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For years, Texans could walk into their local smoke shop and buy cannabis flower that looked and smelled exactly like marijuana. It came from the very same plant but was legally sold as hemp. Stores in Texas can no longer sell these smokeable products, but can folks still have them on their person?
And the City of Austin is getting a $6 million investment from Airbnb to help fund affordable housing.
Plus, a big decision was handed down from the Supreme Court yesterday on mail-in ballots ahead of November’s midterm Election Day.
And a sneak peek of the latest episode of the Tacos of Texas podcast.
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The full transcript of this episode of Austin Signal is available on the KUT & KUTX Studio website. The transcript is also available as subtitles or captions on some podcast apps.
Jerry Quijano [00:00:08] Texans for years could walk into their local smoke shop and buy cannabis flour that looked and smelled exactly like marijuana. It came from the very same plant, but was legally sold here as hemp. Now stores in Texas can no longer sell these smokable products, but is it still okay for folks to have them on their person? We’ve got more about that, and the city of Austin is getting a $6 million investment to help fund affordable housing, and they’re getting that money from Airbnb. We’ve gotten more about the story. Plus A big decision from the Supreme Court yesterday on mail-in ballots as we get closer and closer to November. That’s coming up on today’s show.
KUT Announcer: Laurie Gallardo [00:00:44] The Austin Signal is a production of KUT News, hosted by Jerry Quijano.
Jerry Quijano [00:00:49] And the Thockels of Texas podcast has a new episode out. We’ve got a sneak peek coming your way, plus plenty more that’s up next here on Austin Signal. Howdy out there. This is Austin Signal. Thank you for tuning in. I’m your host, Jerry Kikano. We have reached the midway point of September. It is Tuesday the 15th. We’re glad you’re here with us. Travis County commissioners voted unanimously this morning to approve a one billion dollar budget for central health. That is the local public hospital district that uses property taxes to provide health care to the county’s poorest residents. Commissioners also approved a tax rate increase for central health. Which will add $36 to the median homeowners bill. All the revenue generated by that increase will go towards new mental health crisis response initiatives, which Central Health is developing in partnership with the city and the county. The city of Austin is getting a $6 million investment from Airbnb to help fund affordable housing. KUT’s Luz Moreno Lozano tells us about the company’s new accelerator program and how Austin is using it.
Luz Moreno-Lozano [00:02:05] Austin has been on a mission for years to build thousands of affordable housing units. In the St. John’s neighborhood in North Austin, the city is building a 19-acre mixed-use property that will include more than 500 housing units, some of them affordable. But the project was short several million dollars. That is where Airbnb’s new accelerator program comes in. On Monday morning, the company announced it is committing $250 million across the country to what it’s calling last-dollar funding for projects like the one in St. John’s that need help filling a gap. Brian Chesky is co-founder and CEO of Airbnb.
Brian Chesky [00:02:40] If there’s about 750,000 homes or housing developments, they’re about to be built, but they need last dollar funding. And if they got their last dollar of funding, then 750,005 million would be built.
Luz Moreno-Lozano [00:02:53] Austin is the first city to receive one of those investments totaling more than $6 million. Councilmember Chito Vela, who represents the St. John’s area, says this is a big win.
Chito Vela [00:03:03] But in so many projects that we see out there, there’s some kind of gap that is keeping the ground from breaking, keeping construction from starting. And so I think this kind of a deal closing fund for affordable housing, it’s just a phenomenal idea.
Luz Moreno-Lozano [00:03:19] Vela says Airbnb won’t receive any incentives or deals from the city as part of this program. He hopes it will create a partnership and better relationships with short-term rental companies like Airbnb.
Chito Vela [00:03:30] The city can’t do this on our own for multiple reasons. We need our business partners, affordable housing partners, our philanthropic partners.
Luz Moreno-Lozano [00:03:40] Thelma Williams has lived in the St. John’s neighborhood since she was a child. She says this will help create more options for young families.
Thelma Williams [00:03:47] Because young people are really struggling to have affordable houses so that they can be all that they could be. Construction on the.
Luz Moreno-Lozano [00:03:56] The St. John’s project began earlier this summer. The project is set to be complete by 2028. I’m Luz Moreno Lozano in Austin.
