Texas HB 28 proposes a major regulatory cleanup of the consumable hemp industry in Texas, calling for regulations that business and cannabis industry advocates have asked for: 21+ age restrictions on purchases, banning synthetic cannabinoids, more stringent testing of products, packaging that is child-resistant and responsibly marketed, and limits on the milligrams of THC in a serving.
Following HB 28’s introduction and instantaneous referral to the State Affairs Committee – of which Rep. King is the chair – an echo chamber of lazy reporting couched it as an agreeable alternative to the total THC ban of SB 3 that would spare Texas’ consumable hemp industry. The Houston-based news website Chron.com even characterized it, in a headline, as “Saving THC from proposed ban,” apparently failing to grasp that it’s a beverage-only bill.
Thus, HB 28 – as it’s currently written – would ban flower and edibles, the two most prominent categories of consumable hemp products that Texans currently have legal access to. The bill would still permit beverages with certain cannabinoids, CBD, CBG, and THC – the latter with 10mg limits. Cannabis-infused beverages, typically seltzers, have been an extraordinarily fast-growing market sector nationwide and in Texas over the past year. According to sources, THC-A flower is likely off the table, but the goal is that edibles, like gummies, can be written back in as the bill goes through committee and is revised.
As it stands, the best thing about HB 28 is that it’s not SB 3 – a blanket ban on THC (and every other cannabinoid except CBD) that’s been promoted by Lt. Gov. Dan Patrick, who presides over the Senate. His chamber passed SB 3 on March 19 with a vote of 24-7, but it’s expected to have a much tougher road in the House.
“While the Senate eagerly passed SB 3, a draconian bill to ban all THC and effectively shut down the hemp industry, the House is more inclined to support regulation,” explains Heather Fazio, director for the Texas Cannabis Policy Center. “We’ve worked for years to help them understand the harm caused by cannabis prohibition and we’re optimistic that our representatives will pass a bill that better reflects the people of Texas.”
The most intriguing aspect of HB 28 is that consumable hemp beverages would be incorporated into the regulatory infrastructure of the Texas Alcoholic Beverage Commission. TABC is the agency that regulates, inspects, and taxes the sale and production of alcohol in Texas. Specifically, the bill calls for consumable hemp products to go through the same three-tiered system that already applies to alcohol in Texas. That framework requires manufacturers to use a wholesaler as a middleman between themselves and the businesses that retail their product. The wholesaler typically takes a 30% cut of gross profits.
Owens, a licensed hemp grower who cultivates the full-spectrum plant material used in his beverages, believes that HB 28 has given Texas’ hemp industry something to unite over, which is working to get the bill’s language rewritten. A key problem point, to him, is how it disallows all delivery mechanisms for consumable hemp other than beverages. “It bans edibles, it bans prerolls, it bans flower. It bans everything except for drinks,” says Owens. “No consumable hemp is allowed other than a beverage – that’s just not right … and I own a beverage company. In the end, I’m just a farmer trying to find a way for my crop to get to market. We need all the help we can get!”
