Fox 4 DFW on YouTube shows Texas Capitol press conference by advocates urging Gov. Greg Abbott to veto THC ban

 

 

Texas Regular Session Nears Finish Line
with No Word from Governor on THC Ban

Capitol Inside
June 1, 2025

A long-waited pay raise for state district judges appeared in peril on Sunday night amid a standoff between Texas House and Senate Republicans over a simultaneous hike in legislative pensions that Senate Bill 293 would trigger if it makes to the finish line before midnight.

But lawmakers were poised to enter the regular session's final day on Monday after wrapping up business on other outstanding issues during the weekend with votes today on a dozen conference committee reports with deals on bills including a measure that would empower Texas sheriffs and local police to enforce federal immigration laws.

The House approved the conference report for Senate Bill 8 on an 89-52 vote with Republicans voting unanimously for the proposal that a trio of Democrats - State Reps. Eddie Morales of Eagle Pass, Sergio Munoz of Mission and Richard Raymond of Laredo - all supported as well.

The Senate took its final vote on SB 8 on Saturday when it approved a conference report on a measure that would restrict the the regulation of housing subdivisions in some Texas cities. Senate Bill 15 cleared the House for the last time on Sunday its members voted 78-57 for the legislation that Lieutenant Governor Dan Patrick rated as his 15th most important priority for the regular session.

But the House's final tally on SB 15 didn't unfold along party lines like the votes on the lion's share of Patrick's designated priorities in an agenda that he crafted and muscled through the Senate and the House with minimal contributions from the House in terms of issues that proved to be paramount in the final analysis on the session that goes out of business at midnight on Monday if not sooner in the day.

Patrick appeared poised on Sunday night to claim victories on nine out every 10 official priorities if not more on the eve of the session's adjournment. The Senate president experienced a rare defeat on Saturday night in a standoff on Senate Bill 30 - a measure that would limit damages for injuries based on medical costs.

The top priority for the Texans for Lawsuit Reform PAC and the trucking industry, SB 30 died in a conference committee that included two House Democrats and at least one Republican who'd be sympathetic to trial lawyers as Speaker Dustin Burrows' picks for the bargaining panel. The fatal faceoff on SB 30 marked the first major defeat for the deep-pocket TLR since the GOP seized control of the House in 2003.

While Burrows won't attempt to take credit for the impasse on the tort reform measure, it's important to note that he's a trial lawyer in Lubbock himself.

The judicial pay boost in SB 293 remained in limbo as a midnight deadline neared on Sunday as Republicans in the Senate and House remained at loggerheads on the automatic increase they receive in pension payments that are tied to base salaries for state district judges. State Rep. Jeff Leach - an Allen Republican who served as a negotiator on the ill-fated tort reform bill as well - expressed reservations about the way pensions for legislators would be raised as a product of SB 293.

Patrick picked three top GOP lieutenants for the conference negotiations on the judicial salary increase with State Senator Joan Huffman of Houston as the chair and State Senators Paul Bettencourt of Houston and Charles Schwertner of Georgetown as panel members. Democratic State Senators Jose Menendez of San Antonio and Royce West of Dallas are conferees on SB 293 as well.

The speaker selected Leach to lead the House conferees on the measure on a team that includes two other top lieutenants on the Burrows team in State Reps. Charlie Geren of Fort Worth and Todd Hunter of Corpus Christi. Democratic State Reps. Joe Moody of El Paso and Toni Rose of Dallas are representing the House on SB 293 as well.

Patrick in the meantime appeared to be in position to declare victories on 90 percent of his 40 highest-ranking priorities after votes during the weekend for conference committee reports on a new two-year state spending plan, property tax relief and a pair of Senate bills that were red meat for the conservative base under the general umbrella of parental rights.

But the ultimate measure of success or failure for the lieutenant governor during the past 139 days won't be known until Governor Greg Abbott makes the call on a THC ban that's sizzling with potential to backfire all the more in the aftermath that Patrick staged last week. Abbott can wait until June 22 as the deadline for signing or killing legislation before he announces the fate of the THC prohibition.

The most powerful legislative leader in Texas in modern times, Patrick would suffer his worst defeat as a public official if Abbott vetoes the cannabis prohibition in Senate Bill 3. Patrick invested more political capital in the THC ban than he had on any singular issues since a failed attempt to pass a bathroom security bill that targeted transgender females in his second regular session as lieutenant governor.

But Patrick sold THC ban in SB 3 on fear and claims that had been debunked for 90 years or more - and he ended last week with his credibility seriously wounded after a press conference behind the Senate chamber where he unleashed a slew of wild accusations that were immediately exposed as blatant fabrications.

The prospects for a SB 3 veto got a separate boost last week when popular conservative radio host Michael Berry of Houston portrayed the THC prohibition on his IHeart show as a move that would Texas backwards and backfire among GOP voters who increasingly favor the legalization of marijuana for recreational use by adults.

Abbott has a number of potential reasons to put SB 3 to rest with the veto pen. But the governor could be more inclined to kill the THC ban by virtue of the fact that American military veterans would be the regular session's biggest losers if he signs the bill or lets it become law without his signature.

Veterans would lose the freedom to purchase THC products that are made from hemp at retail stores that have sold them legally for six years if Abbott bows to Patrick pressure on SB 3. Most would find a separate but related medical marijuana program expansion that the Legislature approved on Saturday night to be an insult as a tradeoff that would make products that eased suffering much more difficult to obtain.

A decision to sign SB 3 would put GOP legislators in position to have to defend votes that would force 10,000 small businesses to close in a development that would put more than 53,000 Texans out of work. House Republicans could have the most to fear if pressed by the media or re-election opponents for explanations on the economic wreckage that a THC ban would leave in its wake after approving SB 3 in a state of panic that Patrick triggered without any evidence or apparent consideration of political consequences based on conspiracy theories from the 1930s.

The general sentiment inside the statehouse beltway in Austin seems to that Abbott will sign the THC ban mostly because he doesn't have the guts to pique Patrick's wrath. But the fate of SB 3 veto could be at serious risk if Abbott, who's put more weight in polling than any other major Texas leader, doesn't want to sign a bill that flies in the face of surging support for marijuana among GOP voters here and in other states.

 

 

 
 
 
 
 
 
 
 

 

 

Copyright 2003-2025 Capitol Inside