US Senate
The attorney general who sued five cities over voter-approved marijuana ordinances is the Republican nominee. The Democratic nominee voted against the THC ban twice and authored a full legalisation bill. Houston votes on a similar ordinance on the same day.
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.
- 2024-11-21 executive action — Sued to overturn a voter-approved charter amendment barring arrests and citations for marijuana possession, counted as -2 at weight 3
- 2024-07-03 executive action — Formal opinion concluding that neither the Compassionate-Use Act nor its rules prohibit a licensed dispenser moving low-THC cannabis between approved locations before a prescription is filled, which eases operation of the programme. It stays at +1 rather than +2 because the answer is hedged — "likely do not prohibit" — and conditioned on the delivery-offence exemption in subsection 481.111(e)(2), counted as +1 at weight 1.8
- 2024-01-31 executive action — Sued five cities to overturn voter-approved ordinances that limited police enforcement of marijuana possession laws, counted as -2 at weight 1.8
- 2023-03-17 executive action — The office he led took the side of keeping a ballot measure off the ballot, one subject of which was local marijuana decriminalisation, and suggested a route to break the measure apart. It is scored -1 rather than -2 because the State's suggestion was procedural and the single-subject objection covered several unrelated subjects, not marijuana alone, counted as -1 at weight 1.8
Average on the −2 to +2 scale: -1.143. Full method and the bill table.
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Official act2023-03-17
The State of Texas appeared as amicus curiae in the Supreme Court of Texas in No. 23-0111, In re Maria Teresa Ramirez Morris, and Texas Alliance for Life, Inc., a mandamus proceeding brought by private relators who asked the court to keep San Antonio's citizen-initiated "Justice Policy" charter amendment off the May 2023 ballot, or to split it up, under the single-subject rule in Local Government Code section 9.004(d) and (e).
The court's opinion records that the proposed amendment "would amend the City Charter, purportedly to prohibit local enforcement of certain state laws related to marijuana possession, theft offenses, and abortion", and that "The State, as amicus, suggests that the City Council may divide the Justice Policy into single subjects". The court rejected that route, holding it was unclear whether the council had any such authority, and concluded: "Accordingly, without hearing oral argument, we deny Relators' petition for writ of mandamus."
The opinion was delivered 2023-03-17.
⚠️What this entry does not establish: the State was an amicus, not a party, and the one-subject argument was the relators'. The amicus letter brief itself, reported elsewhere as filed 2023-02-15 and signed for the State by the Solicitor General, could not be read for this entry - its only known copies sit on search.txcourts.gov and on the Attorney General's own site, and both hosts now refuse automated reading. So the filing date, the signer, and the exact words of the State's filing are not established here.
Everything above is taken from the court's own published opinion.
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Official act2024-01-31
As Attorney General, sued five cities — Austin, San Marcos, Killeen, Elgin and Denton — over voter-approved ordinances limiting police enforcement of marijuana possession laws. His stated reason, in the office’s own release: "I will not stand idly by as cities ... deliberately violate Texas law and promote the use of illicit drugs that harm our communities." The release adds: "we don’t allow cities the ability to create anarchy by picking and choosing the laws they enforce", and describes marijuana as "an illicit substance that psychologists have increasingly linked to psychosis and other negative consequences."
The ellipsis omits a phrase characterising the city governments, which this site does not reproduce; the full sentence is in the linked release.
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Official act2024-07-03
Issued formal Attorney General Opinion KP-0469, answering a request from Senator Charles Schwertner, Chair of the Senate Committee on Business & Commerce (request RQ-0525-KP, dated 2023-12-15), about the Texas Compassionate-Use Act, the state medical cannabis programme. Its summary reads, in full: "The Texas Compassionate-Use Act in chapter 487 of the Health and Safety Code provides a regulatory structure administered by the Department of Public Safety for the medical use of low-THC cannabis in conjunction with chapter 169 of the Occupations Code.
Neither the Compassionate-Use Act nor its associated regulations prohibit a licensed dispensing organization from transporting its low-THC cannabis inventory between Department-approved locations prior to a prescription being issued and filled. Department rules generally contemplate the transportation of low-THC cannabis and likely do not prohibit the proposed scenario so long as any transportation of low-THC cannabis comports with the statutory exemption to the offense of delivery of marihuana provided by subsection 481.111(e)(2) of the Controlled Substances Act."
⚠️This entry previously quoted only the middle sentence, which reads as a flat permission. The opinion’s own answer is weaker in two ways: on the Department’s rules it says "likely do not prohibit" rather than do not prohibit, and it conditions the whole answer on the transportation fitting the delivery-offence exemption in subsection 481.111(e)(2).
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Official act2024-11-21
Sued the City of Dallas over Proposition R, approved by Dallas voters, which the office’s release describes as prohibiting "the Dallas Police Department from making arrests or issuing citations for marijuana possession or considering the odor of marijuana as probable cause for search or seizure." His stated reason: "Cities cannot pick and choose which State laws they follow. The City of Dallas has no authority to override Texas drug laws or prohibit the police from enforcing them.
This is a backdoor attempt to violate the Texas Constitution, and any city that tries to constrain police in this fashion will be met swiftly with a lawsuit by my office."
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Official act2025-04-24
As Attorney General, won the two appeals over the Austin and San Marcos marijuana ordinances in the Texas Fifteenth Court of Appeals. They are two separate decisions, a week apart: San Marcos on 2025-04-17 (No. 15-24-00084-CV, 714 S.W.3d 224) and Austin on 2025-04-24 (No. 15-24-00077-CV, 714 S.W.3d 247).
