Latest news with #DanPatrick
Yahoo
a day ago
- Business
- Yahoo
Texas Hemp Industry Urges Governor Abbott to Veto SB 3 in Emergency Press Conference
Farmers, Veterans, Small Business Owners and Hemp Advocates to Speak Out Against Bill's Threat to Jobs, Economic Growth and Freedom of Choice Over 100,000 Petition Signatures and Thousands of Handwritten Letters Expected to be Delivered to Governor's Office AUSTIN, Texas, May 30, 2025 (GLOBE NEWSWIRE) -- WHAT: A coalition of concerned Texans will host a press conference to address Senate Bill 3 (SB 3), legislation that dismantles the legal hemp industry and ignores the voices of small businesses, farmers, veterans and consumers across the state who rely on hemp-derived products for their livelihoods and general well-being. WHO: Industry leaders, farmers, small business owners, veterans and consumer advocates will come together to voice their concerns about the bill's impact on jobs, agriculture and access to legal hemp-derived products. WHEN: Monday, June 2 at 11 a.m. CST WHERE: Texas Capitol House Press Conference Room 2W.61100 Congress Avenue Austin, TX 78701 WHY: The Texas hemp industry is responding to Lieutenant Governor Dan Patrick's ongoing false and inflammatory rhetoric, including his recent claim that hemp businesses 'want to kill your kids.' This kind of fearmongering vilifies law-abiding Texas farmers, veterans and small business owners and distracts from the real public health risks at hand. SB 3, passed by the Texas House, bans hemp-derived products without establishing a regulatory alternative. If signed into law, the bill will not only dismantle a $4.3 billion industry supporting over 53,000 jobs, but will also open the floodgates to unregulated, unsafe products in Texas. The Texas Hemp Business Council and its supporters are calling on Governor Abbott to veto SB 3 and stand with the hundreds of thousands of Texans, including small business owners, workers, consumers and veterans, who depend on this industry for jobs, economic opportunity and the freedom to choose hemp-derived products. VISUALS: Coalition of farmers, veterans, business owners and industry leaders. Boxes of handwritten letters to be delivered to the governor's office. Petition signage. Veterans sharing personal stories. About the Texas Hemp Business Council The Texas Hemp Business Council is an industry organization dedicated to promoting the hemp-based cannabinoid industry in Texas, while advocating for consumer safety, education and stakeholder engagement. More information is available at Media Contacts: Natalie Mu/George Medici PondelWilkinson 310.279.5980 nmu@ in to access your portfolio
Yahoo
a day ago
- Business
- Yahoo
Texas Hemp Industry Urges Governor Abbott to Veto SB 3 in Emergency Press Conference
Farmers, Veterans, Small Business Owners and Hemp Advocates to Speak Out Against Bill's Threat to Jobs, Economic Growth and Freedom of Choice Over 100,000 Petition Signatures and Thousands of Handwritten Letters Expected to be Delivered to Governor's Office AUSTIN, Texas, May 30, 2025 (GLOBE NEWSWIRE) -- WHAT: A coalition of concerned Texans will host a press conference to address Senate Bill 3 (SB 3), legislation that dismantles the legal hemp industry and ignores the voices of small businesses, farmers, veterans and consumers across the state who rely on hemp-derived products for their livelihoods and general well-being. WHO: Industry leaders, farmers, small business owners, veterans and consumer advocates will come together to voice their concerns about the bill's impact on jobs, agriculture and access to legal hemp-derived products. WHEN: Monday, June 2 at 11 a.m. CST WHERE: Texas Capitol House Press Conference Room 2W.61100 Congress Avenue Austin, TX 78701 WHY: The Texas hemp industry is responding to Lieutenant Governor Dan Patrick's ongoing false and inflammatory rhetoric, including his recent claim that hemp businesses 'want to kill your kids.' This kind of fearmongering vilifies law-abiding Texas farmers, veterans and small business owners and distracts from the real public health risks at hand. SB 3, passed by the Texas House, bans hemp-derived products without establishing a regulatory alternative. If signed into law, the bill will not only dismantle a $4.3 billion industry supporting over 53,000 jobs, but will also open the floodgates to unregulated, unsafe products in Texas. The Texas Hemp Business Council and its supporters are calling on Governor Abbott to veto SB 3 and stand with the hundreds of thousands of Texans, including small business owners, workers, consumers and veterans, who depend on this industry for jobs, economic opportunity and the freedom to choose hemp-derived products. VISUALS: Coalition of farmers, veterans, business owners and industry leaders. Boxes of handwritten letters to be delivered to the governor's office. Petition signage. Veterans sharing personal stories. About the Texas Hemp Business Council The Texas Hemp Business Council is an industry organization dedicated to promoting the hemp-based cannabinoid industry in Texas, while advocating for consumer safety, education and stakeholder engagement. More information is available at Media Contacts: Natalie Mu/George Medici PondelWilkinson 310.279.5980 nmu@ in retrieving data Sign in to access your portfolio Error in retrieving data Error in retrieving data Error in retrieving data Error in retrieving data
