The World Cup is over and our fun guests from other countries have gone home. (It’s almost like they didn’t want to stick around for the dog days of American summer where we wait for [tackle] football to begin!) Fear not—we are just one month away from American football kicking off. But we don’t have to wait any longer for the contact sport of Texas lawmaking. It awaits you in our latest update.
Interim Hearing
The Senate Health and Human Services Committee met on July 7 to discuss strengthening crisis-related mental health and homeless services and to address the societal impacts of THC product consumption. Comal County Criminal District Attorney Jennifer Tharp testified in front of the committee. She talked about the unprecedented surge in defendants with severe mental illness, substance use disorders, and homelessness cycling through emergency rooms and county jails. Also, Tharp raised the involuntary-to-voluntary loophole in Chapter 574 of the Health and Safety Code. Currently, private psychiatric facilities can convert court-ordered involuntary commitments into voluntary status without notifying the court or prosecutor, which allows high-risk individuals to walk out untreated. Lawmakers indicated a willingness to mandate pre-discharge and status-change notifications to judges, prosecutors, and local law enforcement.
Chambers County Sheriff Brian Hawthorne, President of the Sheriffs Association of Texas, testified too and advocated for the passing of HB 305, which was vetoed last session by Governor Greg Abbott. HB 305 would have required that a court conduct the next pretrial hearing for a defendant who has been restored to competency within 14 days of that restoration. Governor Abbott did not agree with the 14-day time period but vowed to work with lawmakers to pass a different version of the law. Chief Steve Dye of the Allen Police Department testified about the explosion of retail THC shops and the easy accessibility of high potency consumables, which have led to an increase in juvenile addictions.
Senator Charles Perry (R-Lubbock) promised to refile legislation to completely ban consumable THC products and Chair Lois Kolkhorst (R-Brenham) made it clear that the current lack of uniformity across local mental health authorities is no longer acceptable. We will continue to follow these issues during the regular session when they become real life bills.
Speaking of THC …
New THC Regulations
On July 10, 2026, the Texas Department of State Health Services (DSHS) reinstated its 2021 definitions of “tetrahydrocannabinols” and “marihuana extract” as controlled substances. Before those 2021 revisions could ever take effect, a Travis County district court issued a temporary injunction in Sky Marketing Corp. v. DSHS, preventing enforcement. That changed on May 1, 2026, when the Texas Supreme Court reversed the lower courts and upheld DSHS’s authority. After the Court issued its mandate on June 5, 2026, DSHS formally reinstated the 2021 definitions through a July 10 notice in the Texas Register, making them effective July 31, 2026. This new schedule concludes that delta-8 and all THC isomers that are NOT delta-9 THC are considered controlled substances.
This goes into effect today, July 31, 2026. Delta-9 and delta-8 are both intoxicating cannabinoids found in hemp products. While delta-9 THC is the primary psychoactive compound found in cannabis, delta-8 is found in much lower levels and is typically synthesized for retail sale. Under HB 1325, the state differentiates between legal hemp based on delta-9 THC content, which left delta-8 and other cannabinoids in a gray legal area. The definitions enacted by DSHS in 2021, now set to take effect today, closed the loophole by making delta-8 a Schedule I controlled substances.
The Court in Sky Marketing Corp. v. DSHS held that “Delta-8 THC occurs in almost undetectably trace amounts in hemp, but it can be derived synthetically from CBD to produce a dramatically higher concentration than that which occurs naturally in the cannabis plant. Texas law considers such synthetic THC to be a Schedule I controlled substance. See 46 Tex. Reg. at 1768 (listing “synthetic equivalents of the substances contained in the cannabis plant, . . . and/or synthetic substances, derivatives, and their isomers with similar chemical structure and pharmacological activity to those substances contained in the plant” as Schedule I controlled substances).” Therefore, possession of Delta-8 would start as a state jail felony and be charged by weight under the Texas Health & Safety Code §481.116.
Labs will need to perform quantitative analysis to establish exact percentage weights rather than mere presence because legal hemp can contain up to 0.3 percent Delta-9 THC. Such testing would be on top of DPS’s and other labs’ already heavy workload of sexual assault kits, drugs, and blood draws. You should have a discussion with your lab analyst about their lab’s capabilities in testing for THC. Please let us know if you get one of these cases. We are here to help answer any questions.