⚠️Neither was a final ruling that the ordinances are void, and this entry previously said they were. In each case the court reversed the dismissal and the refusal to block the ordinance and sent the case back with an instruction to enter, in the Austin court’s words, "a temporary injunction prohibiting the enforcement of the Ordinance pending a final trial on the merits". The Texas Supreme Court declined to review San Marcos on 2025-09-12 and denied rehearing on 2026-02-27; it declined Austin on 2025-12-19.
On 2026-07-30, in No. 15-26-00125-CV, the same court conditionally granted him mandamus relief holding that the Austin injunction must cover the whole ordinance, including the section barring the city from spending money on THC testing.
WeedVoter’s note — shown here, but deliberately left out of the score: A court ruling on suits already recorded here. It is the outcome of his act rather than a further act of his own, so it is shown but not scored again.
txcourts.gov, txcourts.gov, txcourts.gov, cases.justia.com, cases.justia.com, cases.justia.com, texasstandard.org, universitystar.com
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Official act2025-07-29
The State's appeal in its Dallas marijuana-ordinance case ended at the State's own request. The Fifteenth Court of Appeals opinion in No. 15-25-00062-CV, The State of Texas v. City of Dallas and city officials, on appeal from the 134th District Court of Dallas County, Trial Court Cause No. DC-24-20503, is headed "Motion Granted; Appeal Dismissed and Memorandum Opinion filed July 29, 2025." Its text reads in full: "This is an appeal from an order signed February 28, 2025.
On July 11, 2025, the State filed a motion to dismiss the appeal. See Tex. R. App. P. 42.1. The motion is granted." and "We dismiss the appeal." The panel was Chief Justice Brister and Justices Field and Farris, per curiam.
⚠️Three things this entry does not say. The court does not say the motion was unopposed, and this entry does not claim it was. The court does not mention an agreed temporary injunction in the trial court, so no such order is established here. And the court dates the order appealed from to 2025-02-28; the State's own motion is reported to give two different and later dates for it, but that motion could not be read - it is filed only on search.txcourts.gov, a host that refuses automated reading - so this entry follows the court's date and leaves the discrepancy unresolved.
WeedVoter’s note — shown here, but deliberately left out of the score: Ending an appeal is a procedural step whose direction is not readable from the order. The court gives no reason for the State's motion, the ordinance's own fate in the trial court is not stated in it, and guessing at a reason would be exactly the inference this site refuses to make.
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Said2026-08-15
Asked on camera by a member of the public for his view on the state THC restrictions while campaigning for the United States Senate, said "I don’t know the details of it" and did not discuss it further.
⚠️This quote is transcribed from a short Bystander recording rather than read from a page, and two published transcriptions of the same clip differ on the words either side of it — so only the phrase both versions agree on is quoted here.
WeedVoter’s note — shown here, but deliberately left out of the score: Declining to discuss the subject is not a position in either direction.
- Bystander clip of the exchange, posted by a journalist 0:00-0:10 (the whole clip)transcribed from video
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.
- 2026-10-13 questionnaire — Told a newspaper questionnaire that bans on THC do not work and that in the Senate he would support legalizing marijuana for adults, with regulation and taxation of its sales, counted as +2 at weight 2
- 2026-10-12 statement — His campaign platform calls for legalizing regulated marijuana for adults, expunging marijuana arrest records, and taxing legal sales, and says he opposes the Texas THC ban, counted as +2 at weight 2
- 2026-08-03 statement — Called the THC restrictions a gift to the cartels and a return to prohibition, while naming age limits and marketing rules as the alternative, counted as +2 at weight 2
- 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
- 2025-05-21 statement — Argued on the floor for regulating the existing market instead of prohibiting it, counted as +2 at weight 2
- 2025-05-15 Grant programme for testing suspected THC HB 4879 — voted, counted as -1 at weight 3
- 2025-05-13 Texas Compassionate-Use Program HB 46 — voted, counted as +1 at weight 3
- 2025-05-12 Texas Compassionate-Use Program HB 46 — voted, counted as +1 at weight 3
- 2023-05-10 Repeal of the ban on hemp products for smoking HB 4918 — voted, counted as +1 at weight 1.8
- 2023-04-27 Penalties for possession HB 218 — voted, counted as +2 at weight 1.8
- 2023-04-12 Low-THC cannabis for more conditions HB 1805 — voted, counted as +1 at weight 1.8
- 2023-04-11 Low-THC cannabis for more conditions HB 1805 — voted, counted as +1 at weight 1.8
- 2023-02-03 Regulate and tax cannabis HB 1831 — signed on, counted as +2 at weight 1.8
- 2021-05-30 Penalties for tetrahydrocannabinols HB 2593 — voted, counted as +2 at weight 1.8
- 2021-05-28 Low-THC cannabis for more conditions HB 1535 — voted, counted as +1 at weight 1.8
- 2021-04-30 Penalties for possession HB 441 — voted, counted as +2 at weight 1.8
- 2021-04-29 Low-THC cannabis for more conditions HB 1535 — voted, counted as +1 at weight 1.8
- 2021-04-28 Penalties for tetrahydrocannabinols HB 2593 — voted, counted as +2 at weight 1.8
- 2021-04-21 Defence to prosecution for small amounts HB 1694 — voted, counted as +1 at weight 1.8
- 2021-04-12 Low-THC cannabis for more conditions HB 1535 — signed on, counted as +1 at weight 1.2
- 2019-05-24 Low-THC cannabis for more conditions HB 3703 — voted, counted as +1 at weight 0.9
- 2019-05-08 Low-THC cannabis for more conditions HB 3703 — voted, counted as +1 at weight 0.9
- 2019-04-30 Penalties for possession HB 63 — voted, counted as +2 at weight 0.9
- 2019-04-29 Penalties for possession HB 63 — voted, counted as +2 at weight 0.9
- 2019-04-23 Low-THC cannabis for more conditions HB 3703 — signed on, counted as +1 at weight 0.6
- 2019-03-12 Penalties for possession HB 63 — signed on, counted as +2 at weight 0.6
Average on the −2 to +2 scale: 1.336. Full method and the bill table.
