According to the Legislative Budget Board (LBB), SB 6 is expected to result in a net negative fiscal impact to the State of Texas, with an estimated loss of $23.71 million in General Revenue over the 2026–27 biennium. The bill significantly alters the regulatory framework for consumable hemp products, including prohibiting the manufacture or sale of any product containing cannabinoids other than cannabidiol (CBD) or cannabigerol (CBG), instituting high licensing and registration fees, and imposing new administrative and criminal penalties.

The Department of State Health Services (DSHS) is authorized to collect $10,000 per facility in manufacturer licensing fees and $20,000 per retail location in registration fees. However, the fiscal note from the LBB anticipates that the stringent regulations and increased costs will result in many current businesses exiting the market, substantially shrinking the taxable hemp product sector. Although higher fees from remaining operators may offset some losses, the net result is a significant reduction in tax collections, estimated at $9.4 million in General Revenue loss for FY 2026, increasing to $16.3 million by FY 2030. Local entities (cities, counties, transit authorities) are projected to lose additional sales tax revenue ranging from $2.5 to $4.5 million annually.

Additional state costs related to rulemaking and enforcement, including investigations and administrative hearings, are expected to be absorbed by DSHS, the Department of Public Safety (DPS), and the Health and Human Services Commission (HHSC) within their current budgets. However, the fiscal note acknowledges that the number of criminal or administrative penalties issued, and thus their potential revenue, is indeterminate. Likewise, while criminal penalties could increase caseloads, the impact on correctional systems is unknown due to limited data on affected conduct.

Overall, despite new fee mechanisms, the bill’s restrictive provisions are anticipated to suppress market activity, causing significant and ongoing tax revenue losses to both state and local governments.

SB 6 is a refiled version of SB 5 (from the first called special session) and a policy successor to SB 3 (89th Regular Session), which Governor Greg Abbott vetoed in June 2025. SB 6 seeks to tightly restrict the manufacture, sale, possession, and marketing of consumable hemp products in Texas by banning any cannabinoid product that contains substances other than cannabidiol (CBD) or cannabigerol (CBG). This includes widely used, federally legal cannabinoids such as cannabinol (CBN), cannabichromene (CBC), Delta-8 THC, and THC-P, even when they are non-impairing and below the 0.3% THC threshold established in the 2018 Farm Bill. While SB 6 carries forward minor administrative clarifications, it retains the same prohibitionist framework and raises the same constitutional, economic, and liberty-based concerns as its predecessors.

Governor Abbott vetoed SB 3 ,citing multiple legal vulnerabilities, including likely federal preemption under the 2018 Farm Bill, potential constitutional takings of lawful property, and the harm to law-abiding Texans who rely on these products. He pointed to the legal and economic fallout of banning an entire category of federally legal, non-intoxicating hemp-derived products, warning of negative consequences for small businesses, veterans, and farmers. Abbott’s veto message encouraged lawmakers to pursue a more narrowly tailored and enforceable approach focused on protecting minors while preserving legal access for adults.

SB 6, like SB 5, attempts to recalibrate, but not fundamentally rethink, the policy architecture rejected by the governor. It retains oversight authority under the Department of State Health Services (DSHS) and imposes the same high-cost regulatory structure: a $10,000 manufacturing license per location, $20,000 retail registration fees per store, and a $500 registration fee per individual product. It also mandates QR-coded packaging linked to a DSHS database and grants broad inspection powers to law enforcement. Criminal penalties range from Class B misdemeanors to third-degree felonies. The bill criminalizes not just intoxicating products, but also therapeutic and wellness-oriented cannabinoids that are legal under federal law.

While marketed as a public health bill to protect children, SB 6 ultimately treats all Texans, adults included, as if they cannot make informed choices. The bill bans entire classes of legal products rather than addressing specific health or safety risks. It stifles legal commerce, imposes excessive burdens on small businesses, and reintroduces criminal penalties for products that have been sold lawfully in Texas for years.

SB 6 continues to violate the core liberty principles:

• It strips adults of the right to access legal, non-impairing products.
• It imposes paternalistic regulations that override personal responsibility.
• It blocks free enterprise by outlawing viable product lines and pricing out small operators.
• It infringes on private property rights via warrantless inspections and shifting compliance standards.
• And it expands government power far beyond what is necessary to protect public health.

There are more targeted, liberty-aligned alternatives, such as clear age restrictions, standardized product testing, child-safe packaging, and marketing rules, that could address real safety concerns without banning non-intoxicating, federally legal cannabinoids. Governor Abbott outlined this path in his veto of SB 3. SB 6 disregards that guidance and repeats the same core policy errors under a different bill number.

As such, Texas Policy Research recommends that lawmakers vote NO on SB 6.

• Individual Liberty: The bill criminalizes the possession, use, and sale of consumable hemp products containing any cannabinoid other than CBD or CBG, even when those products are non-intoxicating, therapeutic, and federally legal under the 2018 Farm Bill. This includes cannabinoids like Delta-8, CBN, CBC, and others. By banning peaceful, adult use of legal substances without evidence of public harm, the bill strips Texans of the freedom to make informed choices about their health and wellness. The law presumes the state, not the individual, is best positioned to decide what substances adults may consume, setting a paternalistic precedent that violates personal liberty.
• Personal Responsibility: Rather than empowering individuals with accurate product labeling, independent testing, or consumer education, the bill removes decision-making entirely from the hands of Texans. It criminalizes products wholesale, even when they pose no known threat to public safety. This approach assumes that Texans cannot be trusted to make responsible choices—even when acting within the bounds of existing federal law. In doing so, the bill replaces self-governance with government dictates, undermining the value of individual accountability.
• Free Enterprise: The bill imposes severe financial burdens on hemp manufacturers and retailers, including a $10,000 licensing fee per manufacturing location, a $20,000 annual registration fee per retail location, and a $500 fee per registered product, on top of testing, labeling, and tracking requirements. By banning entire product categories, the bill wipes out core revenue streams for small businesses, entrepreneurs, and veterans who legally entered the Texas hemp market after 2019. These measures create high barriers to entry and survival, benefiting only large corporate players who can absorb the costs, while forcing small businesses to close or leave the state. This is a direct violation of the principle that markets should remain open and competitive.
• Private Property Rights: The bill authorizes warrantless inspections by the Department of State Health Services (DSHS), the Department of Public Safety (DPS), and local law enforcement. Retailers must provide written consent as a condition of registration, effectively waiving constitutional protections against unreasonable searches. This erosion of due process means that lawful property, products that were legal under prior Texas and federal law, can now be seized, and business owners may be penalized retroactively. This undermines both property rights and legal predictability.
• Limited Government: The bill expands the scope of state authority dramatically. It grants broad rulemaking powers to the Health and Human Services Commission, enforces a centralized product registry, mandates QR-code tracking for each product, and empowers regulatory agencies to impose criminal and administrative penalties of up to $10,000 per violation. All of this is aimed at a class of products that have been federally legal since 2018. Rather than addressing genuine harm through narrowly tailored regulation, the bill creates a sprawling enforcement framework that exceeds what is necessary to protect public health, violating the principle of government restraint.

• HB 6 (Similar To)