AUSTIN, Texas – The Texas Alcoholic Beverage Commission will hold a public hearing Thursday, a month after it moved forward with its efforts to regulate the sale of consumable hemp products.
The public hearing will be at 10 a.m. via videoconference, and it will be livestreamed in this article. Delays are possible; if there isn’t a livestream available, check back at a later time.
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The TABC is moving to regulate the sale of hemp in response to Gov. Greg Abbott’s executive order, which was issued in September.
The proposed rules prohibit a TABC licensee or permittee from selling consumable hemp products (CHP) to anyone younger than 21 and require them to verify a consumer’s age by checking the consumer’s government-issued identification prior to completing the sale of CHP.
A licensee or permittee that violates these rules may have their license or permit suspended or canceled, if passed.
The executive order followed Abbott’s veto of a legislative ban on the products in June, as the Legislature failed to reach an agreement on regulations during two special sessions this summer.
TABC will vote on the formal adoption of the regulations in January.
In October, the Texas Department of State Health Services approved its own emergency rules that require sellers of CHP to verify that a customer is at least 21 years old, violations of which may lead to the revocation of a license or registration.
Questions are swirling around the fate of the hemp industry due to federal restrictions approved by Congress in the funding bill that ended the government shutdown.
A provision of the funding bill for the U.S. Department of Agriculture undid a provision of the 2018 farm bill that first allowed Texas’ $8 billion hemp industry to thrive.
The funding bill bans hemp-infused drinks and snacks with more than 0.4 milligrams of tetrahydrocannabinol, or THC, the psychoactive element also found in marijuana. The provision takes effect in November 2026.
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