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Coauthored2019-03-12
Signed on as a coauthor of HB 63 in the 86th Legislature, which reduced the criminal and licensing consequences of possessing small amounts of marihuana and drug paraphernalia. It passed the House and died in the Senate. The Legislature’s author table records the sign-on date as 2019-03-12.
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Coauthored2019-04-23
Signed on as a coauthor of HB 3703 in the 86th Legislature, which widened the medical conditions for which low-THC cannabis may be prescribed under the Compassionate-Use Program. It was enacted. The Legislature’s author table records the sign-on date as 2019-04-23.
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Vote2019-04-24
Texas House: recorded Yea on Record Vote 609, final House passage of HB 1325, the 2019 bill on the production and regulation of hemp and products made from hemp, which carried 144 Yeas to 0 Nays, with 1 present and not voting.
WeedVoter’s note — shown here, but not counted in the score: This site deliberately does not score HB 1325 (86th Legislature), so a record on it moves no number.
Why HB 1325 is not scored
Production and regulation of hemp — the 2019 bill that brought Texas into line with the federal hemp definition. It is an agricultural and licensing framework rather than an access measure, and it is read the same way as the other hemp-production bills here, so it is not scored. Its votes are still shown.
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Vote2019-04-29
Texas House: recorded Yea on Record Vote 780, passage to engrossment of CSHB 63, reducing the criminal and licensing consequences of possessing small amounts of marihuana and drug paraphernalia, which carried 98 Yeas to 43 Nays.
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Vote2019-04-30
Texas House: recorded Yea on Record Vote 801, final House passage of HB 63, reducing the criminal and licensing consequences of possessing small amounts of marihuana and drug paraphernalia, which carried 103 Yeas to 42 Nays.
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Vote2019-05-08
Texas House: recorded Yea on Record Vote 1097, third-reading passage of HB 3703, widening the medical conditions for which low-THC cannabis may be prescribed under the Compassionate-Use Program, which carried 133 Yeas to 10 Nays.
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Vote2019-05-22
Texas House: recorded Yea on Record Vote 1713, the motion to concur in the Senate’s amendments to HB 1325, the hemp production and regulation bill, sending it to the Governor, which carried 140 Yeas to 3 Nays, with 2 present and not voting.
WeedVoter’s note — shown here, but not counted in the score: This site deliberately does not score HB 1325 (86th Legislature), so a record on it moves no number.
Why HB 1325 is not scored
Production and regulation of hemp — the 2019 bill that brought Texas into line with the federal hemp definition. It is an agricultural and licensing framework rather than an access measure, and it is read the same way as the other hemp-production bills here, so it is not scored. Its votes are still shown.
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Vote2019-05-24
Texas House: recorded Yea on Record Vote 1824, the motion to concur in the Senate’s changes to HB 3703, the Compassionate-Use Program expansion, sending it to the Governor, which carried 136 Yeas to 5 Nays.
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Coauthored2021-04-12
Signed on as a coauthor of HB 1535 (87R), widening the medical conditions qualifying for low-THC cannabis under the Compassionate-Use Program, on 2021-04-12.
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Vote2021-04-21
Texas House: recorded Yea on Record Vote 384, House passage of HB 1694, creating a defence to prosecution for small-amount possession when a person seeks emergency help for an overdose, which carried 145 Yeas to 2 Nays.
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Vote2021-04-28
Texas House: recorded Yea on Record Vote 484, final House passage of HB 2593, moving possession of tetrahydrocannabinols into a new penalty group whose lowest tiers are misdemeanors, out of one where any amount is a felony, which carried 108 Yeas to 33 Nays.
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Vote2021-04-29
Texas House: recorded Yea on Record Vote 535, House passage of HB 1535, widening the medical conditions qualifying for low-THC cannabis under the Compassionate-Use Program, which carried 134 Yeas to 12 Nays.
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Vote2021-04-30
Texas House: recorded Yea on Record Vote 596, third-reading passage of HB 441, reducing the criminal and licensing consequences of marihuana and drug paraphernalia possession, which carried 88 Yeas to 40 Nays.
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Vote2021-05-04
Texas House: recorded Yea on Record Vote 663, third-reading passage of HB 3948, on the production and regulation of hemp and consumable hemp products, which carried 132 Yeas to 13 Nays, with 2 present and not voting.
WeedVoter’s note — shown here, but not counted in the score: This site deliberately does not score HB 3948 (87th Legislature), so a record on it moves no number.
Why HB 3948 is not scored
Hemp and consumable hemp production and regulation. Read as an industry framework rather than an access measure; the direction is arguable, so it is not scored.
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Vote2021-05-28
Texas House: recorded Yea on Record Vote 1688, the motion to concur in the Senate’s changes to HB 1535, the Compassionate-Use Program expansion, which the Senate had narrowed, which carried 119 Yeas to 25 Nays.
