Latest / Austin Signal / Texas businesses can keep selling smokable hemp for now

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Texas businesses can keep selling smokable hemp for now · Austin Signal

0:08
Texas hemp businesses can keep
0:10
selling their cannabis flour and
0:11
concentrate products, at least for
0:13
now. That's after a Travis County
0:15
judge blocked key parts of the
0:16
state's new hemp regulations, while
0:18
a lawsuit against those rules and
0:20
increased fees plays out.
0:22
We've got the latest updates on the
0:24
state hemp market, and there is just
0:26
one bidder for the contract to take
0:27
operational control of three Austin
0:29
ISD middle schools.
0:31
The move is being made in an effort
0:32
to avoid a state takeover.
0:34
We're gonna talk about the
0:35
significance of the sole bidder.
0:36
That's coming up on today's show.
0:39
The Austin Signal is a production
0:40
of KUT News, hosted by
0:43
Jerry Quijano.
0:44
Plus, a new memoir from an
0:45
Austin-based author is a reflection
0:47
on home, family, and her Jewish
0:49
faith.
0:50
We're gonna have that conversation
0:51
and a whole lot more.
0:53
It's all coming up next, and it's
0:55
right here on Austin Signal.
1:07
Howdy out there, you are listening
1:09
to Austin Signal.
1:11
I'm your host, Jerry Econol.
1:13
May the 4th it is.
1:15
Thank you for tuning in and starting
1:16
the week with community powered
1:18
public radio.
1:20
This is KUT News.
1:23
Well, we've seen action this month
1:24
on two separate cases regarding the
1:26
sale and legality of hemp products
1:28
here in Texas.
1:29
In one, a Travis County judge
1:30
granted a temporary injunction
1:32
that would allow Texas retailers to
1:34
continue selling smokeable hemp for
1:36
the time being.
1:38
Meanwhile, the Texas Supreme Court
1:39
lifted a different temporary
1:41
injunction against the Department
1:43
of State Health Services, that
1:45
move effectively clearing the way
1:47
for the department to classify the
1:49
psychoactive compound Delta-8-THC
1:52
as a controlled substance.
1:55
Confused by it all?
1:56
Well, you're not the only one out
1:58
there. Luckily, KUT's Nathan
2:00
Bernier has been following all
2:02
of these developments.
2:03
He joins us now to explain.
2:05
Welcome back to the show, Nathan.
2:06
And thanks for having me, Jerry.
2:07
Okay, first let's get clear on the
2:09
legality of hemp in the first place.
2:11
Marijuana is still and has been
2:13
illegal in Texas, so how are
2:15
retailers able to sell these
2:17
hemp products?
2:18
The short answer is
2:18
hemp and marijuana are just legal
2:20
categories for cannabis.
2:22
Texas legalized hemp in 2019 after
2:24
the federal farm bill.
2:26
So under Texas law, hemp is just
2:28
cannabis with no more than 0.3%
2:31
Delta 9 THC, which is the main
2:33
psychoactive ingredient.
2:34
Anything with more than zero point
2:35
three percent Delta 9 is classified
2:37
as marijuana.
2:39
But cannabis contains lots of other
2:40
compounds.
2:41
Two important ones for our
2:42
conversation, Jerry, are THCA
2:44
and Delta 8.
2:46
So THCA occurs
2:48
naturally in cannabis and converts
2:50
to Delta 9 when heated or smoked.
2:52
That's how Texas hemp shops have
2:53
been able to sell flour and
2:54
concentrates that are essentially
2:56
cannabis.
2:57
Delta 8 is different.
2:58
It occurs naturally only in trace
3:00
amounts, but businesses have been
3:02
manufacturing Delta 8 products by
3:04
converting hemp-derived CBD
3:06
into something mind-altering.
3:08
So both products grew out of the
3:10
2019 hemp law, but now they're
3:12
being treated differently by the
3:13
courts.
3:14
There have been a lot of
3:14
developments in the Texas hemp
3:15
market. Let's talk about these most
3:17
recent ones that happened on Friday.
3:19
First with this Travis County court
3:20
order, smokeable hemp products can
3:22
continue to be sold in Texas.
3:24
What did the judge have to say?
3:26
What were her reasons for this
3:27
injunction?
