On Tuesday, March 28th HB 382, HB 2883, and on March 29 HB 4918 will be heard in their assigned committees and it is time to make your voice heard.
HB 382 creates defense to prosecution for the possession of certain consumable hemp products containing a controlled substance or marihuana when the product was marketed and sold as hemp. HB 2883 will create checkpoints established by the Department of Public Safety at roadways entering this state from New Mexico.
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For HB 2883, this flies in the face of the desires of Texans seeking to reduce penalties and stop having police officers arrest for possession of marijuana. HB 382 is a bill that would help fix a gap with how the state handles products that cops may try to presume is marijuana despite the customer bought it under complete understanding and packaging that it was a legal hemp product.
HB 4918 will remove and repeal the language in the Texas hemp laws that prohibit the manufacturing of a smokable hemp product.
HB 382 will be heard on March 28th in the committee of Criminal Jurisprudence. You can submit testimony at this link until the meeting adjourns on Tuesday March 28th -> https://comments.house.texas.gov/home?c=c220
HB 2883 will be heard in the Homeland Security & Public Safety committee on March 28th as well. You can submit testimony at this link until the meeting adjourns on Tuesday March 28th -> https://comments.house.texas.gov/home?c=c420
HB 4918 will be heard in the Agriculture & Livestock committee on March 29th. You can submit testimony at this link until the meeting adjourns on Wednesday March 29th -> https://comments.house.texas.gov/home?c=c020
For the bills you support such as HB 382 and HB 4918 you can keep it simple and state “I support this bill and wish to see it enacted into law.” If you are in a position that an organization would consider you an expert witness, it’s possible to write in why you support the bill with your precise expert knowledge on the subject.
For the bills that you do not support such as HB 2883, you can keep it simple and simply state on the form, “I do not support this bill, I am against our state enacting this into law.” If you are in a position that an organization would consider you an expert witness, it’s possible to write in why you do not support the bill with your precise expert knowledge on the subject.
What does each of these bills do?
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HB 2883 will set up checkpoints on the roadways entering Texas from New Mexico. This is obviously the catch anybody they perceive to be bringing marijuana from New Mexico to Texas. The problem this faces for Texans is who will they be pulling over? How will officers decide which vehicles to stop and which ones to let go? With usage rates among income classes and race/ethnicities roughly equal, what does a marijuana transporter look like to police officers? Will they be looking at plates to see if there is a disabled veteran designation and presume they went to get medical and bring it back?
Perhaps there may be issue with the fact that the state wants to consider anybody crossing state lines to e presumed of a crime where they decide to search your vehicle without a warrant. How problematic is it still if there is a judge on call to issue warrants purely on the basis of entering the state the same way DUI checkpoints have worked over the past decade?
How much will this cost the taxpayers of Texas to keep DPS officers there around the clock for checkpoints? Does Texas have the officers available to do this at the moment or will have to spend even more money looking for and training new officers just for this crusade?
HB 382 will give a defense to prosecution if a person is found to have what is labeled and sold as a consumable hemp product but contains a controlled substance or marijuana. This would put the criminal blame on the creator of such product or the seller of such product if they were found to have known about this and sold it as such. If you are pulled over today and the cops found gummies that were bought as labeled as hemp but contained more than 0.3% THC in those gummies by dry weight volume, you could face being prosecuted for possession of a concentrate. That’s a felony. This bill seeks to remedy this issue for consumers.
HB 4918 is a rather short bill and it will remove the language from the current state law of Sections 443.001 subsection 11 and 443.204 subsection 4 of the Health and Safety Code. Section 443.204, Health and Safety Code, is amended by amending Subsections (2) and (3) to remove the word “and” at the end of section 3 because section 4 is being removed completely. This will make the manufacturing of smokable hemp products in Texas legal once again.
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