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Vote2021-05-30
Texas House: recorded Yea on Record Vote 1759, adoption of the conference committee report on HB 2593, the final vote sending the tetrahydrocannabinol penalty bill to the Governor, which carried 95 Yeas to 44 Nays.
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Authored2023-02-03
Authored HB 1831, filed in the 88th Legislature, a bill relating to the regulation of the cultivation, manufacture, processing, distribution, sale, testing, transportation, delivery, transfer, possession, use, and taxation of cannabis and cannabis products and the local regulation of cannabis establishments; providing for expunction of records relating to certain decriminalized conduct; authorizing the imposition of fees; requiring an occupational license; creating a criminal offense; imposing a tax.
The Legislature’s author table records the filing date as 2023-02-03. It was referred directly to subcommittee and never received a vote.
capitol.texas.gov, capitol.texas.gov, journals.house.texas.gov
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Vote2023-04-11
Texas House: recorded Yea on Record Vote 143, passage to engrossment of CSHB 1805, widening the medical conditions qualifying for low-THC cannabis, which carried 121 Yeas to 23 Nays.
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Vote2023-04-12
Texas House: recorded Yea on Record Vote 153, final House passage of HB 1805, widening the medical conditions qualifying for low-THC cannabis, which carried 127 Yeas to 19 Nays.
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Vote2023-04-14
Texas House: recorded Yea on Record Vote 203, third-reading passage of HB 513, increasing the penalty for manufacture or delivery of a controlled substance or marihuana causing death or serious bodily injury. The bill passed, 140 Yeas to 2 Nays. The bill is captioned "Relating to the manufacture or delivery of a controlled substance or marihuana causing death or serious bodily injury; creating a criminal offense; increasing a criminal penalty."
The journal prints this member in the Yea list as "Talarico", the only entry in the roll bearing the surname. The bare surname is resolved by seat: this member sits for House District 50, and Texas Legislature Online's member page for the 88th Legislature names that district's representative as James Talarico.
WeedVoter’s note — shown here, but deliberately left out of the score: House Bill 513 is on this site's unscored list: Increases the penalty for manufacture or delivery of a controlled substance causing death or serious bodily injury. That is an overdose-death measure, not a question about lawful cannabis access, and scoring it either way would misrepresent the vote. The act is recorded without moving the score.
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Vote2023-04-25
Texas House: recorded Yea on Record Vote 446, third-reading passage of HB 114, on the possession, use, or delivery of marihuana or e-cigarettes on or near public school property or at certain school events. The measure carried, 145 Yeas to 2 Nays. The bill is captioned "Relating to the possession, use, or delivery of marihuana or e-cigarettes on or near public school property or at certain school events." The journal prints this member in the Yea list as "Talarico"; the printed form is matched to this member against the whole membership of the 88th House, who sat for House District 50.
WeedVoter’s note — shown here, but deliberately left out of the score: House Bill 114 is on this site’s unscored list: a school-discipline measure, not a cannabis-access measure. Its effect on cannabis is which school-discipline placement a student caught with marihuana receives — it moves marihuana into its own paragraph of Education Code Section 37.006(a)(2), out of the mandatory-expulsion trigger in Section 37.007(a)(3) and into the at-capacity in-school-suspension provision of Section 37.009(a-1) — and it does not change who may possess, buy, grow, prescribe or be prosecuted for cannabis.
The change the bill was carried for was adding e-cigarettes. Both of its record votes were near-unanimous and neither separates the candidates on this site: every one of the 97 who appear in the passage roll is in the Yeas. The act is recorded without moving the score.
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Vote2023-04-27
Texas House: recorded Yea on Record Vote 605, third-reading passage of HB 218, reducing the criminal and licensing consequences of possessing marihuana and certain tetrahydrocannabinols, which carried 87 Yeas to 59 Nays.
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Vote2023-05-02
Texas House: recorded Yea on Record Vote 812, third-reading passage of HB 2818, on hemp production and research permits. The bill passed, 126 Yeas to 17 Nays. The bill is captioned "Relating to the production and regulation of hemp; providing an administrative penalty; requiring a permit to conduct certain research involving hemp; authorizing a fee; creating a criminal offense." The journal prints this member in the Yea list as "Talarico", the only entry in the roll bearing the surname.
The bare surname is resolved by seat: this member sits for House District 50, and Texas Legislature Online's member page for the 88th Legislature names that district's representative as James Talarico.
WeedVoter’s note — shown here, but deliberately left out of the score: House Bill 2818 is on this site's unscored list: Hemp production and research permits. An agricultural measure whose direction on consumer access is not clear from the bill. The act is recorded without moving the score.
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Vote2023-05-10
Texas House: recorded Yea on Record Vote 1421, third reading of HB 4918, on the processing, manufacture and sale of hemp products for smoking, which failed to pass 69-75 and was reconsidered later the same evening. The bill failed to pass, 69 Yeas to 75 Nays. The bill is captioned "Relating to the processing, manufacture, and sale of hemp products for smoking." The journal prints this member in the Yea list as "Talarico", the only entry in the roll bearing the surname.
The bare surname is resolved by seat: this member sits for House District 50, and Texas Legislature Online's member page for the 88th Legislature names that district's representative as James Talarico.
WeedVoter’s note — shown here, but deliberately left out of the score: ⚠️This vote was annulled by the House itself, so it is shown and not counted. House Bill 4918 failed on this roll call, and the House then agreed to reconsider it later the same evening, after which the bill passed on Record Vote 1477. Only that final roll call moves the score. A member appearing both here and on Record Vote 1477 has not been recorded twice over: the House put the same question twice, and the second answer is the one that stood.
