WeedVoter

Lauren Ashley Simmons Democrat

Texas House, District 146

About this race: South-west Houston. On the four passage roll calls on the two main 2025 bills — the Compassionate Use Program expansion and the hemp-THC ban — the incumbent was recorded absent for three and voted Nay on the fourth. A statement of vote was also filed, on an earlier amendment to the ban, and it is listed below along with all fourteen record votes.

Lauren Ashley SimmonsDemocratIncumbent
63/100 support for legal access — middle band, 34 to 66 strong — six or more records produced this number · 6 of 16 records scored
How this score is worked out

Seven kinds of act move this number, and they do not count equally. A recorded vote counts 3, and so does authoring a bill or signing an executive action; signing on to somebody else’s bill counts 2. A statement or a questionnaire answer counts 2 as well, and an organisational endorsement counts 1. A vote takes its direction from the bill, whose effect is set out in advance; the rest take it from our reading of what was said, and each one below shows that reading and the reason for it. Acts shown with no number were examined and deliberately left out of the arithmetic, with a reason given.

  • 2025-06-01 Texas Compassionate-Use Program HB 46 — voted, counted as +1 at weight 3
  • 2025-05-22 Consumable hemp and hemp-derived cannabinoids SB 3 — voted, counted as +2 at weight 3
  • 2025-05-15 Grant programme for testing suspected THC HB 4879 — voted, counted as -1 at weight 3
  • 2025-05-14 Grant programme for testing suspected THC HB 4879 — voted, counted as -1 at weight 3
  • 2025-05-01 Texas Compassionate-Use Program HB 46 — voted, counted as +1 at weight 3
  • 2024-02-29 statement — Her campaign platform calls for decriminalizing marijuana possession and regulating marijuana like alcohol, counted as +2 at weight 1.2

Average on the −2 to +2 scale: 0.519. Full method and the bill table.

  • Said2024-02-29

    Her campaign site’s Issues page lists among her criminal-justice positions: "Decriminalize marijuana possession and regulate marijuana in the same way we do alcohol."

    ⚠️The page carries no date. 2024-02-29 is the date of the earliest Internet Archive capture containing this text, a capture date and not a publication date, so the position was published by at least then. The page was read by us on 2026-10-17 and again on 2026-10-20 (HTTP 200, names the candidate).

    laurenashleysimmons.com, web.archive.org

  • Vote2025-05-01

    Voted Aye in the House Committee on Public Health to report HB 46, the Compassionate-Use Program expansion, as substituted, favorably to the full House. The corrected minutes of the May 1, 2025 meeting, which the committee authorized on May 8, 2025, record the record vote as 12 Ayes, 0 Nays, 0 present not voting and 1 absent, and name them in the printed Ayes list as "Simmons".

    capitol.texas.gov, capitol.texas.gov

  • Vote2025-05-12

    Recorded as Absent, Excused for Record Vote 2184, passage to engrossment of CSHB 46, the Compassionate Use Program expansion, which carried 118 Yeas to 16 Nays.

    WeedVoter’s note — shown here, but not counted in the score: This site scores a vote only on a recorded Yea or Nay, and reads no direction into an absence or a present-not-voting.

    journals.house.texas.gov

  • Vote2025-05-13

    Recorded as Absent, Excused for Record Vote 2257, final House passage of HB 46, the Compassionate Use Program expansion, which carried 122 Yeas to 21 Nays.

    WeedVoter’s note — shown here, but not counted in the score: This site scores a vote only on a recorded Yea or Nay, and reads no direction into an absence or a present-not-voting.

    journals.house.texas.gov

  • Vote2025-05-14

    Texas House: recorded Yea on Record Vote 2514, passage to engrossment of CSHB 4879, funding local law enforcement to test substances suspected of containing delta-9 tetrahydrocannabinol, which carried 121 Yeas to 15 Nays.

    journals.house.texas.gov, capitol.texas.gov

  • Vote2025-05-14

    Texas House: recorded Yea on Record Vote 2495, passage of SB 1833, as amended, to third reading, on the use of a social media platform in furtherance of a controlled-substance delivery offence. The measure carried, 135 Yeas to 2 Nays. The bill is captioned "Relating to the use of a social media platform in furtherance of an offense involving the delivery of a controlled substance; increasing criminal penalties." The journal prints this member in the Yea list as "Simmons"; the printed form is matched to this member against the whole membership of the 89th House, who sat for House District 146.