3:28
Okay, so Judge
3:30
Lytle granted a temporary injunction
3:32
that blocks key parts of the new
3:34
state hemp rules while the lawsuit
3:36
plays out.
3:37
The biggest thing she blocked,
3:39
two things really, the state's new
3:41
total Delta-9 THC calculation
3:43
and that formula counted THCA
3:46
toward the legal THC
3:48
limit.
3:49
So, effectively banning
3:51
smokable forms of hemp like flour
3:53
and concentrate.
3:53
Hemp businesses argued that
3:56
went too far,
3:58
that the agency exceeded its
4:00
authority.
4:00
And the judge also blocked,
4:03
this was a big win for the
4:05
Hemp businesses, sharply higher
4:06
licensing and registration fees.
4:09
And Judge Lytle blocked related
4:11
transport restrictions and a daily
4:13
penalty structure that treats
4:15
each day of some violations
4:17
as a separate violation.
4:18
So she really gave the plaintiffs
4:20
pretty much everything they were
4:21
asking for.
4:22
Her reasoning was that Hemp
4:23
businesses did show a probable
4:26
right to relief, which in plain
4:27
English means she found they're
4:28
likely to show that the state
4:30
exceeded its authority and violated
4:31
rulemaking procedures and
4:33
raised constitutional problems with
4:35
these fees and penalties.
4:37
And that order applies broadly
4:38
across the whole hemp industry, not
4:40
just to the plaintiffs that sued.
4:42
But it also does not block all the
4:44
new rules. There's some consumer
4:46
safety provisions that remain in
4:47
place, like age restrictions and
4:49
labeling requirements and a
4:51
requirement for child-resistance.
4:52
And packaging.
4:53
The other development came from the
4:54
Texas Supreme Court.
4:55
They lifted a temporary injunction
4:56
against the Department of State
4:58
Health Services.
4:59
Can you give us some background on
5:00
that and what this move from the
5:02
court effectively, what is it doing?
5:04
Yeah, so this was a separate case
5:05
about Delta 8 THC,
5:08
not to be confused with Delta 9.
5:09
Delta 8 is typically a little
5:11
less psychoactive, it's sometimes
5:12
referred to as diet weed for that
5:14
reason. And so back in 2021,
5:17
Department of State Health Services
5:18
said Delta 8THC in any
5:20
concentration was a Schedule 1
5:22
controlled substance.
5:24
Delta 8 businesses sued, among the
5:25
plaintiffs is Austin-based hometown
5:27
hero, and they got a
5:29
temporary injunction that allowed
5:30
Delta 8 sales to continue while that
5:32
case worked its way through the
5:34
courts. Well, on Friday, the
5:35
Texas Supreme Court reversed that
5:37
injunction.
5:38
And it said that the
5:40
DSHS commissioner does have
5:42
broad authority over the
5:44
civil schedules of these controlled
5:45
substances.
5:46
But the justices drew
5:48
a distinction here that I think is
5:49
important.
5:51
They drew a between trace
5:53
naturally occurring Delta 8
5:55
in the hemp plant and manufacture
5:57
Delta 8 products with higher Delta
5:59
8 levels. The court said the hemp
6:01
law does not clearly legalize
6:03
manufactured Delta 8 from
6:05
hemp-derived CBD.
6:06
But the justices said naturally
6:09
occurring Delta 8 in these very
6:10
trace amounts, it is lawful.
6:13
And so that's an important nuance.
6:15
Another thing to understand about
6:16
the case is the Texas Supreme Court
6:18
did say these businesses have
6:20
standing to sue and said
6:21
they did not have to, the quote is,
6:23
bet the farm.
6:24
By violating the law and risking
6:26
severe penalties before going to
6:27
court.
6:28
But the standing just means that
6:29
they can bring the lawsuit.
6:32
So that can move forward, but the
6:34
injunction protecting Delta 8
6:36
sales is gone.
6:37
And that could also apply to other
6:39
manufactured cannabinoids
6:42
like THCP, which is
6:43
very potent, among others.
6:46
On the surface, Nathan, it seems to
6:48
me that these actions are sort of
6:50
contradictory, maybe possibly even
6:52
canceling each other out.
6:53
It seems pretty indicative of the up
6:55
and down nature of the hemp market
6:56
right now in Texas.