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Vote2023-05-10
Texas House: recorded Yea on Record Vote 1476, the motion to reconsider the vote by which HB 4918, on hemp products for smoking, had failed to pass earlier that evening. The motion prevailed, 97 Yeas to 31 Nays. The bill is captioned "Relating to the processing, manufacture, and sale of hemp products for smoking." The journal prints this member in the Yea list as "Talarico", the only entry in the roll bearing the surname.
The bare surname is resolved by seat: this member sits for House District 50, and Texas Legislature Online's member page for the 88th Legislature names that district's representative as James Talarico.
WeedVoter’s note — shown here, but deliberately left out of the score: ⚠️A procedural motion, not a position on the bill, so it is shown and not counted. This roll call is the motion to reconsider the vote by which House Bill 4918 had failed earlier the same evening; the motion prevailed 97 to 31 and the bill then passed on Record Vote 1477. A member may be willing to take a question again without that telling you what they think the answer is, which is why motions of this kind never move the score.
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Vote2023-05-10
Texas House: recorded Yea on Record Vote 1477, third reading of HB 4918, on the processing, manufacture and sale of hemp products for smoking, on the reconsidered vote, which passed 84-59. The bill passed, 84 Yeas to 59 Nays. The bill is captioned "Relating to the processing, manufacture, and sale of hemp products for smoking." The journal prints this member in the Yea list as "Talarico", the only entry in the roll bearing the surname.
The bare surname is resolved by seat: this member sits for House District 50, and Texas Legislature Online's member page for the 88th Legislature names that district's representative as James Talarico.
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Vote2023-05-26
Texas House: recorded Yea on Record Vote 2168, the motion to concur in the Senate’s changes to HB 114, on the possession, use, or delivery of marihuana or e-cigarettes on or near public school property or at certain school events, the vote that finally passed it. The measure carried, 136 Yeas to 6 Nays. The bill is captioned "Relating to the possession, use, or delivery of marihuana or e-cigarettes on or near public school property or at certain school events."
The journal prints this member in the Yea list as "Talarico"; the printed form is matched to this member against the whole membership of the 88th House, who sat for House District 50.
WeedVoter’s note — shown here, but deliberately left out of the score: House Bill 114 is on this site’s unscored list: a school-discipline measure, not a cannabis-access measure. Its effect on cannabis is which school-discipline placement a student caught with marihuana receives — it moves marihuana into its own paragraph of Education Code Section 37.006(a)(2), out of the mandatory-expulsion trigger in Section 37.007(a)(3) and into the at-capacity in-school-suspension provision of Section 37.009(a-1) — and it does not change who may possess, buy, grow, prescribe or be prosecuted for cannabis.
The change the bill was carried for was adding e-cigarettes. Both of its record votes were near-unanimous and neither separates the candidates on this site: every one of the 97 who appear in the passage roll is in the Yeas. The act is recorded without moving the score.
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Vote2025-05-12
Recorded Yea on Record Vote 2184, passage to engrossment of CSHB 46, the Compassionate Use Program expansion, which carried 118 Yeas to 16 Nays. They are named in the printed Yea list in the Texas House Journal for that day.
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Vote2025-05-13
Recorded Yea on Record Vote 2257, final House passage of HB 46, the Compassionate Use Program expansion, which carried 122 Yeas to 21 Nays. They are named in the printed Yea list in the Texas House Journal for that day.
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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.
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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 "Talarico"; the printed form is matched to this member against the whole membership of the 89th House, who sat for House District 50.
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.
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Vote2025-05-21
Voted Nay the previous day on passage of the same bill to third reading. Record Vote 3192: 95 Yeas, 44 Nays, 2 present not voting.
WeedVoter’s note — shown here, but not counted in the score: This site’s scoring rules could not match this record to a bill in its published bill table, so it is shown but not counted.
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Said2025-05-21
Spoke against Senate Bill 3 during Texas House floor debate. As reported by Newsweek, he said: "Instead of regulating this booming industry in our state, we are now going backwards to the days of prohibition," and continued: "This bill is not going to stop Texans from smoking weed or eating edibles just because a bunch of politicians in Austin tell them not to. Texans will still use THC, but instead of getting it from a local small business, they’ll now get it from the black market—from the drug cartels.
This ban is a gift to the cartels." He also said: "This is the nanny state at its worst. This is big government at its worst."
- News clip of the floor remarks 0:00-0:40 (the whole clip)
- Official Texas House chamber broadcast, 69th Day, 21 May 2025 — the full Senate Bill 3 debate no timestamp foundthe official archive runs 11 hours 54 minutes with no caption or chapter index, so no offset could be found
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Vote2025-05-21
Texas House: recorded Yea on Record Vote 3188, adoption of Amendment No. 1 to CSSB 3, the consumable-hemp bill, offered by its House sponsor, deferring the licensing requirements the bill adds until January 1, 2027, which carried 136 Yeas to 0 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.
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Vote2025-05-21
Texas House: recorded Nay on Record Vote 3189, adoption of Amendment No. 3 to CSSB 3, amending Amendment No. 2, exempting low-THC cannabis regulated under Chapter 487 and hemp research at medical schools, hospitals and institutions of higher education, which carried 102 Yeas to 24 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.
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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.
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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.
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Vote2025-05-22
Voted Nay on final passage of Senate Bill 3, the hemp-derived THC ban. Record Vote 3304: 87 Yeas, 54 Nays, 1 present not voting. He is named in the printed Nays roll.