    WeedVoter’s note — shown here, but deliberately left out of the score: Senate Bill 1833 is on this site’s unscored list: it raises the penalty for delivering any controlled substance when a social media platform is used to arrange the delivery, and the floor remarks describe it wholly as a response to counterfeit fentanyl pills sold to schoolchildren. The only cannabis-specific change the House made to it, Amendment No. 1, adopted immediately before Record Vote 2495, exempts delivery of four ounces of marihuana or less from the enhancement.

    Its direction on cannabis access is therefore arguable, and the vote is recorded without moving the score.

    journals.house.texas.gov

  • Vote2025-05-15

    Texas House: recorded Yea on Record Vote 2629, final House passage of HB 4879, funding local law enforcement to test substances suspected of containing delta-9 tetrahydrocannabinol, which carried 128 Yeas to 11 Nays.

    journals.house.texas.gov, capitol.texas.gov

  • Vote2025-05-15

    Texas House: recorded Yea on Record Vote 2594, third-reading passage of SB 1833, on the use of a social media platform in furtherance of a controlled-substance delivery offence. The measure carried, 136 Yeas to 3 Nays. The bill is captioned "Relating to the use of a social media platform in furtherance of an offense involving the delivery of a controlled substance; increasing criminal penalties." The journal prints this member in the Yea list as "Simmons"; the printed form is matched to this member against the whole membership of the 89th House, who sat for House District 146.

    WeedVoter’s note — shown here, but deliberately left out of the score: Senate Bill 1833 is on this site’s unscored list: it raises the penalty for delivering any controlled substance when a social media platform is used to arrange the delivery, and the floor remarks describe it wholly as a response to counterfeit fentanyl pills sold to schoolchildren. The only cannabis-specific change the House made to it, Amendment No. 1, adopted immediately before Record Vote 2495, exempts delivery of four ounces of marihuana or less from the enhancement.

    Its direction on cannabis access is therefore arguable, and the vote is recorded without moving the score.

    journals.house.texas.gov

  • Vote2025-05-21

    Recorded as Absent for Record Vote 3192, passage to third reading of CSSB 3, the intoxicating-hemp-THC ban, which carried 95 Yeas to 44 Nays.

    WeedVoter’s note — shown here, but not counted in the score: This site scores a vote only on a recorded Yea or Nay, and reads no direction into an absence or a present-not-voting.

    journals.house.texas.gov

  • Said2025-05-21

    Filed a statement of vote printed in the House Journal on Record Vote 3188, adoption of Amendment No. 1 to CSSB 3, the intoxicating-hemp-THC ban, reading: "When Record No. 3188 was taken, I was in the house but away from my desk. I would have voted yes." The journal prints the signature as "Simmons".

    WeedVoter’s note — shown here, but deliberately left out of the score: The statement concerns a vote on Amendment No. 1 to CSSB 3, the intoxicating-hemp-THC ban. This site does not score floor amendments, because an amendment to a cannabis bill routinely runs the opposite way to the bill. Shown, not scored.

    journals.house.texas.gov, capitol.texas.gov

  • Vote2025-05-21

    Texas House: recorded Yea on Record Vote 3190, adoption of Amendment No. 4 to CSSB 3, amending Amendment No. 2, rewriting the possession offence and its deferred-disposition and prior-conviction provisions, which carried 126 Yeas to 10 Nays.

    WeedVoter’s note — shown here, but deliberately left out of the score: A floor amendment does not take the direction of the bill it amends. Amendment No. 1 to SB 3 rewrote the possession offence downward while the bill itself restricted consumable hemp, so a Yea on the amendment and a Yea on the bill point opposite ways. This record is shown because the member is named in the journal, and it is kept out of the score because its direction is not ours to assert.

    journals.house.texas.gov

  • Vote2025-05-21

    Texas House: recorded Nay on Record Vote 3191, adoption of Amendment No. 2, as amended, to CSSB 3 — a complete substitute for everything below the enacting clause, and from that point the text of the bill, which carried 86 Yeas to 53 Nays.

