Texas Hemp Advocates Deliver 118,000+ Signatures to Governor to Stop SB 3

[PRESS RELEASE] – AUSTIN, Texas, June 2, 2025 – Texas veterans, small business owners, farmers and other industry leaders stood together Monday at the Texas Capitol calling on Gov. Greg Abbott to protect personal liberty and Texas jobs by vetoing Senate Bill 3.

RELATED: Texas Governor Has 20 Days to Act on Bills to Expand Medical Cannabis, Ban Hemp THC

S.B. 3 would ban hemp-based products that were made legal by the state and federal governments during President Donald Trump’s first term. Republicans and Democrats throughout the state have expressed anger and concern since the Texas Legislature approved S.B. 3, sending it to Abbott to decide whether it should become law.

Representatives from the Texas Hemp Business Council on June 2 also delivered 5,000 letters and a growing petition with more than 118,000 signatures to Abbott, urging him to veto S.B. 3 and save 53,000 Texas jobs connected to hemp.

“Senate Bill 3 was designed to destroy a vibrant and legitimate industry,” said Cynthia Cabrera, president of the Texas Hemp Business Council. “The bill now awaits review by Governor Abbott. We respectfully urge him to consider the facts, listen to our appeal and make the logical decision to veto S.B. 3.”

Cabrera also addressed recent scare tactics that Lt. Gov. Dan Patrick used to push S.B. 3 through the Legislature.

“Make no mistake, the idea that ‘no one knows what’s in these products’ is false,” Cabrera said. “For the past six years, Texas law has mandated third-party lab testing and clear labeling. The only goal of these scare tactics is to frighten legislators and the public into going along with an agenda they did not ask for.”

S.B. 3 would force Texans who use hemp-based products to seek those products through illicit, unsafe black markets. It will also create havoc and uncertainty for farmers, small business owners, and others who have devoted years of their careers to safe hemp-based products.

“This bill is not designed to regulate us,” said Tara Latil, owner of CBD American Shaman. “It’s designed to bury us in fees, paperwork and fines until we have no choice but to shut down and walk away, leaving the market wide open for a few wealthy players who’ve been quietly funding this ban from the sidelines—not to mention an unregulated black market.”

Veterans have been especially outspoken against S.B. 3 because many of them have found better treatment from regulated hemp products than prescription drugs.

“Senate Bill 3 will take away hemp-derived consumables, which is an important alternative modality to the opioids and anti-depressants that the VA has been negligent in shoving down our throats for the last 25 years,” said Iraq War veteran Mitch Fuller, who is the national and state legislative chairman of the VFW Department of Texas and the chairman of the VFW National Legislative Committee. “Please don’t take something away from us that works. Hemp-derived consumables work. They have helped thousands of veterans in this state and millions across the country avoid the pharmaceutical cocktail of opioids and anti-depressants.”

Abbott has until June 22 to decide whether to sign bills into law, veto them, or allow them to become law without his signature. More and more Texans have voiced their support for legal, regulated hemp in recent weeks.

“Prohibition did not work in the 1920s for alcohol, and it will not work now for hemp—not with e-commerce and an American public that’s more mobile than ever,” said Mark Bordas, executive director of the Texas Hemp Business Council. “Border security and cartels remain chief concerns for Texans. The number one killer of Americans 18 to 45 years old is fentanyl, according to the CDC. If the cartels didn’t bother to get licensed by the state of Texas, they won’t be bothered by an unenforceable ban.”

As lawmakers debate S.B. 3’s future, rural communities—many of which rely heavily on hemp production—are bracing for economic fallout.

“There’s a huge threat to rural economies on this,” said Colton Luther, managing partner at Geremy Greens Farm. “A lot of the business and farmers I know are in rural communities, and we are losing additional jobs and funds in those communities.”