Stores selling Delta-8 and delta-9 products have proliferated across Texas after the state legalized consumable hemp. Credit: Cova Software

Gov. Greg Abbott late Sunday night vetoed the state’s newly approved ban on THC products and called a special legislative session so lawmakers can instead enact regulations for the state’s growing hemp industry.

Abbott’s move shoots down a top legislative priority of Republican ally Lt. Gov. Dan Patrick. Senate Bill 3 would have outlawed sale and possession of hemp products containing THC, the compound in cannabis that gets people high. Sales of vapes, gummies and other products containing delta-8 and delta-9 proliferated statewide after the Texas Legislature six years ago approved the sale of consumable hemp.

Abbott stayed silent about a potential THC ban during the legislative session, and faced intense pressure to veto SB 3 from the hemp industry, which warned it would kill a market worth up to $8 billion annually. Veterans and others who rely on the products to combat chronic pain and PTSD also joined in with politicians from both sides of the aisle in calling the ban heavy handed political theater by Patrick.

The special session will begin Monday, July 21, according to the governor’s office.

In a statement about the veto, Abbott said he wants to see lawmakers enact regulations more like those governing sale and production of alcohol, including a prohibition on sales to minors, product testing rules, potency limits and licensing of businesses that produce and sell consumable hemp.

Noting that the 2018 federal Farm Bill legalized hemp products, Abbott also warned that SB 3 would be unable to survive court cases challenging its constitutionality.

“Allowing Senate Bill 3 to become law — knowing that it faces a lengthy battle that will render it dead on arrival in court — would hinder rather than help us solve the public safety issues this bill seeks to contain,” Abbott said. “The current market is dangerously under-regulated, and children are paying the price. If Senate Bill 3 is swiftly enjoined by a court, our children will be no safer than if no law was passed, and the problems will only grow.”

The Texas Hemp Council, which lobbied heavily on behalf of regulation — instead of an outright ban — thanked Abbott for the veto, adding that he’d listened to the 150,000 Texans who signed petitions asking him to shoot down SB 3.

“Governor Greg Abbott’s veto of SB 3 reinforces Texas’ reputation as a leader in business innovation and practical policymaking,” the trade group said in an emailed statement. “By choosing balance over overreach, Gov. Abbott protected a vibrant, federally legal hemp industry that employs 53,000 Texans and generates over $4.3 billion in annual sales.”

However, Patrick wasn’t pleased to his priority legislation end up on the scrap heap. In a tweet, the lieutenant governor blasted Abbott for staying “totally silent” during debate about SB 3 and vowed to say more at a Monday press conference.

“[Abbott’s] late-night veto, on an issue supported by 105 of 108 Republicans in the legislature, strongly backed by law enforcement, many in the medical and education communities, and the families who have seen their loved ones’ lives destroyed by these very dangerous drugs, leaves them feeling abandoned,” Patrick said.

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Texas governor kills state’s new THC ban with late-night veto

Sanford Nowlin

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