Yahoo
a day ago
- General
- Yahoo
Texas House kills drag story time bill again
AUSTIN (KXAN) — For the second consecutive session, legislation targeting drag story time events died in the Texas House of Representatives. Senate Bill 18 missed a key deadline this week to be fully considered on the House floor, effectively ending its chances of becoming state law. Lt. Gov. Dan Patrick identified the legislation as a priority this session after a similar measure died in the House in 2023. Before stalling in Texas Senate, 'homosexual conduct' bill made legislative history The bill called for stripping public funding for any library that hosted a children's reading event led by a drag performer. Supporters argued it was needed to protect kids from the confusion of seeing someone dressed in drag and concerns about them being exposed to inappropriate content. However, opponents accused lawmakers of using this to crack down further on the LGBTQ+ community and said it would do nothing to actually protect Texas children. The legislation passed the Texas Senate in February along a party line vote, and a House committee then took up the legislation in May and recommended it for consideration in the full chamber. Even though SB 18 made it onto the intent calendar Tuesday, the House took no action on it in the rush of the final few days of the session. Sen. Bryan Hughes, R-Mineola, reintroduced the bill this year after the previous iteration of it met a similar fate in the lower chamber two years ago. The legislation advanced further than it did then because a House committee actually debated the bill, which never happened in 2023. KXAN reached out Thursday to Hughes' office for comment about SB 18 dying this session and asked whether he would file it again when lawmakers reconvene in 2027. This story will be updated whenever Hughes shares a response. Reporting about his previous proposal, Senate Bill 1601, was featured in a KXAN investigative project called 'OutLaw: A Half-Century Criminalizing LGBTQ+ Texans.' It looked in-depth at the historic number of bills filed in the 2023 session impacting the state's LGBTQ+ community. Copyright 2025 Nexstar Media, Inc. All rights reserved. This material may not be published, broadcast, rewritten, or redistributed.
NBC Sports
2 days ago
- Entertainment
- NBC Sports
Spade recalls moment between Kobe and Chris Rock
David Spade joins Dan Patrick to discuss the memorable Kobe Bryant-Chris Rock interaction during the 2010 NBA Finals, his experience sitting courtside at NBA games and more.
Yahoo
2 days ago
- Business
- Yahoo
‘This is not Dan's folly': Lt. Gov. Patrick urges media to share the dangers of THC
AUSTIN (Nexstar) — On Tuesday, the Texas Senate agreed to adopt the House's amendments on Senate Bill 3, putting the bill to ban non-medical THC on Gov. Greg Abbott's desk. The following afternoon, Lt. Gov. Dan Patrick held a news conference — not to celebrate the bill he calls 'the most important bill this session,' but to call for more media coverage on the harms of unregulated THC. Tuesday evening, Patrick sent out a memo announcing his news conference. 'Lt. Gov. Dan Patrick will hold a media briefing, along with end-of-session beverages and snacks,' the one-sentence release said. Reporters shuffled into the crowded press conference room. In the center stood a table with a cloth hiding objects underneath. 'I told you we'd have snacks today. Want to lift the snacks?' Patrick asked his staffers. The removed cloth revealed THC and CBD products, including cereal bites, gummies, lollipops and drinks. 'This is everything you can buy at a smoke shop and a vape shop that will either cause potentially paranoia, schizophrenia (or) tremendous health issues,' Patrick said. 'Why have I called you here today? Because I don't think the media has taken this issue seriously. I don't think the story has been told. You talk about jobs being lost, you talk about a big industry, a big industry selling all of this to kids.' Texas House bans THC products, reduces criminal penalty for possessing intoxicating hemp Patrick then started going through the products one by one. 'It's all sold for kids — designed for kids and adults. This one, this little bag of jellies — mango, peach — for $90 a bag. Send you sky high,' he said. 'Sour bells. Slices. How about gummy worms? Gummy worms? This is what parents — you need to tell this story so that parents understand.' The Lieutenant Governor then explained how these products emerged due to a loophole in a law passed in 2019. 'We heard this horrendous testimony of one 22-year-old who bought this. I don't know what product it was, I think she said wedding cake. He stepped in front of a train and got run over and killed,' Patrick said. 