HB 2593, THC concentrates, by Rep Joe Moody has been approved out of the Texas Senate with a 24-7 vote and a delta-8 amendment attached.
HB 2593 would reduce penalties for cannabis concentrates and infused products. The bill deals with concentrates of up to 2 oz of tetrahydrocannabinols.
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Moody had previously authored what has become HB 441 authored by Rep. Zwiener this session. Senator Perry, the sponsor of the hemp cleanup bill, proposed an amendment on the Senate floor to add Delta-8 to the bill.
The amendment would bring the regulation of delta-8 to what he called the federal limit imposed on THC by the 2018 Farm Bill. The second reading of the bill was passed with a 25-6 vote, and after the third reading for the final passage, a vote of 24-7 was taken to pass the bill with supermajority support. Senator Hinojosa asked if the amendment would bring any lab confusion such as the previous hemp bill, to which Perry responded no. Perry was also asked if the author (Moody) was okay with this amendment, to which the answer was yes.
HB 2593 would remove tetrahydrocannabinol and related substances from Penalty Group 2 and place them in a new category, Penalty Group 2-B, under the Texas Controlled Substances Act.
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Penalties for possession of substances from the new Penalty Group 2-B would be the same as those in Penalty Group 2-A, which range from a class B misdemeanor if the substance is two ounces or less, to life in prison or a term of five to 99 years and a fine up to $50,000 if the amount of substance possessed is more than 2,000 pounds.
Right now, any amount of concentrate found in your possession is a state felony. The last time penalty reduction was passed by the Texas legislature was 1973.