DSHS<\/a>, the fees were calculated to cover the costs of regular inspections of manufacturers and retailers, including inspector salaries and travel, as well as laboratory testing costs.<\/p>\nEven with the reductions, retailers told KVUE the new costs are a heavy lift.<\/p>\n
\u201cIt\u2019s still in the thousands, compared to the hundreds of dollars that it previously was,\u201d Torabi said. “I do think there’s going to be a huge impact to businesses because not only are you having increased fees to operate, but there’s a multitude of other things.”<\/p>\n
Beyond fees, the updated rules include 21-and-over age restrictions, revised testing requirements, updated packaging, labeling and record\u2011keeping standards.<\/p>\n
Local hemp shop owners said one of the biggest changes is the new way THC levels will be calculated for compliance.<\/p>\n
\u201cThis rule, which is a small language change to convert THCA into total THC, has huge impacts,\u201d said Todd Harris, owner of Happy Cactus and a member of the Texas Hemp Business Council.<\/p>\n
He said the change effectively bans cannabis flower, which accounts for roughly 70% of his store\u2019s sales. Combined with the anticipated 400% increase in licensing fees, he fears his business may not survive.<\/p>\n
\u201cWe have two locations. If we don\u2019t get these rules changed and we lose flower and have those fees, I can\u2019t see us keeping both locations at least,\u201d Harris said. \u201cMost likely we would go out of business as well.\u201d<\/p>\n
Retailers warn that limiting legal access to popular hemp products could push consumers toward unregulated markets.<\/p>\n
Still, many in the industry hope they can adapt as the regulatory landscape continues to evolve.<\/p>\n
DSHS said it will periodically reevaluate licensing fees to ensure they do not exceed the cost of administering the program. The adopted hemp regulations will officially take effect on March 31.<\/p>\n","protected":false},"excerpt":{"rendered":"Texas\u2019 hemp industry is preparing for sweeping regulatory changes that many retailers say could reshape the market for…\n","protected":false},"author":2,"featured_media":42082,"comment_status":"","ping_status":"","sticky":false,"template":"","format":"standard","meta":{"footnotes":""},"categories":[6],"tags":[78677,38587,51535,53091,78675,27,29,28,78676],"class_list":["post-199143","post","type-post","status-publish","format-standard","has-post-thumbnail","category-texas","tag-compliance-burdens","tag-department-of-state-health-services","tag-dshs","tag-licensing-fees","tag-shayda-torabi","tag-texas","tag-texas-headlines","tag-texas-news","tag-todd-harris"],"_links":{"self":[{"href":"https:\/\/www.newsbeep.com\/us-tx\/wp-json\/wp\/v2\/posts\/199143","targetHints":{"allow":["GET"]}}],"collection":[{"href":"https:\/\/www.newsbeep.com\/us-tx\/wp-json\/wp\/v2\/posts"}],"about":[{"href":"https:\/\/www.newsbeep.com\/us-tx\/wp-json\/wp\/v2\/types\/post"}],"author":[{"embeddable":true,"href":"https:\/\/www.newsbeep.com\/us-tx\/wp-json\/wp\/v2\/users\/2"}],"replies":[{"embeddable":true,"href":"https:\/\/www.newsbeep.com\/us-tx\/wp-json\/wp\/v2\/comments?post=199143"}],"version-history":[{"count":0,"href":"https:\/\/www.newsbeep.com\/us-tx\/wp-json\/wp\/v2\/posts\/199143\/revisions"}],"wp:featuredmedia":[{"embeddable":true,"href":"https:\/\/www.newsbeep.com\/us-tx\/wp-json\/wp\/v2\/media\/42082"}],"wp:attachment":[{"href":"https:\/\/www.newsbeep.com\/us-tx\/wp-json\/wp\/v2\/media?parent=199143"}],"wp:term":[{"taxonomy":"category","embeddable":true,"href":"https:\/\/www.newsbeep.com\/us-tx\/wp-json\/wp\/v2\/categories?post=199143"},{"taxonomy":"post_tag","embeddable":true,"href":"https:\/\/www.newsbeep.com\/us-tx\/wp-json\/wp\/v2\/tags?post=199143"}],"curies":[{"name":"wp","href":"https:\/\/api.w.org\/{rel}","templated":true}]}}