HEMP BEVERAGE ALLIANCE SUBMITS COMMENTS ON NEWLY PROPOSED RULES IN TEXAS
Today HBA submitted comments to the Texas Health and Human Service Commission in response to their request for public comments on a series of rules regarding the hemp beverage industry.
CLICK HERE TO READ HBA’S COMMENTS.
This rulemaking implements Texas Health and Safety Code Chapter 443 and responds to Executive Order GA-56, which directs DSHS to prohibit sales to minors, add age verification requirements, update testing requirements, and update record keeping requirements.
HBA supports these objectives and submitted targeted recommendations designed to strengthen enforceability, preserve participation in the regulated market, and reduce avoidable disputes in field enforcement. HBA recommendations include:
Fees. Retain the current fee schedule in this rulemaking. Proposed fee levels have outsized impacts on smaller operators ill-equipped to absorb abrupt annual cost disruptions and reduce the regulated footprint needed for inspection-based enforcement. In the alternative, if any increase is adopted, phase it in and cap multi-location exposure.
Inspections and entry. Narrow written consent requirements to lawful administrative inspection authority and remove property-owner consent as a condition for tenant applicants.
COA access and labeling mechanics. Preserve consumer access to COAs while allowing workable packaging options, including QR codes as an alternative to a printed URL, tied to batch identification.
Testing governance. Maintain predictable compliance expectations through analyte-list version control, defined effective dates, timely notice with minimum contents, and a confirmatory pathway before escalation beyond stop-sale or quarantine.
Transport restriction scope. Refine the inbound transport restriction for ingredients to avoid unintended supply-chain disruption while maintaining diversion controls and finished-product compliance.
Enforcement standards. Use objective conduct standards for inspection interference and remove subjective speech-based triggers that invite inconsistent enforcement outcomes.
Implementation timing. Phase in administrative mechanics requiring build time, while preserving immediate enforcement of age restrictions and safety-based prohibitions.