New Prosecutor Rules
The Prosecutor Data Reporting rule that we discussed in our last legislative update is still posted in the Texas Register and available for public comment. You have until August 8, 2026, to submit feedback on these reporting instructions. You can email your comments to reportingsection@txcourts.gov. Please do not hesitate to reach out to Emily Teegardin, 110th Judicial District Attorney and Chair of TDCAA’s Data Reporting Workgroup (emilyteegardin@co.floyd.tx.us), if you have any questions about the proposed rule or the comment process.
No Vacancies in Prisons
The Legislative Budget Board (LBB) released its five-year projections for adult and juvenile correctional populations so that the Texas Juvenile Justice Department and the Texas Department of Criminal Justice can adjust their legislative appropriations requests for the 2028–2029 biennium. In other words, these agencies need to request more money from lawmakers to deal with the anticipated growth of people needing their services. State prisons are projected to exceed operational limits by 2028, which could lead to backlogs in county jails as defendants await transfer to TDCJ. Does this mean more prisons will be built or more people will be let out on parole? We will see how the 90th Legislature decides to tackle this new reality when the initial drafts of the next state budget are filed in the House and Senate.
Bail Bond Reform
This week the Texas Public Policy Foundation’s (TPPF) Right on Crime arm published a policy paper entitled “Accountability, Transparency, and Public Safety: A Conservative Approach to Bail Bond Oversight.” For civil prosecutors, this article foreshadows TPPF’s desire to abolish local bail bond boards and transfer all licensing, oversight, and forfeiture collection enforcement to the Texas Department of Insurance (TDI). The final recommendations are located at the second to last paragraph of the paper. Please let us know your thoughts.
Election Law Training
The 44th Annual Election Law Seminar for County Election Officials, hosted by the Texas Secretary of State, will be held August 10–12 in Round Rock. The conference will cover statutory compliance, recent legislative changes, and procedural nuances governing local elections. Election integrity continues to be a hot topic in Texas and across the country and will only heat up as we get closer to the November general election. The seminar has been approved for 16.5 hours of CLE including 1.5 hours of ethics hours.
Judicial Compensation Commission Meeting
The Judicial Compensation Commission will hold its next public hearing in the courtroom of the Court of Criminal Court of Appeals in Austin, Texas on August 7 from 10:00am-12:00pm. The Commission was created to recommend the proper salaries to be paid by the state for all justices and judges of the Supreme Court, the Court of Criminal Appeals, the courts of appeals, and the district courts. The Commission always appreciates prosecutorial testimony at its hearings. Please email Hector Valle if you plan to attend.
Quotes
“I was mad that I went to jail, and I didn’t understand politics. Now we’re working together because we have to and we need to because it’s what’s best for you.”
—Representative Shelley Luther (R-Sherman) discussing her new relationship with Governor Abbott at her political rally that brought nearly all of Texas GOP leadership together. Luther, a former salon owner, first gained national attention in 2020 after being jailed for reopening her Dallas business in defiance of Abbott’s COVID-19 shutdown orders.
“I care what rural Texans think about data centers. You cannot build in rural Texas neighborhoods. Period.”
—Governor Greg Abbott at Rep. Luther’s political rally discussing his latest view on data centers in Texas.
“Convicted felon trying to be a player.”
—Midland County Judge Terry Johnson’s caption on his personal Facebook page’s post of an unredacted arrest warrant showing a citizen reporter’s full legal name, Social Security number, birthdate, and driver’s license number. The citizen journalist has filed a federal civil rights lawsuit alleging Johnson used his official access to government records to dox him in retaliation for critical reporting on county government.
“My office has reached out to DHS (the Department of Homeland Security) on a number of occasions after this shooting, and not only have we not been told no, we haven’t gotten anything back. We haven’t gotten a response to anything. In the 20 years that I’ve been in law enforcement, I’ve never seen behavior like this.”
—Harris County District Attorney Sean Teare testifying at a Congressional hearing in Houston regarding his office’s investigation into the ICE agent who fatally shot a Harris County man earlier this month.