Jerry Quijano [00:04:14] The Supreme Court ruled yesterday against the Trump administration’s executive order on mail-in ballots ahead of this year’s midterm elections. Before that, a federal judge also struck down the executive order, citing the Travis County clerk. So what has been happening here? Well, for the latest, we are speaking with Katie McAfee. She is KUT’s Travis County reporter. She’s with us in the studio. Hi, Katie. Hey, Jerry. Okay, so this has been a very fast developing story. So let’s start at the beginning. What exactly were the set of rules? That’s what we’re supposed to go into effect.
Katy McAfee [00:04:45] So this was all kicked off by an executive order President Trump signed at the end of March. The order was aimed at reducing the risk of fraud and protecting the integrity of federal elections and the rules required the United States Postal Service to only deliver mail-in or absentee ballots to people enrolled on a quote state specific list of eligible voters. Plus all outgoing mail- in ballots would have to be placed in envelopes with new design requirements. Have to have an official election logo, they have to have a barcode that can be tracked, among other specifications. And these rules weren’t adopted by the United States Postal Service until about three weeks ago. So, you know, right away multiple lawsuits were filed arguing these rules could disenfranchise voters and just in general be too difficult to implement before Election Day.
Jerry Quijano [00:05:32] Yeah, because we are already very close to the beginning of early voting here in Texas, and lots of other states are planning to send out their ballots as well. So tell us what happened, what was the action on Sunday?
Katy McAfee [00:05:44] Yeah, so I’m actually going to take you back a little bit further. So at the beginning or at the end of last month, Travis County joined a federal lawsuit opposing the rules. It was filed jointly with the city of Madison, Wisconsin, plus some other advocacy groups. And in it, Travis county clerk, Diana Lamone Mercado argued the rules would pose a huge financial burden on local governments, very close to the election. She testified that Travis County had already spent over $21,000 on envelopes for mail ballots. That would be considered non-compliant if the rules were to take effect. Plus, she said the rules would add logistical and practical burdens on election staff. And then Sunday night, a second federal court blocked the rules from taking effect. And in that ruling, the judge cited Limon Mercado’s concerns. Travis County Clerk released a statement. She said, Travis County will not stand on the sidelines or stay silent when rules threaten to burden or undermine our residents’ constitutional right to vote. Whether they are voting by mail or casting a ballot in person this November.
Jerry Quijano [00:06:45] Okay and you were working on this story all day yesterday and as occasionally happens in journalism you work on this really really long time and as soon as you publish it something else happens and changes your story. Just a few minutes maybe a little bit longer after that. After your story was out there, there was even more action this time from the Supreme Court. What does their ruling mean for this case?
Katy McAfee [00:07:04] Yeah, so, you know, even after this second federal court blocked the rules, there was a touch of uncertainty about whether or not they’d take effect before the midterms. I talked to the Travis County clerk in August after she had joined this federal lawsuit and she said, you, know, if you’re a voter in Travis County and you’re on the fence about voting in person or by mail, vote in person because anything could change at any moment. Um, but then last night, you know, an hour after we published the story. Uh… The supreme court closed any uncertainty whether these rules would actually take effect before the midterm elections uh… They released an opinion rejecting the rules
Jerry Quijano [00:07:38] and we are fewer than two months away from election day. What are some deadlines that are coming up in case people want to get registered to vote in this year’s midterms?
Katy McAfee [00:07:48] Yeah, well today is actually National Voter Registration Day. The deadline to register is October 5th. It’s going to be here before you know it. So if you have registered, you want to double check, make sure that, you know, cross your t’s, dot your i’s and all that, and go to votetexas.gov. And if you still need to register for the first time, you can go to the Travis County Tax Office.
Jerry Quijano [00:08:09] Yeah, you definitely want to check on your voter registration status. I know of at least one person here at the KUT studios who found out their status had changed since the last time they voted, and I know people outside of the studio as well, so make sure to check your voter registrations status, and keep up with us here at KUT for the latest. Particularly from Katie McAfee, she is KUT’s Travis County reporter. Katie, thank you very much.
Katy McAfee [00:08:32] Thanks so much, Jerry.