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Vote2025-05-22
Voted Yea on Amendment No. 1 to Senate Bill 3, offered by Representative Moody, which reduced the penalties attached to the THC offences in the bill. The House Journal records it adopted by Record Vote 3303, 108 Yeas to 30 Nays with 2 present not voting, and names him among the Yeas.
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.
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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.
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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.
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Vote2025-06-01
Texas House: recorded Yea on Record Vote 4164, adoption of SCR 56, the first of the two enrolling corrections to HB 46, which instructed the enrolling clerk of the house of representatives to make corrections in the enrolled text of HB 46, the Compassionate-Use Program expansion. The resolution was adopted 137 Yeas to 0 Nays with 1 present not voting, and the House Journal for the 80th Day names this member in the printed Yeas list.
WeedVoter’s note — shown here, but not counted in the score: This site deliberately does not score SCR 56 (89th Legislature), so a record on it moves no number.
Why SCR 56 is not scored
A concurrent resolution, not a bill, and the second of two enrolling-clerk corrections to HB 46 — the sibling of HCR 171, ruled the same way and for the same reason. SCR 56 instructed the enrolling clerk of the house of representatives to make a correction in the enrolled text of HB 46, the Compassionate-Use Program expansion. Adopted in the Senate 2025-06-01, Yeas 31 Nays 0, and in the House the same day by Record Vote 4164, 137 Yeas to 0 Nays with 1 present not voting, House Journal 80th Day page 7902 (journals.house.texas.gov/hjrnl/89r/html/89RDAY80FINAL.HTM).
What it said. The House journal prints only the recital, "Instructing the enrolling clerk of the house of representatives to make corrections in HB 46", so the operative text was read in the Senate Journal for 2025-06-01 (journals.senate.texas.gov/sjrnl/89r/html/89RSJ06-01-F.htm), which prints the resolution in full: "RESOLVED by the 89th Legislature of the State of Texas, That the enrolling clerk of the house of representatives be instructed to make the following corrections to the enrolled version of House Bill No. 46: In SECTION 15 of the bill, in amended Section 169.003(a)(3)(A), Occupations Code (page 10, between lines 8 and 9), immediately following added subparagraph (xi), insert the following appropriately numbered subparagraph and renumber subsequent subparagraphs of that paragraph accordingly: (__) Crohn’s disease or other inflammatory bowel disease;".
⚠️Read alone it looks like adding a qualifying condition to the medical programme, which would be an expansion of access — and that is the trap, running the opposite way to its sibling’s. HCR 171 struck a sentence and looked restrictive; SCR 56 inserts a condition and looks expansive; both are neither, because both conform the enrolled bill to the text the two chambers actually adopted. The test is whether the inserted language was already in what passed, and it was.
The conference committee report on HB 46, laid before the house and printed in the House Journal 80th Day at page 7900 (journals.house.texas.gov/hjrnl/89r/html/89RDAY80FINAL.HTM), sets out Section 15 amending Section 169.003 and lists the qualifying diagnoses in order: "(xi) traumatic brain injury; (xii) Crohn’s disease or other inflammatory bowel disease; (xiii) a terminal illness or a condition for which a patient is receiving hospice or palliative care".
The position matches the resolution exactly — SCR 56 asks for the insertion "immediately following added subparagraph (xi)", and the adopted report prints Crohn’s as (xii), immediately following (xi). That report was adopted by the House on 2025-06-01 by Record Vote 4163, 138 Yeas to 1 Nay, and by the Senate the same day, Yeas 31 Nays 0. The subparagraph had therefore already been voted into the bill by both chambers; the enrolled copy had dropped it, and SCR 56 put it back.
A Yes on an enrolling correction is not a position on which diseases qualify. The enrolled text itself cannot be checked from here: capitol.texas.gov disallows /TLODOCS/ to us. Downstream, measured: 121 verified acts cite this resolution, across 121 distinct candidates (49 Democrats, 72 Republicans), and every one of them already holds a published number. classify() returns "other" for all 121, so no published number moves whichever way this is ruled — the ruling is what lets the acts be printed with a written reason instead of sitting unjudged.
HB 46 itself is scored, at +1, and that is where a member’s position on the Compassionate-Use expansion is read.
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Vote2025-06-02
Texas House: recorded Yea on Record Vote 4167, adoption of HCR 171, the second enrolling correction to HB 46, which instructed the enrolling clerk of the house to strike from the enrolled bill a sentence allowing low-THC cannabis prescribed for pulmonary inhalation to exceed one percent tetrahydrocannabinols by weight in each dosage unit. The resolution was adopted 138 Yeas to 0 Nays with 1 present not voting, and the House Journal for the 81st Day names this member in the printed Yeas list.
WeedVoter’s note — shown here, but not counted in the score: This site deliberately does not score HCR 171 (89th Legislature), so a record on it moves no number.
Why HCR 171 is not scored
A concurrent resolution, not a bill: it instructed the enrolling clerk to strike from the enrolled HB 46, in Section 16, added Section 169.006(b), Occupations Code (page 11, lines 16-20), the sentence “Notwithstanding any other provision of this chapter, low-THC cannabis prescribed under Subsection (a) for pulmonary inhalation may exceed one percent by weight of tetrahydrocannabinols in each dosage unit of the substance to be aerosolized or vaporized.”
Adopted 2025-06-02 by Record Vote 4167, 138 Yeas to 0 Nays with 1 present not voting, House Journal 81st Day pages 7921-7922.
