A provision included in the deal that ended last year’s U.S. government shutdown could upend a multibillion-dollar industry. On November 12, 2026, a new federal definition of “hemp” takes effect that would render most hemp-derived products, from gummies to THC beverages, unlawful. Congress is now attempting to push it back, while states move in opposite directions, with Texas enacting one of the country’s strictest bans.
What the New Federal Definition Changes
The 2018 farm bill legalized hemp as cannabis with no more than 0.3 percent delta-9 THC. Because the standard measured only delta-9, it opened the door to intoxicating products like delta-8 and THCA flower being sold in gas stations. Congress closed that gap in 2025 with HR 5371, which Republican President Donald Trump signed on November 12, 2025. The act replaces the delta-9-only test with a “total THC” standard measured after decarboxylation and caps products at 0.4 milligrams of total THC per container. The U.S. Hemp Roundtable estimates it would eliminate 95 percent of products in a $28 billion industry supporting 300,000 jobs. CBD and industrial hemp remain exempt from the ban.
The Push to Delay the Deadline
Congress is now attempting to move the deadline back: HR 7010 would delay it to 2028, though the bill has been stuck in committee since May. On August 8, the Senate voted 90-6 in support of an amendment to delay the November implementation date to December. The House has not yet acted and is expected to take it up in September, leaving the November 12 ban still on track. Opposing the Senate effort is a bipartisan coalition of 35 attorneys general, who have urged Congress not to delay the effective date at all.
Texas Moves First
Texas did not wait for Washington. On July 31, new state rules classified delta-8, delta-10, THCP, and other manufactured cannabinoids as Schedule I controlled substances, pulling most intoxicating hemp products off shelves and imposing steep penalties. The rules came not from the legislature but from a Texas Department of State Health Services’ definition adopted in 2021 and reinstated after the state Supreme Court cleared it in June. SB 3 would have banned the products in 2025 but was vetoed by Republican Gov. Greg Abbott, who urged regulation, and successor bills failed across two special sessions. Products with no more than 0.3 percent delta-9 THC, and CBD remain legal.
Other States Moving in Both Directions
Elsewhere, the map is splitting. On the restriction side, Tennessee’s HB 1376 adopted total-THC testing and barred online sales, California’s AB 8 confined intoxicating hemp to licensed dispensaries, New Jersey SB 4509 pulled it from general retail, while Montana’s SB 375 enacted an outright ban. Moving the other way, Minnesota HF 100 built a regulated market for hemp edibles and beverages with per-serving caps, age limits, and licensing, a model lawmakers cite as an alternative to prohibition, and Connecticut’s HB 5150 permits regulated products under a total-THC standard.
FOCUS will continue to monitor developments on hemp regulation in Congress and state legislatures across the country.
by Jordan White 8/17/26