6:58
What have you heard from hemp
6:59
businesses out there?
7:00
Where do they stand and what comes
7:01
next?
7:02
Well yeah, I mean these rulings on
7:04
the surface do seem contradictory,
7:05
but they involve different products
7:07
and different legal questions.
7:08
So the Travis County ruling is about
7:11
things and factors including THCA,
7:13
which occurs naturally in cannabis
7:15
and converts to Delta 9 when heated.
7:17
The Texas Supreme Court ruling is a
7:19
about manufactured Delta 8 products.
7:21
Some call them synthesized or
7:23
semi-synthesized Delta 8,
7:25
which are typically made by
7:27
chemically converting CBD into
7:29
a more concentrated Delta 8.
7:31
So where things stand right now...
7:32
THCA flour and concentrates
7:34
can remain on shelves because of
7:36
that Travis County injunction, which
7:37
is likely to be appealed by the
7:39
state.
7:40
Manufactured Delta-8 products are
7:42
on much shakier ground because
7:44
the Texas Supreme Court removed the
7:46
injunction that had protected those
7:47
sales.
7:48
That's KUT's Nathan Bernier.
7:50
We're gonna have a link to his
7:51
latest reporting in today's show
7:52
notes. Nathan, thank you for
7:54
explaining all of this.
7:55
Thank you so much, Jerry.
8:07
The Austin Independent School
8:09
District relinquished controls of
8:11
three failing middle schools as a
8:13
move to avoid state takeover of
8:15
the entire school district.
8:17
So what does the future look like
8:18
for these three Austin middle
8:20
schools?
8:21
Joining us now to talk more is
8:22
Acacia Coronado, education reporter
8:24
for Austin Current.
8:26
Acacia, welcome back to Austin
8:27
Signal. Thanks for having me.
8:29
So let's go back and talk a little
8:31
bit of background for those who
8:32
might not be familiar. Or why is the
8:34
Austin School District looking?
8:35
For someone to take over,
8:37
so to speak, these schools.
8:39
Yeah, so they're going to give
8:40
operational control to
8:42
Texas Council for International
8:44
Studies because the three
8:46
schools have had
8:48
four quote
8:50
unquote failing accountability
8:51
ratings under the state's
8:53
accountability rating system for
8:55
academics.
8:56
And so if they
8:58
reach a fifth failing accountability
9:00
rating, then state
9:02
law says that the education
9:04
commissioner could either close
9:06
the schools or a point of.
9:08
Appoint a board of managers to
9:10
lead the school district instead of
9:12
the elected school board.
9:13
And this process has been playing
9:14
out over the course of the school
9:16
year. When is the deadline for
9:18
the Austin School District to sort
9:20
of hand over these schools?
9:22
So they already voted
9:24
to enter
9:26
into a contract with Texas Council
9:28
for International Studies.
9:29
And then from there,
9:31
they submitted an application to
9:33
the TEA for benefits under
9:36
the SB 1882 program,
9:38
which would then pause that
9:40
accountability rating for two years
9:42
if approved as one of the benefits
9:44
and allow that vendor to
9:46
improve the academic rating of the
9:48
schools over the next to school
9:50
years. And that
9:51
partnership would begin to take
9:53
effect in the coming school
9:55
year.
9:55
Okay, so I believe a bidding for
9:57
that vendor position has opened
9:59
up and you've been reporting on that
10:01
at Austin current.
10:02
What have you found?
10:03
So in January, we requested
10:05
to know who had proposed
10:08
a bid to have
10:09
the operational control of these
10:11
schools.
10:12
We were under the impression that
10:14
that call for quality schools
10:16
had already closed in
10:18
October.
10:19
And so we submitted a request to
10:21
know, who had bid.
10:23
We were denied that request
10:25
and sent to the Texas Attorney
10:26
General for ruling because
10:28
the school district said that they
10:29
were still taking bids and
10:31
TEA let us know in a statement at
10:33
the time that it's kind of up to the
10:34
school district how and when they
10:36
take the bids to determine
10:38
who can take operational control of
10:40
a school when they're seeking this
10:41
kind of partnership.
10:43
So we waited for the attorney
10:44
general to rule on whether or
10:46
not this was releasable and
10:48
that ruling came a couple
10:50
of weeks ago. And so this
10:52
actually comes after
10:54
the school district had already
10:55
voted to give
10:57
that operational control to Texas
10:59
Council for International Studies.
