With the Texas Legislation session wrapping up we look at some of the changes that were made regarding cannabis and hemp. Their was a modest expansion of the Texas Medical Marijuana program that expanded the use of the program to people with cancer and post-traumatic stress disorder. Although this bill passed, it fell short of what many advocated for. Along with this bill Texas Senate has approved House-passed bills to reduce criminal penalties for possessing marijuana concentrates. Join us as Chuck Mains chats about what is happening in Texas and if they will be called back for a special session.
Video Transcription
Harry Brelsford 0:07
Hey 420MSP, we’re back with the busiest man in Texas Chuck Mains he just got out a session. Want to talk about that. But what why don’t you set the table with the Texas Legislature? Do they meet once every two years? What a quick quickly kind of educate us some.
Chuck Mains 0:24
Right. Hey, Harry. And so yeah, the Texas Legislature meets every other year, every 18 months, for 140 days. That is a standard session would start in January and go through June of every odd year. So we just finished our our regular session. Now the governor can call you back into a special session which he will be doing the topics we know we will be back for redistricting. And then we’ve been told that we will be back for issues that did not pass during this past regular session.
Harry Brelsford 1:06
And yeah, and what a special session be I remember those things like back in, my child had an Alaskan it could be like two days later. You know, like they didn’t fly everybody home from Juneau. They just stayed. How does it work here?
Chuck Mains 1:20
Sometimes it can be it can. The governor can call it it’s at his at his discretion. So we’ve had it to where he’s called it the next morning, after we’ve signed, he died. And then other times, it’s been months down the road, and then we come back. That’s going to be that looks like we’ll get what we’re gonna have here. He typically typically, it’s he likes if he’s going to call a special session. They like to do it after the veto period. Because then if there’s any kind of blowback during these first 20 days after session, then then they’re, you know, yeah, yeah. about that. No, I get it. And we also we have the the census numbers will not be coming out until September. So that that is what we know, we will come back for for at least congressional redistricting. Very cool.
Harry Brelsford 2:15
Well, hey, I was tracking the news. In the state of Texas, the session came to an end. And there were two or three stories surrounding the cannabis segment. Sowhat what’s going on?
Chuck Mains 2:28
Well, we in the state went from, you know, we have the compassionate use program, which we expanded a little bit last session before last, just as we added more, more prescriptions or more reasons for it to be prescribed. And this session, kind of had a lot more momentum on the outside to try to get more done. University Studies, expansion in in hiring the amounts and the amounts of dispensary’s as the current as the current law, is there only there’s only allowed to be three.
Harry Brelsford 3:19
Wow, that’s a big state.
Chuck Mains 3:22
That’s that’s not a lot to it. That’s not that’s not a lot and what happened this session, unfortunately involves what’s your state let’s, they got some, they didn’t get what they what they wanted. We were able to add PTSD and cancer. The of the moving the amount that that was not hardly anything. But the bill, the bill basically was put on hold. And it was not, it was it flew through the House of Representatives, they were fine with it. But it was when it got to the Senate, it was a late referral, and then wasn’t going to be having a hearing and then there was a hearing and then order for this thing to pass it had to be they had to water it down as much as they could. Then on the other fronts, the Hamp in the Delta eight front, there was a cleanup bill from last session to kind of fix holes that we didn’t either get to or we didn’t know we’re going to exist from passing the the hip legislation. And and that there’s this There seems to be a kind of outside. Let’s say a lot of interest in this delta eight and delta delta 10 and other isolettes that are that are out there. There were some staunch folks on the opposite side that were trying to do anything they could to outlaw Delta eight. The HAMP bill originated in the house went over to the Senate. They tried to add that outlaw Delta eight outlaw and some other things to it. Another bill, it was a moody bill to actually D declassify small amounts of marijuana was tagged in the Senate to make adulto eight illegal. Up until the very end, this will seem to be like we didn’t know what was going to happen. Fortunately, the the FDA portion that was in the hemp cleanup bill was able to be amended to the agriculture commission, sunset bill. And the hemp bill the other cleanups that failed the delta 8 in the in the moody decriminalization bill, they took that out. So things are status quo as they were in the hemp world. before the session, so some that’s a that’s a sigh of relief to others. depends on who you talk to.
Harry Brelsford 6:25
Yeah, exactly. Well, the, you know, it just conversations I’m having with our analysts, you know, the What do we say the horses left the barn nationally, right, with New York and, and so on. So, you know, fingers crossed, but Texas, it’s, I predicted, you know, your bet it’s gonna happen.
Chuck Mains 6:48
Over here in Louisiana, and they’re just I mean, yesterday, and smokeable was was was passed their full fledged medical, and it’s just a matter of time. I think I’ll be here too. But I yeah.
Harry Brelsford 7:02
Yeah, exactly. Now, will this type of legislation be covered in a special session? The or will it be 18 months,
Chuck Mains 7:11
highly unlikely. You to get something in a special it needs to be something that is highly politically charged. We also have to look at, you know, this is a primary, this would be a primary time, all the statewide are up and you’re going to want some kind of red meat kind of issues that you can talk about primary, so I would not see this rise up to that level.
Harry Brelsford 7:40
Okay. Hey, last question. unrelated. Again, I’ve been kind of tracking what’s going on in Texas. What what’s held these TV ads about gambling and casinos? What did that pass or what’s going on?
Chuck Mains 7:55
That was a major push. I believe it was a sand casino. Isn’t we’re spending spending this ungodly amount of money to say we’re like, it was crazy. They hired something like 80 lobbyists, and then did this whole PR campaign. And that’s where you’re seeing that those those commercials, the bill. The bill never made it out of the house. And I think part of it was known that it was probably not going to pass but to start this ground, you know, this ground movement, and just continue working on it. I don’t know. I don’t know how, what what’s what’s going to be the fate of that. Yeah,
Harry Brelsford 8:43
yeah, no problem. Well, hey, now that things are getting back to normal. I want to get together with you live for our next one. So there’ll be plans orchestrate that?
Chuck Mains 8:55
Yeah, we want a lot of time. I want to talk to Alyssa with the hemp coalition. And Aaron, who owns the chaos farm, she said that they were going to be planting in July. So we’ll figure We’ll figure some time out that
Harry Brelsford 9:07
Yeah, yeah. No, that’d be that’d be cool. And I’ve upgraded my podcast kit so I can do remote recordings with good sound. So yeah, I’m getting, you know, machine learning, right? You learn what works and what doesn’t improve. So check. Catch your breath. What a busy busy six months, man and we’ll see on the flip sides.
Chuck Mains 9:29
Awesome, Harry. Appreciate it. We’ll see you guys later.
Harry Brelsford 9:36
Okay,