    WeedVoter’s note — shown here, but deliberately left out of the score: A floor amendment does not take the direction of the bill it amends. Amendment No. 1 to SB 3 rewrote the possession offence downward while the bill itself restricted consumable hemp, so a Yea on the amendment and a Yea on the bill point opposite ways. This record is shown because the member is named in the journal, and it is kept out of the score because its direction is not ours to assert.

    journals.house.texas.gov

  • Vote2025-05-22

    Recorded Nay on Record Vote 3304, final House passage of SB 3, the intoxicating-hemp-THC ban, which carried 87 Yeas to 54 Nays.

    journals.house.texas.gov

  • Vote2025-05-22

    Texas House: recorded Yea on Record Vote 3303, adoption of Amendment No. 1 to SB 3 on third reading, rewriting the possession offence in the bill and its eligibility for deferred disposition, which carried 108 Yeas to 30 Nays.

    WeedVoter’s note — shown here, but deliberately left out of the score: A floor amendment does not take the direction of the bill it amends. Amendment No. 1 to SB 3 rewrote the possession offence downward while the bill itself restricted consumable hemp, so a Yea on the amendment and a Yea on the bill point opposite ways. This record is shown because the member is named in the journal, and it is kept out of the score because its direction is not ours to assert.

    journals.house.texas.gov

  • Vote2025-06-01

    Recorded Yea on Record Vote 4163, adoption of the conference committee report on HB 46, the Compassionate Use Program expansion, which carried 138 Yeas to 1 Nay. They are named in the printed Yea list in the Texas House Journal for that day, as "Simmons".

    journals.house.texas.gov

  • Vote2025-06-01

    Texas House: recorded Yea on Record Vote 4162, adoption of HR 1523, suspending House Rule 13, Section 9(a)(4) so that the HB 46 conference committee could add text providing that a physician may prescribe more than one package of low-THC cannabis in a 90-day period, which carried 128 Yeas to 12 Nays.

    WeedVoter’s note — shown here, but deliberately left out of the score: A vote to suspend a House rule so that a conference committee may consider particular text is a vote about procedure, not a recorded position on the text. Shown, not scored.

    journals.house.texas.gov

See the whole Texas House, District 146 race, including every opponent →

Who is paying for this campaign

Campaign finance — Texas Ethics Commission

Texas Ethics Commission filer 88044, filed as “Simmons, Lauren Ashley”, treasurer appointment for State Representative, District 146, dated 2023-10-06.

Why there are no figures and no industry breakdown here. Texas does not require a candidate to report a contributor’s employer or occupation — the Commission’s own 2026 guide asks for the amount, the contributor’s name and address, and the date, and that is all. So there is nothing in these filings to group into industries, and we have built no such grouping rather than imply one. Separately, the Commission’s bulk filing archive tells automated readers to stay out of it, and we honour that, so we have read no individual Texas contribution record. Treat the itemised question as unchecked by us, not as checked and found empty.

Read this filer’s own reports at the Texas Ethics Commission (ethics.state.tx.us) → — choose Transaction Type “Contributions”, then Search By “Filer ID” and enter 88044. The Commission’s search posts its results, so there is no direct link to one filer’s page; the number above is what makes it one step instead of a hunt.

Any grouping of contributors into an industry is weedvoter’s own classification, applied to employer and committee names exactly as filed. The Commission publishes employers and committees; it never publishes industries. OpenSecrets discontinued its public interface in April 2025, so nothing here is an OpenSecrets classification.

Money received is not a position. Everything on this card is money that changed hands. It is not evidence that any contribution influenced any decision, nothing on it is placed beside a roll call, and we make no claim about anyone’s motive. For what Lauren Ashley Simmons has actually done about cannabis, read the record above on this page — the roll calls, the bills that carry their name, and the date of each one, every entry linked to the document it came from. That is the part of this page built to be judged, and it is the part the score is calculated from. No contribution on this card moves that score by a cent.