11:00
Did you find that there were any
11:01
other bidders besides Texas Council
11:03
for International Studies?
11:05
According to the paperwork that we
11:07
received, there were no other
11:08
bidders to take operational control
11:10
of the three schools.
11:11
And why is that significant?
11:14
So according to education experts,
11:16
it is really difficult
11:18
to find an
11:20
outside operator that is willing to
11:23
take on a school for
11:24
academic improvement because of the
11:26
tight turnaround deadline and
11:29
the fact that they only have two
11:31
years to get
11:33
the school to a passing
11:34
accountability rating to avoid
11:36
the possibility of a takeover again.
11:38
Okay, so as you mentioned, the
11:39
school has already voted.
11:40
So once these middle schools
11:42
actually are taken over control
11:44
of, what if anything is actually
11:46
gonna change in the hallways of
11:47
those schools?
11:48
So as far as we know, the
11:51
operational control means
11:52
that they're gonna have a say on
11:55
staffing, they're going to have a
11:56
stay on the principal, they're to
11:58
have us say on the academics of the
12:00
school while the school district
12:01
still does some of the day-to-day
12:03
things like busses and food
12:05
service and things like that.
12:06
And do we know when that is going to
12:08
actually begin?
12:09
Texas Council for International
12:11
Studies is set to take the
12:12
operational control of the three
12:14
schools by next school year.
12:15
All right, we have been speaking
12:16
with Acacia Coronado.
12:18
She is the education reporter for
12:19
Austin Current, a partner with KUT
12:22
News and Austin Signal in
12:24
the coverage of the city of Austin.
12:26
Acacia, always great to talk with
12:27
you.
12:27
Thanks so much.
12:29
And thank you for spending part of
12:31
your sunny Monday here with
12:33
KUT News and with
12:35
Austin Signal.
12:36
No rain to start the week
12:38
here in the Austin area, but the
12:40
National Weather Service is giving
12:41
us some rain chances beginning late
12:43
tomorrow night into Wednesday
12:45
and all the way through Friday,
12:47
maybe even a shower on the weekend.
12:49
We'll keep you updated on the
12:51
latest right here on Austin
12:53
Signal, we'll be back after
12:55
a moment.
12:59
This is Austin's Signal, welcome
13:01
back.
13:02
When Joanne Borelowitz was
13:04
10, her father told her that they
13:06
would have to leave their home in
13:07
South Africa because Jews did
13:09
not belong.
13:10
South Africa couldn't
13:12
ever be home for them.
13:14
Borelowitz grew up anxious about the
13:16
meaning of home, and she reflects on
13:18
that anxiety in her new memoir,
13:20
Somewhere I Belong, a story of
13:22
country, family, home, Jewish
13:24
identity. These days,
13:26
Joanne is an art historian who calls
13:28
Austin home.
13:29
And she spoke with Texas standards
13:30
David Brown about her memoir.
13:33
Tell us a little bit more about your
13:34
family's eventual departure from
13:36
South Africa.
13:38
You were considerably older than
13:40
ten, but that stuck with
13:41
you.
13:42
Well, we all left separately,
13:44
actually. The first to leave was my
13:46
youngest sister, who moved to
13:48
the UK.
13:50
Let's see, I moved next.
13:51
I married and came to
13:53
California with my husband.
13:55
I'd been accepted into Stanford,
13:57
and he'd had a job offer.
13:59
And then my parents
14:01
and my youngest brother
14:03
left next.
14:04
They all went to Israel.
14:06
And the one who remained in
14:08
South Africa was the first
14:10
of my two brothers, the first born.
14:12
He was finishing his medical
14:13
training and then he also
14:15
moved to Israel.
14:17
You felt that it was necessary
14:19
to move, and I'm wondering if you
14:21
can say more about that.
14:23
From about the 1960s
14:25
onward, liberal inclined
14:27
South Africans left
14:29
South Africa.
14:31
We could see the writing on, yeah.
14:33
The writing was on the wall.
14:34
It wasn't going to get any better.
14:36
There was going to be some kind of
14:38
revolution.
14:39
There'd been overthrows of colonial
14:41
governments along to
14:43
our north in various parts
14:45
of Africa.
