Overview
- A Travis County judge issued a temporary restraining order that pauses the state’s prohibition on selling smokable hemp, allowing sales to resume for now.
- The order leaves steep new annual fees in place, raising costs to $5,000 per retail location and $10,000 per manufacturing site.
- Industry groups led by the Texas Hemp Business Council sued, arguing health regulators exceeded their authority by adopting a total-THC test that counts THCA.
- THCA converts to delta‑9 THC when heated, so counting it makes many smokable products fail the 0.3% THC limit set for hemp.
- The next step is an April 23 hearing on whether to keep the pause in place, a pivotal decision for more than 13,000 registered retailers and nearly 800 manufacturers in Texas.