On Friday afternoon, the Texas Senate President, Lt. Gov Dan Patrick, assigned HB 2593 and HB 3948 to the State Affairs Committee and Water, Agriculture, & Rural Affairs respectively.
Rep. Joe Moody of El Paso authored HB 2593. The bill deals with concentrates of up to 2 oz of tetrahydrocannabinols. Moody had previously authored what has become HB 441 authored by Rep. Zwiener this session. Rep. Moody has asked that people refrain from the mass calling of Senator offices and contact like advocacy groups typically do.
Learn how to become a medical cannabis patient in Texas
The reasoning Moody gives is that the bill going to the committee shows the bill already has enough member support for Senate passage. This does not equate to meaning the bill will pass as is. It has enough support to pass overall and may take on amendments. Watch the short video below to hear directly from Joe Moody on how to help this bill pass.
You can visit the following links to follow the guidance of Jax Finkel and Heather Fazio
- Share your support for HB 2593 with committee members.
- Submit your written testimony. Please be thoughtful and stay on the topic of penalty reduction for THC concentrates. Try to be concise and keep it under one page
- Ask your senator to support this important legislation! This is important for when the bill advances to the Senate floor.
Anybody is welcome to come to the Senate gallery to watch the hearing take place. The get into the gallery one must either show a vaccination card with both vaccines or pass a 15-minute rapid COVID test and be given a daily wristband.
HB 3948 Hemp Cleanup Bill
The Senate referred HB 3948 to the committee on the same day as concentrates. The Senate will likely amend the bill to include Delta-8 again. Senators’ primary concern is that the isomer is created for public use using a method that would fall under the definition of synthetic. People on both sides of the argument have given compelling arguments. And the debate isn’t too much on whether it medically benefits people. It’s believed it would likely fall on deaf ears at this point. That is not the issue that will be swaying whether or not the bill coming out of the senate will have delta 8 included or not. Individuals in various areas of the hemp market have spoken on how they believe that the isomers of THC could be considered synthetics and how they also are not synthetics
Read more about Delta-8 in Texas
Various individuals at the recent Lucky Leaf Expo believe that possible to keep this out of the bill, solid numbers of what is brought in from the tax revenue on current Delta-8 sales need to be presented. The overall theme on this from market advocates was that the state isn’t concerned with forecasts, what-ifs, and hypotheticals but what the guaranteed loss and gains will be with this removed from the marketplace. As well, it goes as far as pleasing different sides of the aisle regarding family advocates, law enforcement, and state agencies that have to deal with these issues.