14:47
So.
14:47
We made plans to leave.
14:49
I mean, plans take a long time
14:51
to implement.
14:52
My father had a business,
14:54
my grandparents were still alive,
14:57
so things took a while, but
14:58
eventually, over the course of the
15:00
70s, we all left.
15:03
I wanted you to dig in a little bit
15:05
deeper about why your
15:06
father said what he did and
15:09
how, what sort of mark that left
15:10
on you and your siblings.
15:14
Well, you know, I think Jews
15:16
are kind of sensitive
15:17
to threats of imminent
15:19
danger, particularly since,
15:21
you, know, what happened in Nazi
15:23
Germany, and some Jews
15:25
didn't leave, just kind of ignored
15:27
the signs on the wall.
15:28
And my father was always someone,
15:31
he loved history, he consumed
15:33
history books, and he was
15:34
sure there was going to be a bloody
15:36
revolution.
15:37
There actually wasn't.
15:39
You know, my father had a kind of
15:40
apocalyptic bent.
15:42
He dreaded the
15:45
cataclysm.
15:46
So he was determined to get us out.
15:48
And there was a fairly large exodus
15:51
around the 70s, particularly
15:53
after the riots in
15:55
Sharpeville when police mowed
15:57
down children and
15:59
the racial tensions
16:01
in South Africa became more acute
16:03
and to deal with them, the apartheid
16:06
government clamped down even
16:08
more.
16:09
Rigorously on the racial
16:11
laws, thinking that more oppression
16:13
would kill things and in fact
16:15
of course that is not what happens.
16:17
You moved to California, as you
16:19
say, with your husband in the 1970s,
16:22
and I would imagine there would be a
16:24
considerable amount of culture
16:26
shock.
16:27
Oh yeah, for me it was enormous.
16:29
My ex-husband had lived in
16:31
California, so he
16:33
already loved it, but
16:35
I was terribly lonely.
16:38
I knew nobody, had no family,
16:40
I was pregnant.
16:41
So even my body was very
16:43
different to me.
16:44
Even driving on
16:46
the different side of the road in
16:48
a behemoth vehicle when I'd
16:50
had a little Volkswagen bug
16:52
in South Africa, everything
16:54
was like shocking.
16:56
That's a big part of your
16:58
book, Finding Home in Your Faith.
17:01
What was that process like and
17:03
how deliberate and deliberative
17:06
was it?
17:07
I'm thinking of people who may be
17:09
listening and may not be feeling at
17:10
home with any faith or
17:12
may be feeling very much
17:15
out of sync with where
17:17
they find themselves now in Texas,
17:19
for example.
17:20
Well, I grew up
17:22
in a very secular Jewish
17:24
family.
17:24
I would say that my father was
17:27
almost rabidly anti-religious,
17:30
but because everyone in
17:32
South Africa was kind of
17:34
forced into their ghetto,
17:36
there was a tremendous amount of
17:38
anti-Semitism in my hometown of
17:40
Durban, a kind of polite
17:41
anti-semitism from the Anglo
17:44
community.
17:45
So we moved mainly with
17:47
Jewish people, So we were Jewish,
17:49
but... Very, very secular.
17:52
My parents have never been
17:54
religious, but I'm not
17:56
sure if it was partly in rebellion
17:57
against my father, but I began
17:59
to be attracted to
18:01
the rich history of my people.
18:03
And the more I got into it, the more
18:05
wanted to get into it.
18:07
So it was some conflict with my
18:09
parents. My mother would ask me,
18:12
are you becoming from, which means
18:13
like ultra-orthodox, don't
18:15
wear a shaital, which you know is a
18:17
wig, to cover your hair.
18:19
And so, you
18:21
know, I sort of had that to contend
18:23
with, but there are so
18:25
many shades and so many ways of
18:27
being Jewish.
18:28
So, you now, I love my community
18:30
here.
18:31
I study Torah.
18:32
I'm actually enrolled to start
18:34
in the summer and
18:36
at the Spurs Institute to
18:38
do a master's degree in Jewish
18:40
studies. It's not that I need
18:41
another degree, but I
18:43
love to study.
18:44
And this is a subject that
18:46
is so dear to my heart.
18:48
There's a sense of place that many
18:50
of us have and for many
18:52
folks that's perfectly sufficient.