⚠️Read alone it looks like stripping a potency allowance out of the medical programme, and the journals say otherwise. The sentence entered the bill through King's floor Amendment No. 1 on second reading, House Journal 62nd Day, 2025-05-12 (journals.house.texas.gov/hjrnl/89r/html/89RDAY62FINAL.HTM), item (10); item (9) of the same amendment fixed the definition of low-THC cannabis at not more than one percent by weight in each dosage unit, which is the benchmark the sentence excepts itself from.
The conference committee report laid before the house on 2025-06-01 replaced that cap with not more than 10 milligrams in each dosage unit, and its own text of Section 169.006(b) consists only of the second sentence: the notwithstanding clause does not appear anywhere in the conference report as printed, House Journal 80th Day page 7900. So the struck sentence was not in the text either chamber finally adopted and it pointed at a cap the same report had deleted.
HCR 171 conformed the enrolled bill to the bill that passed, which is what its own recital says and what 138 to 0 looks like; HB 46 took a second enrolling correction the day before, SCR 56 at Record Vote 4164. A Yes on an enrolling correction is not a position on potency. The enrolled text itself cannot be checked from here: capitol.texas.gov disallows /TLODOCS/ to us.
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Said2026-08-03
As the Democratic nominee for the United States Senate, said of the state THC restrictions that they are "a gift to the cartels" and that Texas is "going back to the days of prohibition", seven years after the legislature legalised hemp. He added: "Yes, we should keep these products out of the hands of minors," and continued: "Yes, we should end deceptive marketing practices. Yes, we should keep smoke shops away from schools.
But this draconian ban doesn’t do any of that."
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Said2026-10-12
His campaign site's issue pages carry a plank headed "Legalize regulated marijuana for adults". The Public Safety, Guns and Justice page reads: "Legalize regulated marijuana for adults: Ensure law enforcement is focused on going after violent crime and not low-level marijuana offenses, expunge criminal arrest records related to marijuana use, and regulate and impose taxes on its sale to support public safety and health programs."
The Freedom, Family and Faith page says he "opposes book bans and the Texas THC ban" and lists among his goals to "legalize regulated marijuana for adults so that we no longer put people behind bars for a substance that is already legal in half the country."
⚠️Date: both pages carry the site's own metadata giving a first-published date of 2026-01-02 and a last-modified date of 2026-10-12; the Internet Archive holds no capture containing this text, so the act is dated to the last-modified version, the one read by us on 2026-10-17, and not to January.
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Questionnaire2026-10-13
Answered The Texas Tribune's general-election questionnaire for the U.S. Senate race, published 2026-10-13, which asked how Congress should regulate hemp-derived THC products in view of the federal ban on most of them due to take effect later this year, and whether the federal government should raise the cap on total THC per container or let the 0.4-milligram limit take effect. His printed answer begins "Like prohibition, bans don’t work." and continues: "Texans aren’t going to stop smoking weed because politicians in Austin or D.C. told them not to."
It ends: "In the Senate, I’ll support legalizing marijuana for adults — regulating and imposing taxes on its sales to support public safety and health programs." The Tribune's editor's note says the responses were lightly edited for clarity and length.
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.
- 2026-10-13 questionnaire — Told a newspaper questionnaire that there should be no federal regulation of cannabis or hemp, that Texas's prohibitions on adult cannabis use should be repealed, and that past marijuana convictions should be expunged, counted as +2 at weight 2
- 2026-10-13 questionnaire — Wrote "I want full legalization." and "Cannabis should be legal. The only regulations should be: 1) adults only; and 2) truth in labeling on all products": support for full adult legal access, counted as +2 at weight 2
- 2026-10-12 questionnaire — Wrote that he would "legalize these products for adult use for any reason in Texas, including medical and recreational uses" and that he wants to "deschedule cannabis at the federal level and remove it from the list of controlled substances", answered "Strongly Support" on maintaining a legal hemp marketplace and "Yes" on regulation being preferable to prohibition, and said the only limits he favours are accurate labelling and sale to adults only, counted as +2 at weight 2
- 2026-09-19 statement — Platform calls for repealing drug laws starting with marijuana and removing it from the controlled substances schedule immediately, counted as +2 at weight 2
Average on the −2 to +2 scale: 2. Full method and the bill table.
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Said2026-09-19
Campaign platform carries a section headed "End War on Drugs" reading "Legalize marijuana and end the failed drug war", and states: "I will work to repeal all of America’s drug laws, starting with those against marijuana. It must be taken off the schedule of controlled substances immediately." It also states: "Adults must be allowed to put any substances in their bodies that they choose", carries the bullet "Remove marijuana from controlled substances schedule immediately", and describes him as having "Opposed the War on Drugs for over 50 years".
The page carries no date and the Internet Archive holds no capture containing this text, so 2026-09-19 is the date the page was read, not a publication date.
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Questionnaire2026-10-12
Said he would "legalize these products for adult use for any reason in Texas, including medical and recreational uses", in the Texas Hemp Business Council’s 2026 candidate questionnaire. The council is a hemp industry trade association; it put twenty questions to 224 candidates for the Texas Legislature, statewide office and the United States Senate, and publishes the answers it receives in full, without editing. These are the candidate’s own words, submitted by the candidate.
Asked about the future of hemp in Texas, the answer was, in full: "As a Libertarian, I have supported legal cannabis and hemp products for over 40 years. I would legalize these products for adult use for any reason in Texas, including medical and recreational uses. The only limitations I favor are the products being properly labeled and sold only to adults." Asked who should be permitted to sell THC, to whom, at what dose, in what form and subject to what safeguards: "Anyone should be able to sell products with THC, as long as the products are properly labeled and are sold only to adults."