Jerry Quijano [00:08:39] Alright, for years Texans could walk into any old smoke shop and buy cannabis flower that looked and smelled exactly like the marijuana that Willie Nelson spent decades singing about. And it produced the same effects too. That’s because it came from the same plant, cannabis, but it was sold legally here as hemp. Well, now the products that people smoked or vaped have been removed from stores here in Texas. Pretty much the only mind-altering hemp products left are edibles and drinks. So stores, they cannot sell these smokeable hemp products, but are people allowed to possess hemp flower and hemp concentrate? Well, as KUT’s Nathan Bernier reports, no one in government seems to have a straightforward answer.
Nathan Bernier [00:09:24] To understand why this is so confusing, we need to make some popcorn. Okay, while that heats up, let’s go back to 2019. That’s when Texas lawmakers legalized something called hemp.
Voice 1 [00:09:37] It can be utilized from root to the tip and will open doors to new products including automotive parts, construction material and CBD oil.
Voice 2 [00:09:45] With an economic impact in the billions of dollars per year.
Voice 3 [00:09:49] In the raw form of the plant, there are no intoxicating capacity.
Voice 4 [00:09:54] The eyes have it, House Bill 1325 is passed to Engrossment.
Nathan Bernier [00:09:58] What lawmakers actually approved in 2019 was quite a bit broader than all that talk of automotive parts and CBD oil. Their definition of hemp was this, cannabis and everything in it, all the extracts and the seeds and acids, except for one limitation. It could have no more than 0.3% delta 9 THC. That’s the main psychoactive ingredient in cannabis. If it has more than 0.3% Delta-9-THC, then it’s marijuana, which is illegal outside the state’s medical program. And that gets us to why I’m making popcorn right now. Speaking of which, it’s time to dump in the kernels. So these corn kernels are going to pop into popcorn because of the heat in the pan. Delta- 9-TH is kind of like the popcorn of cannabis. It starts out as something called THCA. The A just stands for acid. So THC acid is like the corn kernels. It does not get people high. But add heat to THCA, whether through smoking or vaping, and you get delta 9 THC. And cannabis can contain a lot of THCA. But state law says it’s still hemp if it has less than 0.3% delta 9. That’s where the Texas Department of State Health Services comes in. DSHS maintains a roster of the most illegal drugs in the state. It’s called the Schedule I list of controlled substances, and it includes things like heroin and crack cocaine. More than a year after the Texas legislature legalized hemp, DSHS added all naturally occurring THC’s in hemp to the Schedules I list, everything except Delta-9 up to a concentration of 0.3%. Hemp companies soon. And in 2021, a Travis County judge stopped the DSHS rule while the case worked its way through the courts, which took a while and allowed the hemp market in Texas to flourish for years. Well, this year, it all changed. When the case finally made its way to the Texas Supreme Court in January, it was focused on something called Delta-8, which is a less powerful THC than Delta-9. Delta- 8 does occur naturally in cannabis, but only in tiny amounts, so almost all Delta- 8 sold in stores was made by taking the CBD from hemp and using solvents and acids to convert it to Delta- eight, the state called this synthetic THC. And that distinction between naturally occurring and synthesized THCs was at the core of the case. Corey Scanlon argued for the state.
Corey Scanlon [00:12:36] Texas’s hemp program has never been a legally permissible vehicle for the proliferation of synthetic and intoxicating forms of that drug.
Nathan Bernier [00:12:46] But the subtext during these oral arguments was that naturally occurring THC’s are legal under state law. The debate was about whether those same protections extend to THC that are manufactured to much greater concentrations than what’s found in nature. Justice Evan Young asked Scanlon if Delta-8 would be legal if it could be naturally collected.
Justice Evan Young [00:13:05] I’m looking at the definition of controlled substance, and it says it does not include hemp or the THC’s in hemp. And so if you’re taking something that even is just a trace amount, but it’s in hemp, isn’t it defined by the statute as not being a controlled substance?
Nathan Bernier [00:13:22] Scanlan.
Corey Scanlon [00:13:23] Turn the conversation back to synthetics. So, it makes no sense that you would allow a chemical synthesis process for Delta-8 that creates a highly intoxicating product.