18:54
We can spend our lifetimes finding
18:56
that place that feels like
18:58
home and I think that that's
18:59
something that this book will really
19:01
bring to a lot of people is that,
19:03
you know, that ongoing search
19:05
for home and the meaning of home.
19:08
But for you a
19:10
big dimension of that it seems
19:12
is your own
19:14
personal journey into understanding
19:17
What it means to be Jewish
19:19
and I'm curious if you can say
19:21
more about about that
19:23
You know, I think all of us from,
19:25
you know, the middle of the 20th
19:27
century on through now have a
19:29
sense of alienation from the
19:31
world, which is very different
19:33
from when people felt that
19:35
the world was very ordered and
19:37
they had a place in the world and
19:38
they knew their place.
19:40
We're all deracinated,
19:42
we're all uprooted in various
19:44
ways. I mean, people lose connection
19:46
to their families and so on.
19:48
So I think everybody has
19:50
some kind of longing for home.
19:52
Now, home can be a
19:54
physical place.
19:56
I learned very early on in my
19:58
life that the place that I thought
19:59
was home, a physical was not
20:01
home. So,
20:04
the places where I have felt most
20:05
that I could breathe a huge
20:07
sigh of relief and feel connection
20:09
have been in
20:11
two synagogues that I have been a
20:13
part of.
20:14
I just feel connected back
20:16
through all the history to...
20:19
Way, way, way back when,
20:21
I feel a sense of relief,
20:24
like, yes, this is my place.
20:26
It sounds like this was cathartic
20:28
though, and I'm curious as you
20:30
think about people reading your
20:31
memoir, what are you hoping that
20:33
they...
20:35
Of course, I hope people will think
20:37
about where they're at home.
20:39
You know, one of the important
20:40
things about writing a memoir is
20:42
that you get to write your
20:44
own narrative.
20:44
You don't get to be scripted by
20:46
somebody else.
20:47
So I think some
20:49
of my fumbling towards my
20:51
truth comes through in my memoir.
20:54
I hope that people will be prompted
20:55
to reflect on their own stories
20:58
and how they might like to tell
21:00
it, even if they don't write a
21:01
memoir. But, um, just
21:03
think about their own stories in
21:05
different ways.
21:08
That was Austin-based author
21:10
Joanne Burelowitz talking with
21:12
Texas standards David Brown about
21:13
her new memoir, Somewhere I
21:15
Belong, a story of country,
21:17
family, home, and Jewish identity.
21:20
We're going to have a link to more
21:21
from that conversation in
21:23
today's show notes.
21:32
And that is it for us today on
21:35
Austin Signal.
21:36
Thank you for making us part of your
21:37
Monday. But before we let you get
21:39
out of here, KUT wrapped
21:41
up the first ever KUT Festival
21:43
this weekend. My, what a success it
21:45
was. Thanks to all of you who came
21:47
out.
21:48
We had a great time.
21:49
Hopefully you were able to make it
21:50
out there to the east side, but if
21:52
you weren't, if you had other plans,
21:54
don't worry. We have tons of
21:55
coverage from the fest over
21:57
at kut.org.
21:59
And of course on the KUT
22:01
app and hopefully in the future
22:03
we'll be bringing you some of the
22:04
audio from some of the panels that
22:06
were featured there at the fest.
22:08
Lots to share with you from that.
22:10
And taking a little peek into
22:12
tomorrow's show.
22:13
Right now, the simple text off air
22:15
is the only thing on the InfoWars
22:17
website.
22:18
KUT's government accountability
22:19
reporter Andrew Weber will be
22:21
joining us with the latest updates
22:23
of what is going on with Alex Jones
22:25
and Info Wars.
22:27
Plus
22:29
KUT's Art Beat brings us
22:31
the story of Shakespearean troops'
22:33
search for a new home as one of the
22:35
few Elizabethan theaters left
22:37
in the country is shuttered.
22:39
A whole lot more coming tomorrow,
22:41
maybe I'll be able to talk properly
22:42
tomorrow, who knows?
22:43
You're going to have to tune in to
22:45
find out because this is live radio,
22:47
this is Austin Signal.
22:49
Thank you for tuning in, we'll be
22:51
back at the same time tomorrow and
22:53
we'll talk to you then.