Politics
Texas Officials Invite Comment On New Hemp Rules Covering Age Limits, Licensing Fees, Labeling And More
Texas health officials have released a set of proposed rules to regulate the state’s hemp market—including provisions related to age-gating, licensing fees, testing requirements, packaging restrictions and more in response to an executive order the governor signed in September.
The proposal would also shift hemp to a total THC standard, rather than the current one that limits delta-9 THC content alone, which advocates say will eliminate some popular products from the market.
Various state agencies have been taking steps to align their policies with the governor’s order, and now the Department of State Health Services (DSHS) is outlining its plan to expand and codify hemp rules in a notice published in the Texas Register on Friday.
One of the more significant provisions makes it so consumable hemp products could not be sold to people under 21. That policy is already in place under an emergency rule the agency adopted in October, so officials are now seeking to finalize it.
There would also be increased licensing fees for hemp businesses under the rules, which DSHS CFO Christy Havel Burton said would mean the industry “may incur economic costs” in the first five years of implementation.
“Some retailers and manufacturers may incur costs associated with compliance with age verification requirements, depending on the methodology and equipment used to verify identification and to ensure minors are not sold consumable hemp products,” she said.
The rule—which is open to public comment until January 26—would also prohibit transporting products containing more than 0.3 percent THC into Texas for additional processing and require hemp products to be secured in packaging that’s “tamper-evident, child-resistant and non-attractive to children.”
State code would additionally be amended to explicitly prohibit labeling cannabis products in a way that misleads consumers “to believe products do not contain hemp-derived cannabinoids or are intended for medical use,” the notice says.
There are also a series of more technical policy changes related to product tracking, record-keeping, recall procedures and testing requirements.
While hemp businesses may incur financial costs to get into compliance with the new rule, an economic estimate included in the notice says the government would see an increase in revenue of about $202 million for the first five years after it takes effect.
Timothy Stevenson, deputy commissioner of DSHS’s Consumer Protection Division, additionally said that “the public benefit will be increased public health requirements for the manufacturers, distributors, and retailers of CHPs along with prohibited availability and access of CHPs to minors.”
A public hearing on the proposed rules is scheduled for January 9.
Heather Fazio of the Texas Cannabis Policy Center said in an email to supporters that the rules “include some important, long-overdue consumer protections,” but she also cautioned that in other ways the proposal “raises serious concerns.”
She said the fee increases for operators are “dramatic” and “would place enormous strain on small businesses, micro-businesses, and rural retailers.”
The shift to a total THC standard, meanwhile, “would effectively eliminate hemp flower from the legal market,” Fazio said.
“Removing regulated access to the most common and least processed hemp product does not eliminate demand—it pushes consumers into unregulated markets with no testing, no age checks, and no consumer protections,” she said.
(Disclosure: Fazio supports Marijuana Moment’s work with a monthly pledge on Patreon.)
After the governor issued the emergency order barring hemp sales, the Texas Alcoholic Beverage Commission (TABC) separately put forward temporary emergency rules to codify the policy change—and earlier this month it released plans to adopt an amended regulation on the issue permanently after receiving public and stakeholder input.
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Meanwhile, state officials with the Department of Public Safety (DPS) separately conditionally approved nine new medical marijuana business licenses this month as part of a law that’s being implemented to significantly expand the state’s cannabis program.
The department will issue conditional licenses to three additional dispensaries by April 2026.
This represents a major change to the program, as there are currently only three dispensaries licensed to operate in Texas.
DPS in October adopted additional rules to increase the number of licensed dispensaries, establishing security requirements for “satellite” locations and authorizing the revocation of licenses for certain violations.
DSHS also recently finalized rules allowing doctors to recommend new qualifying conditions for cannabis patients and creating standards for allowable low-THC inhalation devices.
For what it’s worth, a survey from a GOP pollster affiliated with President Donald Trump found that Texas Democratic and Republican voters are unified in their opposition to the hemp ban proposal.