Nathan Bernier [00:13:34] Texas Supreme Court ultimately sided with the Department of State Health Services, saying DSHS can prohibit artificial products containing a high concentration of synthesized Delta-8. But on July 31st, when DSHS re-enacted the same rule banning Delta- 8, it again included all natural THC’s found in hemp, except for Delta-9 up to a concentration of 0.3%. And that’s how we got to this question. Is THCA, is Smokable Hemp Flour, legal to possess in Texas? Or is possessing it a felony, like Delta-8, where less than a gram could land someone in jail for up to two years? Kind of an important distinction for a product that was sold legally in Texas stores as recently as June. So I asked the agency that wrote the schedule, defining what drugs are a felony to possess, and here’s what the Department of State Health Services wrote back. Quote, DSHS does not regulate possession of consumable hemp products. Questions about possession should be directed to law enforcement, end quote. So I asked law enforcement and the answers were all over the map. Austin police gave the clearest response of more than a dozen law enforcement agencies we reached out to. APD said if it’s under 0.3% Delta-9, then it won’t be seized, whether it’s hemp flour or THCA concentrate. In Round Rock, which borders Austin, police would not answer the question directly, but told me to look for the answer at a state law library website that linked to a private defense lawyer’s blog post that said THCA is a felony to possess. In Hayes County on the other side of Austin The sheriff’s office said THCA is not legal, but then the office said anything with less than 0.3% Delta-9 is legal, and DPS just said legality is determined by the courts. Which sounds straightforward enough, except a case has to get to court first. In Travis County, the person who would decide whether to prosecute a felony possession case is District Attorney Jose Garza.
Jose Garza [00:15:47] Is going to be incredibly difficult to enforce the law with the lack of
Nathan Bernier [00:15:52] The lack of clarity might even help a criminal defendant, according to Chris Perry, an Austin defense attorney.
Jose Garza [00:15:58] Just based on the fact that an everyman like Nathan Bernier was having trouble consolidating the apparent conflict between the hemp law statute and the regulations, which kind of support an unconstitutional vagueness argument that the normal person, a reasonable person, doesn’t know what’s legal and illegal.
Nathan Bernier [00:16:15] But before any lawyers see a case, somebody has to decide whether to make that arrest. Usually, the decision is made by a police officer standing on the side of a road.
John Wilkerson [00:16:25] You know, while targets can be dropped, you can’t
John Wilkerson [00:16:27] You can’t exactly un-arrest somebody, right?
Nathan Bernier [00:16:29] John Wilkerson spent years as a police officer. Now he works for the Texas Municipal Police Association. He says police officers are being put in a tough spot when they’re asked to make a decision within minutes about rules that state officials can’t clarify after months.
John Wilkerson [00:16:43] And a normal journalist reaches out to him and says, well, can you explain this to him? You made the rule. Can you explain it to me? And their response is a guilt talk to law enforcement? Now we’re the ones at the ground level that are stuck with, am I going to go out and potentially, in at least the eyes of the accused, violate their rights by arresting them? And then are they going to file a lawsuit?
Nathan Bernier [00:17:02] Wilkerson says police officers are split on whether cannabis should be legalized, but he says they all agree on one thing. Quit making it confusing. Either it’s legal or it’s not legal. For now, at least, the answer to that question could depend on the badge the officer’s wearing or what the district attorney in that county thinks about hemp. I’m Nathan Bernier in Austin.
Jerry Quijano [00:17:31] UT’s Moody College of Communication has tapped Cary Granit to take over as its permanent dean. Granit comes to UT Austin after decades in working in media. He co-founded Walden Media, the company behind family-oriented media, like the Chronicles of Narnia film franchise. Granit will also decide who will serve as the permanent general manager of KUT and KUTx. The stations are housed within the college, and Granit decide whoever takes the permanent position. Interim general manager, Gerald Johnson, says he’s looking forward to helping Granite and that hiring process.
Gerald Johnson [00:18:06] I look forward to working with a new dean. My role is to support him and the institution and ultimately move forward and help ensure that we find the right leader for KUT and KUTx.
