Texas awaited the State's response in a hemp industry appeal due September 17, while Kentucky business owners quantified how much a federal THC ban would cost them.
GULF & INTERIOR SOUTH, Sept. 17, 2026: Texas faced a deadline Thursday to respond to a hemp industry group's bid to reinstate a court injunction against state health regulators, as Kentucky hemp business owners put new numbers on what a looming federal ban would cost them.
The Texas Hemp Business Council asked the Fifteenth Court of Appeals on August 14 to reinstate a temporary injunction blocking the Texas Department of State Health Services' consumable hemp rules, which count THCA toward total THC limits alongside new licensing fees and testing requirements. The State's response to that filing was due September 17, according to THBC's own case tracker, though it was not confirmed whether the state filed on time or what it argued. THBC said the deadline passing does not itself change anything: the injunction has been lifted since June, and DSHS's rules remain in effect regardless of the appeal's outcome.
The case is one of four pending Texas lawsuits over the state's hemp rules. A separate Travis County suit challenging DSHS's undefined "trace amount" enforcement standard is headed to an October 30 injunction hearing after a judge denied a restraining order earlier this month. A federal case in the Western District of Texas and another in Galveston remain without rulings.
In Kentucky, Appalachian Smoke owner Justin Darnell said roughly 30 percent of his Salyersville retail business depends on hemp and CBD sales and that he expects to lay off workers if the federal restrictions take effect as written. Laura Freeman, who farms hemp at Mt. Folly in Winchester, said she expects a 75 percent cut to her hemp business and favors regulating THC content over a ban. Gov. Andy Beshear said at a September 3 press conference that he hopes "Congress gets its act together and does not crater our hemp industry." Kentucky's hemp industry was valued at more than $330 million in 2025, according to a state cannabis industry group.
No hemp beverage regulatory or business developments were confirmed this week in Louisiana, Tennessee, Alabama, Mississippi, Arkansas, or Oklahoma. Watch for whether the Fifteenth Court of Appeals schedules oral argument or rules on the briefs, the October 30 Travis County hearing, and Oklahoma's Schedule I THC reclassification under Senate Bill 1257, which takes effect November 1.
Forma works embedded on hemp and THC beverage formulation and commercial scale-up, from compliant dosing and label claims through co-packer qualification. This wire is a byproduct of the same regulatory tracking that informs that work.
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