Texas THC Rules Head to Court in December, Days Before Federal Limits Hit
The state's ban on smokable THCA flower stays in force while an appeal is heard Dec. 8. Three days later, new federal hemp limits take effect.
The fight over intoxicating hemp products in Texas has a court date. The Fifteenth Court of Appeals will hear arguments at 9:30 a.m. Dec. 8 over state rules that took smokable THCA flower off Texas shelves, KENS 5 reported, citing the Texas Hemp Business Council.
Three days later, on Dec. 11, new federal limits on hemp-derived THC are set to take effect nationwide. Unless Congress delays them again, the window for high-THC hemp products in Texas is closing.
What Texas changed
Acting on an order from Gov. Greg Abbott, the Department of State Health Services adopted new consumable hemp rules that took effect March 31, according to the DSHS hemp program page and the rules published in the Texas Register.
The key change is how THC is counted. Texas law caps delta-9 THC in hemp products at 0.3 percent by dry weight. The new rules count THCA, a compound that turns into THC when heated, toward that limit. That knocked out THCA flower and other smokable products that had passed the old test. The rules also raised annual license fees, which the Texas Register lists at $10,000 for manufacturers and $5,000 per retail location.
Responding to public comments, DSHS said the federal rules and the governor's executive order both require testing that accounts for THCA turning into THC.
Separately, DSHS says delta-8 THC is a controlled substance, citing a Texas Supreme Court ruling, and a state scheduling change took effect July 31.
The lawsuit
The Texas Hemp Business Council sued, arguing DSHS took power that belongs to the Legislature. A trial court temporarily blocked the rules, but the state appealed, which put them back in force while the case goes to the Fifteenth Court of Appeals, KENS 5 reported.
The federal deadline
Congress rewrote the federal definition of hemp in November 2025. According to law firm Vicente LLP, a spending bill signed Sept. 2, 2026, split the start date in two. A ban on hemp products containing cannabinoids the plant cannot produce naturally takes effect Nov. 12. A 0.3 percent total-THC standard that includes THCA, plus a cap of 0.4 milligrams of total THC per container on finished products, takes effect Dec. 11.
That federal cap is far stricter than anything Texas has adopted. If it holds, most intoxicating hemp products now sold in the state would fall outside the federal definition of hemp. Bills to delay the change or set up a federal regulatory framework are pending, and Congress could revisit the deadline in its lame-duck session or the next spending bill in December, Vicente LLP noted.
Where this should land
Hemp businesses employ Texans, and they deserve clear rules made in the open by the people accountable to voters. That is a fair point in their lawsuit, and the court should take it seriously.
But the larger truth is plain. For years, a loophole let shops sell intoxicating products under a law written for farm hemp. Getting high is not a harmless hobby, and protecting children and families from it is a legitimate job for government. Whether the rules come from Austin or Washington, closing that loophole is the right direction. Lawmakers should finish the job themselves when they meet in January rather than leaving it to agencies and judges.
For more on how state agencies shape everyday life, see our explainer.
Hero photo: Sillerkiil via Wikimedia Commons, CC BY-SA 4.0, cropped and resized.