On keeping a legal, regulated hemp marketplace, the comments read: "I have supported legalization of cannabis and hemp products for over 40 years. I want to deschedule cannabis at the federal level and remove it from the list of controlled substances." Asked why regulation is or is not preferable to prohibition: "I don't believe in any kind of cannabis prohibition. Cannabis and hemp products should be legal and available to all adults."
On adult freedom of choice in wellness products: "Adults should have the right to decide what to put into their bodies, without government officials looking over their shoulders." Asked which enforcement tools Texas should prioritise against illicit operators: "I believe in truth in labeling laws, so consumers know what they are buying. If a product is properly labeled and sold only to adults, I don't favor any other regulations."
On consumer choice: "I believe in free market capitalism. Anyone should be able to open a shop selling cannabinoid products the same as if they wanted to open a shoe store." On whether state agencies may prohibit products the Legislature has not expressly prohibited: "The Texas Legislature is the legislative body, and they are tasked with passing laws. Their duties cannot be legally transferred to an unelected bureaucracy."
On tax policy: "The only tax on hemp products should be the same sales tax charged on other Texas goods and services." On hemp agriculture: "Hemp has been a legitimate and useful crop since colonial times. George Washington grew it at Mount Vernon. If it was good enough for GW, it's good for Texas!" On the questionnaire’s fixed-choice questions: on maintaining a legal, regulated hemp marketplace, "Strongly Support"; on whether regulation is preferable to prohibition where a product can be made and sold safely, "Yes"; on letting adult Texans make their own choices about lawful wellness products, "Yes"; on the federal "Right to Try" law, "Yes"; on distinguishing licensed Texas businesses from illicit operators, "Yes"; on retail regulation, "No additional licensing beyond existing law"; on whether the state should devote more time and resources to further restrictive legislation in the 2027 session, "No"; on how high a priority further regulation of low-THC hemp products should be, "Not a priority absent demonstrated problems requiring legislative action"; on hemp agriculture, "Strongly Support"; on incentives to keep hemp processing and manufacturing in Texas, "Depends on the program"; on whether state agencies may prohibit products or conduct the Legislature has not expressly prohibited, "Legislature should establish the policy"; on keeping regulatory fees proportionate to the cost of administering the program, "Yes"; on tax policy, "Yes"; on consumer choice, "Yes"; on science- and evidence-based regulation, "Strongly Support"; on reviewing Texas law if federal hemp rules change, "Yes"; on meeting Texas hemp industry representatives during the legislative session, "Yes"; and on considering sponsoring or co-sponsoring legislation after reviewing the industry and constituents, "Yes".
The council also asked for the candidate’s top three priorities for Texas and for an explanation of his answer on the federal "Right to Try" law; of those two answers only one clause concerns cannabis, and it reads: "Cannabis legalization is part of my personal freedoms platform." The council lists his office as "U.S. Senate" and his district as "Statewide"; he is the only federal candidate in its directory, and the questionnaire asks about Texas law, so his answers about what Texas should do are answers about a Legislature he is not a candidate for.
The date is the date the council recorded the submission, in Central time.
texashempbusinesscouncil.com, texashempbusinesscouncil.com, texashempbusinesscouncil.com, texashempbusinesscouncil.com
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Questionnaire2026-10-13
Answered The Texas Tribune's general-election questionnaire for the U.S. Senate race, published 2026-10-13, which asked how Congress should regulate hemp-derived THC products in view of the federal ban on most of them due to take effect later this year. His printed answer: "There should be no federal regulation of any cannabis or hemp products." He wrote that he would remove cannabis from the Drug Enforcement Administration's schedule of controlled substances, and added: "I also want to repeal Texas' prohibitions against adult cannabis use, as adults should be able to ingest any substances they want to without government permission." and "Anyone ever convicted of a federal or state marijuana offense should have their record expunged."
The Tribune's editor's note says the responses were lightly edited for clarity and length.
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Questionnaire2026-10-13
Answered the 2026 candidate survey of the Marijuana Policy Project, a national cannabis-policy advocacy organisation, and the Texas Cannabis Policy Center, whose 2026 Texas Voter Guide prints the written comments of Senate and statewide candidates who replied. The survey asked four questions: whether to expand the Texas medical cannabis program to allow patients cannabis flower; whether limited possession of THC hemp products and up to one ounce of flower should be a civil fine of up to $100; whether cannabis and THC products should be legal to possess for adults 21 and older; and whether a legal, regulated market should be created for adult-use sales.
The guide prints a written comment from him beside each question. On medical cannabis: "Adults should be able to use cannabis for any reasons they want, including medical or recreational." On the civil fine: "There should be no penalty at all. I want full legalization. But the small fine is much better than what we have now." On legal possession: "Yes, adults should be able to use cannabis for any reason they wish. I would even lower the age to 18."
On a legal market: "Cannabis should be legal. The only regulations should be: 1) adults only; and 2) truth in labeling on all products". The questions concern Texas law, and he is a candidate for the United States Senate, not the Legislature. This is a different survey from the Texas Hemp Business Council questionnaire already on this page. The guide prints no response dates; the date given is the Last-Modified date the publisher's own server returns for the guide's PDF edition (2026-10-13), the earliest date the answers are documented as published.
The guide also prints the organisation's own support headings for each candidate; those are its characterisations, not the candidate's words, and are not reproduced here.
Certified write-ins: Avery Ayers, Bradford "Brad" Hall, Zul Mohamed, Jade Simmons. Not printed on the ballot; votes are counted.
All 3 candidates on this ballot are listed.