'This is serious business. This is not Dan's folly. This is not Dan's priority. This is to save an entire generation of being hooked on drugs.' Patrick then proceeded to ask the room of reporters if anyone would want to buy an unknown substance that could 'change your whole mental state for the rest of your life?' Then he proceeded to gently toss a bag of 'cereal bites' to the pool of reporters. Texas Lt. Gov. announces compassionate use expansion amid THC ban 'Anybody want this bag? Okay, you want it,' Patrick said before tossing the THC snack. A reporter promptly put it back on the table. 'I don't think you want it. You wouldn't dare buy it. You wouldn't let your children, your grandchildren buy it. And by the way, come September, all this will be illegal anyway, so I'll be turning this over to the police before I leave here.' To illustrate his point, Patrick invited guests from law enforcement to share their stories. 'We used to really worry about the cocaine out of Colombia or the methamphetamine out of Mexico. I now worry about the baked goods coming out of California and the candy coming out of Colorado,' Chambers County Sheriff Brian Hawthorne said. 'What's really interesting is the fact that many of these products that the Lieutenant Governor has here on the table — they don't allow them to be sold in their state. They just ship them to us to poison our children.' '[The police] are the folks that are out there working the streets at midnight, the ones that are having to go knock on doors and give bad, bad information to parents whose children were killed because they got involved with some of this stuff,' John Wilkerson with the Texas Municipal Police Association said. 'This right in front of you is a drug deal, that's all it is,' Tomball Police Chief Jeff Bert said. Before moving to Texas five years ago, Bert worked in Los Angeles, where he says legalized marijuana wreaked havoc. 'It's the most insidious kind of drug deal, because it isn't somebody that sneaks off when a police officer sees him or her and runs into an apartment and we go chasing — they're selling this in gas stations, right next to Snickers and Cheetos.' Jocelyn's Law fails to earn enough votes in Texas House Patrick also invited Collin County District Attorney Greg Willis to share his perspective. 'They are targeting our kids, not adults, not patients but our kids,' Willis said. 'In Collin County, we see the results of it. We see the psychotic episodes. We see the suicide attempts. We sit down with parents who are heartbroken and devastated after something has happened with their child, after they consume something that everybody thought was safe.' When Houston Chronicle reporter Jeremy Wallace asked Patrick if there was a way to protect children while still giving adults access, Patrick passionately said he doesn't want adults to have access either. 'What are you crazy? You want to go home and eat a bag of this tonight, see if you're here tomorrow? We focus on kids because that's where they built the shops, but adults are buying this stuff too,' Patrick said. 'That's crazy talk. That's the kind of talk — the reason why we're here. Media that would say something as stupid as that. I'm sorry, that's just true.' The final hurdle for SB 3 — and a total THC ban — is a potential veto from Abbott. He has stayed very tight-lipped about anything regarding hemp and THC this session. When initially asked if he was worried about the possibility of a veto, Patrick deflected. 'I pass bills, the Governor signs or vetoes them,' Patrick said. 'I know the Governor, I know where his heart is, and I know where he wants to be to protect children and adults.' State of Texas: THC ban approved amid push to expand medical cannabis program He was then asked why he called the press conference if the bill had already passed both chambers of the legislature. 'Because there's a tremendous onslaught of pressure from an $8 billion industry that has unlimited money, and they're trying to poison the story, to stop this from happening, that's why,' Patrick said. 'I can tell you how effective they are, because most of you in this room — no criticism — personally, most of you in this room have bought into a lot of their story… I'm not worried about the Governor. I'm worried about the pressure on the media and the general public to try to keep this going in some way.' The question of Abbott's intentions then came up a third time, when a reporter asked if Patrick had spoken with him. 'I speak to the Governor every day,' Patrick said. 'About this?' another reporter asked. 'Look, I'm not going to speak for the Governor, okay?' Patrick said. 'He will do what he's going to do. I have total confidence in the Governor. You will know his decision when he makes it. The reason I'm here today is for you to tell the story. I'm not worried about the Governor understanding it. I'm worried about you all understanding it.' After the press conference, Abbott's Press Secretary Andrew Mahaleris wrote, 'Governor Abbott will thoughtfully review any legislation sent to his desk.' Copyright 2025 Nexstar Media, Inc. All rights reserved. This material may not be published, broadcast, rewritten, or redistributed.
