Texas Hemp Rules Update Would Hike Licensing Fees 13,000%

A proposal from the Texas Department of State Health Services published last month would increase the cost of hemp business licenses by over 13,000%, the Texas Tribune reports.

Under the proposed rules, the cost of a hemp product manufacturer license would increase from $250 to $25,000 per year per facility. The cost of a hemp product retailer license would increase from $150 to $20,000 per year per location.

The rules would also establish a minimum purchasing age of 21 and set age verification and product recall requirements for the hemp products industry.

The industry has been operating under emergency hemp rules issued last October after Gov. Greg Abbott (R) ordered the state in September to take action.

Texas Cannabis Policy Center Heather Fazio said in a statement that if the rules are to be implemented as proposed, “Many small businesses simply cannot afford to absorb this level of cost and will be forced to shut down.”

“Business licensing and registration fees should not be punitive. They should be structured to recover the reasonable costs of effective regulation — not to function as a revenue mechanism that drives compliant businesses out of the regulated market. The department’s own estimates show that the increased costs of administering these rules are minimal. In that context, it is unclear why such dramatic fee increases are necessary or justified.” — Fazio, in a statement

In November, President Trump signed a federal spending bill containing a crackdown on the sale of hemp-derived THC set to take effect on November 12, 2026.