[PRESS RELEASE] – AUSTIN, Texas, June 18, 2025 – Grassroots momentum is accelerating in Texas as a growing coalition of veterans, small business owners, farmers and everyday Texans call on Gov. Greg Abbott to veto Senate Bill 3.
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The Texas Hemp Business Council (THBC) announced June 18 that its petition to stop the controversial hemp ban has reached 147,979 signatures. On June 2, the THBC and advocates delivered 5,000 handwritten letters and more than 118,000 petition signatures to Abbott’s office. The increase since then reflects persistent public alarm as the June 22 deadline for gubernatorial action approaches.
“There have been well over 200,000 Texans who have voiced their opposition to S.B. 3 via email, letter, petition, social media and text,” THBC Executive Director Mark Bordas said. “It didn’t work for alcohol in the 1920s, and it won’t work for hemp in 2025. Texans do not want S.B. 3. Even among Republican primary voters, the very voters who shape the future of Texas politics, this bill is deeply unpopular. We respectfully urge Governor Abbott to listen to the people and veto this dangerous legislation.”
The surge in support comes just one week after a new poll revealed that Texas Republican voters reject banning hemp-derived products, a central aim of S.B. 3. Conducted by GOP pollster Chris Perkins of Ragnar Research Partners, the poll found:
- 47% of Texas Republican primary voters oppose banning hemp products; just 37% support a ban.
- 53% believe a ban will empower drug cartels, and 55% say it will increase black market sales.
- 72% believe veterans should be able to access THC products as an alternative to opioids.
These results reinforce an earlier statewide poll conducted by Baselice & Associates in March, which showed 68% of Texas likely voters support legal, regulated THC hemp products, including majorities across party lines and age groups.
Texas implemented strong hemp regulations in 2019 under House Bill 1325, such as strict rules on THC limits, full panel testing, licensing, labeling and accessible certificates of analysis. However, if signed into law, S.B. 3 would ban hemp-derived products currently legal under both federal and Texas law. The legislation will eliminate $4.3 billion in annual revenue and 53,000 jobs, and also flood the state with unregulated, unsafe products.
“If we’re going to ban something harmful, let’s start with alcohol, the third leading preventable cause of death in the United States, or tobacco, which kills more than 480,000 Americans each year,” Bordas said. “But we’re not banning those products. Instead, powerful lobbyists tied to marijuana monopolies and Big Alcohol are pushing to criminalize a hemp industry that has created 53,000 jobs and helped countless Texans, especially veterans. The public sees what’s happening. Texans don’t want prohibition. They want fairness, freedom and safe, regulated choices, not backroom deals that put political influence over people’s lives.”
