Democrats Divided as Senate Backs Ban
for THC Industry that Hemp Bill Fostered
Capitol Inside
March 20, 2025
The Texas Senate voted on Wednesday to pull the plug on a burgeoning cannabis industry that its members helped create six years ago when they apparently were clueless about the ramifications of a measure that legalized hemp and set the stage for the ostensible crisis they're trying to extinguish now.
The Senate approved a bill that would ban consumable THC products that are made from hemp in a 26-5 vote that featured six Democrats and all of the chamber's 20 Republicans in the affirmative column. The THC prohibition in Senate Bill 3 goes to the House where GOP leaders haven't reacted as dramatically to the apparently unintended consequences of their work on hemp in 2019.
State Rep. Ken King - a Canadian Republican who chairs the State Affairs Committee - filed a competing proposal that would impose more rigid restrictions and regulations for THC dispensaries without wiping out the industry completely like the Senate wants to do. The King proposal in HB 28 would establish annual fees for state operating licenses for retail businesses that sell consumable THC products that are fashioned from hemp. HB 28 would require $5,000 for hemp dispensary applications with annual renewal fees of $2,500.
While the King bill would bar the sale and manufacture of THC products that come from marijuana, it does not include products with a form of hemp that's packaged as Delta-9 - the most common form of cannabis that's been available at retail outlets in Texas for several years.
The sponsor of Senate Bill 3 - GOP State Senator Charles Perry of Lubbock - said that more than 8,000 retailers are selling cannabis as a consequence of the hemp bill that he composed and carried in 2019.
“This is a poison in our public,” Lieutenant Governor Dan Patrick said at a press conference. “We as the Legislature - our number one responsibility is life and death issues. And that’s why this is Senate Bill 3.”
Patrick claimed the rapidly-growing THC business in Texas had been an unintended consequence from the hemp bill. “They used a loophole to get around a bill that the Legislature passed in 2019,” Patrick said. “We have to ban THC and shut all of these stores down.”
But Senate GOP leaders offered no information on the potential hit the Texas economy could take or the number of people who would lose jobs if SB 3 became law. No data has emerged by the same token on the amount of money the state could have squandered with an on-again, off-again hemp THC industry that Senate Republicans depict as an accident while refusing to admit they'd been outfoxed.
There's been no apparent discussion about a windfall that state government could expect if lawmakers imposed a tax or some other type of surcharge on THC products at the retail or other levels.
Democratic State Senators Cesar Blanco of El Paso, Roland Gutierrez of San Antonio, Juan Hinojosa of McAllen, Nathan Johnson of Dallas, Borris Miles of Houston and Royce West of Dallas. Gutierrez has sponsored legislation in the past that would remove the Texas prohibition on cannabis products made from marijuana like those sold in legal dispensaries in other states like New Mexico, Colorado and Missouri.
Four of five Democrats who voted against SB 3 - State Senators Carol Alvarado of Houston, Sarah Eckhardt of Austin, Jose Menéndez of San Antonio and Judith Zaffirini of Laredo - issued a joint statement for the Senate Journal on the reasoning behind their opposition.
"We ultimately voted against SB 3, however, because its overly broad restrictions harm Texas businesses, unnecessarily criminalize legal hemp products, and limit access for adults who rely on nonintoxicating hemp for medical relief," the Democrats said. "The bill bans all THC-containing hemp products except for CBD and CBG, even though many other nonintoxicating hemp strains are used legally and safely. Testimony from business owners highlighted the financial strain this bill would impose by requiring costly additional processing to eliminate even trace amounts of THC, making it difficult for small businesses to survive."
more to come ...
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