Texas Lawmakers Prefile Bills To Legalize Marijuana In 2025 And Expand Low-THC Medical Cannabis Program

Just a day into the period during which Texas lawmakers can begin prefiling bills ahead of the forthcoming 2025 legislative session, elected officials have already proposed a number of cannabis-related reforms, including measures to legalize cannabis for adults, expand the state’s restrictive low-THC medical program and impose new restrictions on hemp.

Further marijuana-related bills are likely coming ahead of the legislative session, which doesn’t begin until mid-January. Lawmakers in Texas meet only every two years.

Heather Fazio, of the group Texans for Responsible Marijuana Policy, said it’s “likely to be a very consequential legislative session.”

“Our state’s cannabis laws are complicated and ineffective,” she told Marijuana Moment. “Thankfully lawmakers are taking the issue seriously and filing bills as soon as possible to get the process started.”

(Disclosure: Fazio supports Marijuana Moment’s work through a monthly Patreon pledge.)

The Texas House of Representatives passed a series of bills last session to decriminalize marijuana, facilitate expungements and allow chronic pain patients to access medical cannabis as an opioid alternative. But those proposals ultimately stalled out in the Senate, which has been a theme for cannabis reform measures in the conservative legislature in recent sessions.

The House passed similar cannabis decriminalization proposals during the two prior legislative sessions, in 2021 and 2019.

In the House, prefiled bills for the coming session include HB 1208, a 28-page plan from Rep. Jessica González (D) to legalize, tax, and regulate marijuana in the state.

It would allow adults 21 and older to possess up to 2.5 ounces of marijuana, up to 15 grams of which could be in the form of cannabis concentrate. At home, individuals could keep up to 10 ounces, but anything over 2.5 ounces would need to be stored securely. Products on the commercial market would be taxed at 10 percent.

The bill does not appear to allow home cultivation of marijuana for personal use, though its definition of “cannabis” includes “the plant…whether growing or not.”

HB 1146, from Rep. Penny Morales Shaw (D), would expand qualifying conditions by allowing patients to access the state’s low-THC medical marijuana to treat “a condition that causes chronic pain, for which a physician would otherwise prescribe an opioid.”

It would also make eligible patients with “a debilitating medical condition” as defined by the Department of State Health Services and further authorize the department to designate additional conditions by rule.

Other House bills include HB 848, from Rep. Joe Moody (D), which would expand the state’s criminal code around cannabis possession and delivery to include “marihuana concentrate,” and HJR 70, a joint resolution from Rep. Ron Reynolds (D) calling for a constitutional amendment that would direct the legislature “by law” to “authorize and regulate the possession, cultivation, and sale of cannabis for medical use in this state.”

On the hemp side, HB 1113 from Rep. Briscoe Cain (R) would tighten regulations on research and production in the state. Among other changes, it would establish a permit that would be required of hemp researchers and would create a criminal offense for cultivating hemp without a license. The crime on first offense would be a Class C misdemeanor, which would climb to Class B and Class A misdemeanors on second and subsequent offenses.

The Texas Tribune reported last month that the coming legislative session could see a showdown between the state’s low-THC medical marijuana and hemp industries.

In the state Senate, meanwhile, at least two cannabis-related bills have so far been prefiled that are focused on expanding the state’s limited medical marijuana program.

SB 170, from Sen. José Menéndez (D), would effectively expand the state’s low-THC medical cannabis system into one more resembling programs in other legal states, replacing references in state law to “low-THC cannabis” with “medical cannabis.” It would also add new sections on product testing, packaging and labeling, retail locations across the state, caregivers and other details of the expanded program.

SB 259, meanwhile, from Sen. Carol Alvarado (D), would also expand the state medical program. The bill appears to be based on SB 250, which Alvarado introduced in 2020 and said at the time would “expand the use of medical marijuana by allowing doctors & science to dictate what conditions & symptoms are eligible for a prescription.”

Austin Zamhariri, executive director of the advocacy organization Texas Cannabis Collective, told Marijuana Moment in a statement that Texas has the opportunity to be a global leader in the cannabis space, but only if state leaders take begin to take action in 2025.

“As we approach the 89th Texas Legislature, it is important to recognize the overwhelming multi partisan support for cannabis reform among Texans,” he said. “This is evident in both public polling and progressive decriminalization propositions that have passed with hundreds of thousands of votes across 9 different cities over the last 3 years.”

Last week, most recently, voters in three Texas cities—Dallas, Lockhart and Bastrop—approved local marijuana decriminalization ballot initiatives at the polls.

“Even President Trump and Governor Abbott have been vocal in ending incarceration for low-level marijuana offenses,” Zamhariri continued. “It is time for Texas legislators to be in tune with this paradigm shift, and to start working on changes to transition policy from a century of marijuana prohibition to common sense regulation.”

Pre filing of bills for the 89th Texas Legislature begins today. We will be keeping an eye on any legislation submitted in regard to cannabis.

— Texas Cannabis Collective (@txcannaco) November 12, 2024

(Disclosure: Texas Cannabis Collective supports Marijuana Moment’s work through a monthly Patreon pledge.)

At the local level, in addition to the three cities that passed decriminalization measures last week, cities across the Lone Star state have stopped targeting marijuana use in recent years, including Austin, Denton, Elgin, Harker Heights, Killeen and San Marcos.

Advocates also scored another win in San Marcos in July after a Texas district judge dismissed a lawsuit from the state’s Republican attorney general that sought to overturn a local decriminalization ordinance in that city.

Texas Attorney General Ken Paxton (R) filed a lawsuit in January challenging local decriminalization laws that were enacted in five cities: Austin, San Marcos, Killeen, Elgin and Denton. A different district judge had overturned the suit in Austin in June.

Gov. Greg Abbott (R) has separately lashed out against the municipal cannabis reform efforts.

“Local communities such as towns, cities and counties, they don’t have the authority to override state law,” the governor said in May “If they want to see a different law passed, they need to work with their legislators. Let’s legislate to work to make sure that the state, as a state, will pass some of the law.”

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Abbott has previously said that he doesn’t believe people should be in jail over marijuana possession—although he mistakenly suggested at the time that Texas had already enacted a decriminalization policy to that end.

Back at the Capitol, a Texas Democratic senator brought the issue of marijuana legalization to the Senate floor last May, seeking to attach to an unrelated resolution an amendment that would’ve allowed Texans to vote on ending prohibition at the ballot box. But the symbolic proposal was ultimately shut down. Lt. Gov. Dan Patrick (R) agreed to another member’s point of order, deeming the cannabis amendment not germane to the broader legislation.

A strong bipartisan majority of Texas voters support decriminalizing marijuana, and more people say they want to reduce restrictions on cannabis than say the same about guns, gambling and abortion in the Lone Star state, according to a poll released in September.

The Texas Department of Public Safety (DPS) separately released a recent report advising that the state’s limited medical marijuana system “does not provide for statewide access for patients” and recommending that the number of licensed dispensaries be significantly expanded to meet demand.

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Photo courtesy of Philip Steffan.