Texas Democrats File the Cannabis Bills Again: HB 362, HB 369 and SB 237 Would Legalize Recreational Marijuana
Two House bills and a Senate companion, filed on the Legislature's opening filing day, would let adults 21 and older buy from licensed stores, grow up to 12 plants at home, and pay a regulated tax — effective September 1, 2027, if they survive a Capitol that has said no before.
AUSTIN — Recreational marijuana legalization is back on the Texas Capitol's filing stack, in triplicate. State Rep. John Bucy III of Austin and State Rep. Joe Moody of El Paso introduced House Bill 362 and House Bill 369 on the opening day of filing for the 90th Texas Legislature, and State Sen. Carol Alvarado of Houston filed the Senate companion, Senate Bill 237, according to The Marijuana Herald's report read in full by this desk. The two House measures carry essentially identical language under the title Texas Regulation of Cannabis Act.
What they would do is specific. The bills would legalize recreational cannabis for adults 21 and older, allow personal cultivation of up to 12 plants, and establish a regulated system of licensed marijuana stores, commercial cultivation and taxation, the report said. If approved, the legislation would take effect September 1, 2027. Texas today allows only a narrow medical cannabis program alongside a large market in hemp-derived THC products — the gap the Focal News report on the filings, also read this run, identifies as the context for the push.
The path is the story as much as the filing. Previous legalization efforts have stalled in Austin, and the proposals must clear committee review and win both chambers before reaching the governor — in a Legislature that convenes January 12, 2027, with Democrats set to control the House and Republicans holding the Senate. Filing-day bills are opening positions, not outcomes, and this desk will track HB 362, HB 369 and SB 237 by their numbers as hearings are set.
