The order comes one week after a special legislative session ended without Abbott and state lawmakers agreeing on legislation to ban or restrict THC sales.
What you need to know
Abbott’s order directs the Texas Department of State Health Services and the Texas Alcoholic Beverage Commission to “immediately begin the rulemaking process” on new THC regulations, including:
- Limiting THC sales to people 21 years and older
- Requiring THC retailers to check all customers’ IDs
- Expanding testing and labeling requirements for THC products
- Raising manufacturer and retailer licensing fees to cover costs of enforcing the new rules
- Enhancing monitoring by state and local law enforcement
The governor also asked state agencies and the Texas A&M AgriLife Extension Service to study and consider implementing “a comprehensive regulatory model” like what Rep. Briscoe Cain, R-Deer Park, proposed in House Bill 309. Cain filed the 149-page bill in late August, but it did not gain traction during the recent legislative overtime.
How we got here
Abbott issued the executive order after a monthslong clash between Texas Republican leaders, who are divided on how to best rein in the state’s multibillion-dollar consumable hemp industry.
Lawmakers voted to ban all hemp-derived THC products in May, but Abbott vetoed that bill one month later, citing “undeniable” legal defects in the legislation. In a statement explaining his June 22 veto, Abbott suggested that “legislators could consider a structure similar to the way alcohol is regulated, with strict enforcement by an agency like the Texas Alcoholic Beverage Commission.”
State senators advanced a complete THC ban in two special sessions, although the measure did not reach the House floor. Lt. Gov. Dan Patrick, who made banning THC one of his top priorities this year, announced Sept. 3 that he, Abbott and House Speaker Dustin Burrows were unable to reach an agreement after “hours of discussion.”
Patrick and Sen. Charles Perry, R-Lubbock, who authored the proposed ban, have said that a legal THC market isn't practical due to testing and public safety challenges.
“Placing an age restriction ... leaves the products on the shelves, gives the industry exactly what it wants, and ensures the legislature will never come back to close the loophole,” Perry said on X Sept. 9, in anticipation of Abbott’s order. “This debate isn’t over, and I will not stop fighting until we secure real protections for our communities and prevent Texas from repeating the mistakes of other states.”
Patrick’s office did not respond to a request for comment on the Sept. 10 executive order before press time.
More details
The Texas Cannabis Policy Center celebrated Abbott’s order while cautioning that the order restricts products like the consumable hemp flower to contain up to a 0.3% concentration of THC, or three milligrams per each gram of product. This limit already exists for products containing the psychoactive Delta-9 compound, although the center said expanding the restriction to consumable flower products would “hand [them] over to the illicit market.”
“Governor Abbott has shown that Texas can protect children without turning back to prohibition,” Heather Fazio, the center’s director, said in a statement. “While we have some concerns, this is a win for safety, freedom and free markets.”
A majority of Texas voters oppose tightening the state’s marijuana laws, according to recent nonpartisan polling by the Texas Politics Project at The University of Texas at Austin.
In a late August poll, 64% of the 1,200 registered voters surveyed said they wanted cannabis laws at the time to be made less strict or remain the same. The poll also found that 3% of Republican voters, 6% of Democrats and no Independents said regulating THC products was the most important thing lawmakers could do in a special session.
