HB 218 and HB 1805 along with a number of other cannabis bills have likely met their fate after failing to get senate hearings during the regular session.
According to the Texas Legislature Online site, “Realistically, to be eligible for consideration by the House under its end-of-session deadlines, Senate bills and joint resolutions must be passed by the Senate and received by the House before the 130th day.”
Unless some underdog miracle upset of the century happens, this will be the first session to not pass a substantial cannabis progress bill after two consecutive sessions of having at least some language move the industry forward. The 84th legislative session saw the TCUP program established, 85th regular saw nothing from the lege, 86th saw several conditions added in 2019 and hemp legalized in the state, while the 87th session in 2021 saw conditions added along with the THC cap raised to 1% and some minor adjustments to the hemp program across several bills.
The only thing left at this point is for changes to take place using amendments in other bills. Or for the governor to call for a bill on cannabis be brought forward in special session.
Learn how to become a medical cannabis patient in Texas
HB 218 was Rep. Moody’s 4th attempt to get penalty reduction for marijuana possession (one session the bill was spearheaded by Rep. Erin Zweiner) passed in a session. The bill originally started off a a civil penalty item, but turned into a lower criminal penalty after working with Governor Abbott to tailor the bill to something Abbott would sign.
HB 1805 is the fifth medical bill to get a hearing and the forth bill to make it to the Senate side of the legislature. HB 1805 would have been one of the substantial bills to pass the Senate given the language of creating volumetric dosing of 10mg THC rather than a 1% cap, along with giving DSHS power to add conditions and adding chronic pain.
HB 4918 by Rep. Rosenthal was poised to bring back manufacturing of smokable hemp to the Texas market. Currently under legislative and court rule Texans cannot manufacture a hemp product that is labeled or created strictly for smoking. The bill had possibly one of the biggest upsets in Texas cannabis history as it failed on it’s third reading vote on the house floor, and then was revived with a reconsideration to then pass the House and sent to the Senate where it has likely died unless added in an amendment to another bill.
While none of these bills passed, and advocates don’t get the victory lap of any, some individuals may be seeing it as a possible victory given the backdrop of cannabis issues. Not moving forward in Texas is a victory of sorts when advocates know that that some elected officials want the programs to move backward.
Delta-8 was still an item of contention held over from the the 87th legislative session, as seen by Sen. Perry’s SB 264. The bill contained language that sought to continue the work to ban synthesized cannabinoids. SB 264 was referred to committee and just like other cannabis bills referred to committees in the Senate, it did not even get a hearing. The concern comes from the notion that given Rep. Klick created her own identical version of SB 264 in the House, it would appear that other cannabis bills would be used as a gateway to over-regulate the cannabinoids of Texas. That a trade would be made on a bill in either chamber to get the language desired for banning delta-8 and its relatives outside of CBD.
Read more about Delta-8 in Texas
There is a lot to unravel about the Texas hemp market, but that is for a different article in the near future. And it should be noted that advocates should not give up their guard on the legislature possibly doing a last minute action on cannabis as an amendment.
Despite not a win and not a loss legislatively, it is a loss for Texans that have been waiting for substantial change in the Lone Star State. It’s a loss in the war on the opioid crisis in the state. It’s a loss for criminal justice reform, it’s a loss for medical patients, and it’s a loss for anyone that believed in liberty in the great state of Texas.
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