto deadline keeps the Texas hemp industry alive for now, while spiking a top priority of Lt. Gov. Dan Patrick.

Senate Bill 3 would have banned consumable hemp products that contained any THC, including delta-8 and delta-9.

Abbott, who had remained quiet about the issue throughout the legislative session, rejected the measure amid immense political pressure from both sides of the aisle, including from conservatives activists typically supportive of Patrick’s priorities.

Soon after midnight, Abbott called lawmakers back to the Capitol for a special session beginning July 21 with consumable hemp regulation at the top of the agenda.

“Texas must enact a regulatory framework that protects public safety, aligns with federal law, has a fully funded enforcement structure and can take effect without delay,” Abbott said.

In a statement explaining his veto, Abbott argued that SB 3 would not have survived “valid constitutional challenges,” and that the bill’s total ban “puts federal and state law on a collision course,” noting that the 2018 federal Farm Bill legalized hemp products.

“Allowing Senate Bill 3 to become law — knowing that it faces a lengthy battle that will render it dead on arrival in court — would hinder rather than help us solve the public safety issues this bill seeks to contain,” Abbott said. “The current market is dangerously under-regulated, and children are paying the price. If Senate Bill 3 is swiftly enjoined by a court, our children will be no safer than if no law was passed, and the problems will only grow.”

Abbott urged lawmakers to consider an approach similar to the way alcohol is regulated, recommending potential rules including barring the sale and marketing of THC products to minors, requiring testing throughout the production and manufacturing process, allowing local governments to prohibit stores selling THC products and providing law enforcement with additional funding to enforce the restrictions.

Abbott’s veto — and his push for a regulatory approach — puts him directly at odds with Patrick, the powerful head of the Senate, who had called the THC ban among his “top five” bills during his 17 years in the Legislature and threatened in February to force a special session if he did not get his way.

Patrick excoriated the veto on social media Sunday, saying Abbott’s “late-night veto” would leave law enforcement and families whose loved ones have been harmed by high-potency products “feeling abandoned.”

“Throughout the legislative session, @GregAbbott_TX remained totally silent on Senate Bill 3, the bill that would have banned dangerous THC products in Texas,” Patrick said. “I feel especially bad for those who testified and poured their hearts out on their tragic losses.”

Supporters of SB 3 argued that a full prohibition was necessary to protect young people from consuming products with high concentrations of THC. Patrick, in a May news conference renewing his criticism of the industry, called THC-infused products — such as gummies, beverages and vapes — a “poison in our public.”

The measure became one of Patrick’s most visible priorities this session, as he visited several cannabis stores and filmed amateur-style investigative videos of what he described as dangerous practices.

Abbott’s veto comes six years after the Legislature inadvertently opened the door to a surge in hemp-based products when lawmakers, meaning to boost Texas agriculture, authorized the sale of consumable hemp.

Though that 2019 law does not allow products to contain more than trace amounts of delta-9 THC, it did not establish that same threshold for other hemp derivatives. Critics say the hemp industry exploited that loophole to usher in more than 8,000 retailers selling THC-laced edibles, drinks, vapes and flower buds across Texas.

Since then, the state hemp industry has exploded, accounting for roughly 50,000 jobs and generating $8 billion in tax revenue annually, according to one estimate.

The hemp industry, in addition to some military veterans and farmers, had pushed for stronger regulations over a ban. Veterans and other Texans managing chronic pain and other conditions described how consumable hemp products have helped them cope and allow them to avoid opioids.

The governor “has shown the people of Texas who he works for — proving that truth, freedom and the voices of Texans still matter,” the Texas Hemp Business Council posted on social media, cheering the veto. “Governor Abbott showed real leadership today. Texas is stronger for it.”

During the session, Patrick and his allies managed to advance a full prohibition through the House, swapping out a proposed regulatory framework — which would have barred sales and marketing to minors, bolstered law enforcement and banned certain synthetics — for a ban.

As an attempted counterbalance, the Legislature also boosted the state’s medical marijuana program, expanding the types of products, the number of dispensaries and the qualifying health conditions, as well as reducing some of the costly regulations on dispensaries.

Whether Abbott would veto SB 3 became a leading question after the end of the legislative session, with the governor giving few hints and maintaining only that he would carefully consider every piece of legislation that landed on his desk.

After SB 3 passed, the hemp industry waged a high-octane campaign urging the governor to veto the bill and accusing lawmakers of putting politics over sensible policy. Opposition to the ban came from across the political spectrum, amping up pressure on Abbott and putting Patrick in an unfamiliar position in the crosshairs of conservative activists who tend to march in lockstep with him.

“This is stupid,” Dana Loesch, the former National Rifle Association spokesperson who now hosts a nationally syndicated conservative talk radio show, wrote on social media responding to Patrick’s argument that the ban would keep THC away from children. “It's like the gun ban argument with a different variable. Kids aren't buying it anymore than any other controlled product (alcohol, cigarettes, et al) and if they are, do your job as a parent and parent instead of idiotically expanding government.”

Ahead of Sunday’s deadline, Texas Democrats said if Abbott didn’t veto SB 3, they hoped the ban might help galvanize voters against Republicans in next year’s statewide elections. Abbott and Patrick are both up for re-election, though political experts said the issue alone was unlikely to pose a serious political threat.

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