Texas House Punts on THC Amid Backlash
and Key Bail Plan with Wednesday Resets
Capitol Inside
May 20, 2025
The Texas House punted on a pair of high-priority issues on Tuesday when the Republican sponsors called off votes on a hemp THC regulation measure that contains an excise tax and a proposal at the heart of a bail reform package that Governor Greg Abbott has a demanded as an emergency.
State Rep. Ken King of Canadian sought and gained permission to postpone the debate on the cannabis plan 3 as the sponsor of the House version of Senate Bill 3 that underwent dramatic changes in the State Affairs Committee that he chairs. King requested the delays as a result of negotiations that erupted behind the scenes amid a push by some House Republicans for a return to the original Senate proposal that revolved on a full-scale prohibition on THC products in Texas.
State Rep. John Smithee of Amarillo asked the House to put off a final vote on a constitutional amendment that restricts bail for migrants in Senate Joint Resolution 1. The Republicans advanced the proposed revision that sponsors dubbed as Jocelyn's Law on a party line vote on Monday. But SJR 1 needed more than a dozen Democrats on board to reach the threshold of 100 votes that would be required to pass the proposal in the Legislature's lower chamber. And the measure only received support from two Democrats on the initial vote in a move that put its fate in considerable doubt.
GOP State Rep. Tom Oliverson of Cypress had indicated that conservatives may have the votes for an amendment that would revive a blanket THC ban that Lieutenant Governor Dan Patrick pushed through the Senate two months ago. But Oliverson predicted before the House adjourned on Tuesday that a tradeoff would emerge as a product of the discussions that prompted multiple delays that pushed SB 3 to the Thursday calendar for a vote.
The version of SB 3 that cleared King's committee would impose a state tax of 2 cents for every 2.5 milligrams of Delta-9 THC that's sold at the retail level. A standard pack of edibles that contains 100 milligrams spread among 10 individual bites would cost a consumer an added 80 cents if the proposed levy remained in the bill.
The House replacement plan for the Patrick ban would put the Texas Alcohol Beverage Commission in charge of administration and enforcement for hemp dispensaries that have been operating without any real government oversight since the Legislature planted the seeds for them inadvertently in 2019.
King's rewrite includes a variety of licenses and fees that would be required to operate retail dispensaries, distributorships and Delta-9 beverage businesses like breweries and brewpubs. Annual costs for permits would run from $500 to $10,000.
Some House Republicans appeared surprised when told about the emergence of a new tax into the hemp regulation plan in the version of bill that will be back on the calendar for the second time Wednesday. The addition of a tax on hemp THC sales could have been added to the proposal for the sake of leverage in the face of resistance from Republicans who favored the Senate ban.
House leaders have been reluctant to adopt a ban that would put countless thousands of Texas out of work as employees of dispensaries that have operated legally and set up their own rules for preventing sales to minors with driver's license checks as a prerequisite for admission. .
more to come ...
| 
