Texas House To Vote On Marijuana Decriminalization Bill, As Committee Takes Up Broader Legalization Proposal

The Texas House of Representatives will vote on a bill to decriminalize marijuana on Wednesday—on the same day that a committee is scheduled to take up a broader cannabis sales legalization proposal.

The full House will act on the decriminalization legislation, which would also create a process for expunging marijuana conviction records, that’s being sponsored by Rep. Joe Moody (D).

Meanwhile, the House Licensing & Administrative Procedures Committee will hold a hearing on another bill from Moody that would allow adults 21 and older to possess and purchase cannabis from licensed retailers, and cultivate up to 12 plants for personal use.

The floor vote on the decriminalization measure comes about a month after the House Criminal Jurisprudence Committee unanimously passed it. The bill would remove the risk of arrest or jail time for low-level possession of cannabis and allow people to eventually erase cannabis issues from their criminal records.

The House has already passed similar cannabis decriminalization proposals during the past two legislative sessions, in 2021 and 2019. But so far the proposals have consistently stalled in the Senate amid opposition from Lt. Gov. Dan Patrick (R), who presides over the chamber.

HB 218, the bill heading to the floor, combines two separate measures from last session, both of which passed on the full House.

It would make possession of up to one ounce of marijuana a Class C misdemeanor, removing the risk of jail time and instead imposing a maximum fine of $500. Existing law classifies possession of small amounts of cannabis as a Class B misdemeanor, which carries penalties of up to 180 days in jail and up to a $2,000 fine.

The bill also specifies that possession of up to two ounces of cannabis would not result in an arrest, meaning violators would be cited and released. Further, people with possession convictions for up to two ounces of marijuana could seek to have those convictions expunged through a court process for a $30 fee.

Meanwhile, the legalization bill that’s heading to committee would allow adults to purchase, possess and gift up to 2.5 ounces of cannabis. They could also grow up to 12 plants, so long as they’re kept in a secure, enclosed space.

The Texas Department of Licensing and Regulation would be responsible for administering the program, including developing a process to license marijuana businesses.

The bill, HB 3562, proposes a 10 percent tax on cannabis products, and revenue would go to local municipalities where marijuana businesses are operating (10 percent), counties where those businesses are located (10 percent), a “cannabis testing and quality control fund” (one percent) and administrative costs. The remainder would support a public school teachers fund.

Localities couldn’t ban marijuana businesses in their area, though they could set rules “governing the hours of operation, location, manner of conducting business, and number of cannabis growers, cannabis establishments, or cannabis testing facilities.”

It doesn’t appear that the bill proposes to take any specific steps to support social equity goals, such as expungements or licensing prioritization for people from communities that have been disproportionately impacted by the war on drugs.

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Earlier this month, the House separately passed a bill to allow medical marijuana as an opioid alternative for people with chronic pain and also replace the state’s THC limit, sending the legislation to the Senate for consideration.

Nearly three in four Texas voters (72 percent) support decriminalizing marijuana, according to a University of Texas/Texas Politics Project poll in December. More than half (55 percent), meanwhile, said they’re in favor of broader legalization. Seventeen percent said it shouldn’t be legal at all.

A more recent survey from the same institution similarly showed that a majority of Texas voters feel that the state’s marijuana laws should be “less strict.”

Texas lawmakers also recently filed a series of new bills aimed at promoting and expanding psychedelics research in the state.

On the local level in Texas, meanwhile, activists have succeeded in enacting municipal cannabis reform policies. Most recently, voters in five cities—Denton, Elgin, Harker Heights, Killeen and San Marcos passed marijuana decriminalization ballot measures in November.

Local officials in some of those municipalities have sought to undermine the voter-approved cannabis measures, however,

Voters in San Antonio as set to decide on a similar cannabis decriminalization initiative next month.

Photo courtesy of WeedPornDaily.