Jerry Quijano [00:18:19] Johnson has served as the interim GM of KUT and KUTX since the university fired Debbie Hyatt back in June. Hyatt had a public spat with UT administrators after the university canceled on-campus programming at the KUT festival in May. Granite will oversee whoever takes the permanent role. His first day is September 28th. Just a reminder, there’s a heat advisory that’s in effect today until 7 o’clock high temperature 102 heat index readings could get as high as as 110. You are listening to the Austin Signal. Stay cool out there. We’ve got more after this break. This is Austin Signal, welcome back to the show. The latest season of the Tacos of Texas podcast is rolling out right now, and their newest episode focuses on a topic that’s hit the zeitgeist this week. Who exactly gets to be seen as a Texan, and how has that idea, and even our local cuisine been shaped by black and indigenous Mexicans who’ve lived here. Host Mando Rayo spoke with Iracema Reza Bailey of Birth Comadres Collective during recent live taping of the show. To discuss her journey growing up in Texas as a first-generation American and the trials of assimilating.
Mando Rayo [00:19:39] Let’s talk about like your identity and how, you know, when I grew up, I thought everybody was Mexican. Food for us was Mexican food. It wasn’t like, you know, the American kind of palette or whatever. So talk about kind of your early beginnings around your identity, around definitely Mexican, but also, you know, going back into the the indigenous.
Iracema Reza Bailey [00:20:01] Well, you know, just like any first-generation Mexican-American, like you mentioned, what is instilled in us is, pues el orgullo Mexicano, right? So you have this Mexican pride already instilled and you from fresh out of the womb, right. So then you know that you need to be proud, right, of your heritage, of identity. Right, the thing is that growing up and finally coming to like school here in the United States, the big part for me was trying to assimilate, right? So assimilation has been a big thing. A lot of us went through that, right. Exactly, and so, you know, there was then this like big poll of like, you know am I Mexican or I had some, remember somebody said you’re Chicana And I was like. Talking about. No, I’m Mexican. But I was chican.
Mando Rayo [00:21:01] Yeah, yeah, yeah. Right, right, right.
Iracema Reza Bailey [00:21:02] But not until I was older did I understand like what that meant, right? You know, the assimilation kind of took a big chunk of like who I am and how I presented myself. So like in the seventh grade, I gave myself the, my assimilated name was Iris. Iris? I made that number. Yes, well, because I was getting tired of telling people how to say my name.
Mando Rayo [00:21:26] Oh, yeah, yeah. That’s true, that’s true.
Iracema Reza Bailey [00:21:28] And so, you know, the good thing for me though, was that I had the privilege and the connection to still go back to Mexico, right? So my parents, they were undocumented, but once they got here in the Reagan administration, then they got received amnesty, right. And so then they were able to travel back and forth to Mexico and back here. And so that’s how I was able to continue to have that thread, right, in my Mexican identity. But the indigenous identity, I didn’t start to really connect to it until later in life when I was going through high school, right, like the history classes. There’s a lot of gaps in the history class, right? And so I was questioning a lot. I was just like, this isn’t making sense. And so as I started doing my own research, I started to connect with more people in community that we’re also starting to I consider myself as re-indigenizing, right? So I’m coming back to my roots in that way. I also have the privilege of witnessing like my aunts and my abuelas do folk medicine, right. So that’s how I’m still honoring that with the sobada. So I watched them take care. I watched the the folk medicine, the herbal medicine and all of that, right, and realized that there was a deeper connection there, a deeper connection to nature and also that there is an indigenous lens to being in relationship with nature and myself. And so I’m still on this journey of like relearning, unlearning, decolonizing, of bringing back cultura into like the birth work that we’re doing and through the birth comadres collective and just being in touch you know back to ourselves really
Jerry Quijano [00:23:37] That was an excerpt from the latest episode of the Tacos of Texas podcast. We’ll have a link to the full episode and all the stories we shared with you in today’s podcast show notes. That’s it for us here today on Austin Signal. Our team is Karoline Pfeil, Alexandra Hart, Kristen Cabrera, and I’m your host, Jerry Quijano. We’ll be back at the same time tomorrow and we’ll talk to you then.
This transcript was transcribed by AI, and lightly edited by a human. Accuracy may vary. This text may be revised in the future.
