Governor Abbott’s pending decision on a bill could reshape Texas’s hemp industry by banning THC product sales, risking jobs and tax revenue.
KENDALL COUNTY, Texas — A bill awaiting Governor Greg Abbott’s signature could dramatically alter Texas’s booming hemp industry by banning the sale of THC products. It is a move critics argue threatens thousands of jobs and millions in tax revenue.
Austin Ruple founded Texas Pur Labs and has been in the industry since 2012 working originally with CBD.
Six years ago, he took advantage of the new law in Texas which allowed hemp farming. He then began manufacturing protects that contain THC.
“This is a production facility that can take a CBD isolate and turn it into delta 8, delta 9, all these different molecules,” Ruple said.
We met him Tuesday at one of his farms located in Bergheim, east of Boerne.
“It’s not a scary thing if people understand what it is and how to use it properly,” Ruple said.
Ruple said now he is having to rework his entire business model, with a looming ban on THC products. Lawmakers argued the hemp industry exploited a loophole in Texas’s 2019 farm bill. However, Ruple said these lawmakers have always been aware of what hemp could create.
“Science hasn’t changed in these molecules and how these plants work,” Ruple said.
Jeff Dicker, who works with Ruple at Texas Pur Labs, said the potential economic fallout could be severe.
“You’re going to knock out 8,500 businesses. You’re going to cost 53,000 jobs,” Dicker said. “We’re going to lose over $200 million in tax revenue.”
Dicker said he believes there should have been regulations in place from the beginning.
“You can’t get taxes from the black market,” Dicker said. “We pay a lot of taxes.”
Texas Agriculture Commissioner Sid Miller issued a statement Friday saying the bill is not intended as a blanket ban on hemp. Instead, he called it “a targeted effort to crack down on abuse of THC in the retail sector — not a ban on legitimate hemp farming.”
Still, the uncertainty has hemp farmers weighing whether to abandon the crop entirely. Many credit hemp with saving their operations in recent years.
Dicker and others in the industry are urging supporters to contact the governor and demand revisions to the bill.
“Call the governor,” Dicker said. “Make a plea to them to reexamine all of this and let’s get something that is sensible, not draconian.”
Even if signed into law, many businesses say they’re prepared to challenge the legislation in court before it takes effect in September.
In the meantime, farmers like Ruple say they’ll continue producing industrial hemp and legal CBD products — for now.