Age Verification

You're listening to HempDash Academy — practical compliance education for hemp retailers. Today's lesson: Age Verification. Texas requires an ID check for every consumable hemp sale — not just customers who look young. What counts as valid ID, what happens when a sale goes wrong, and how to run a check that protects the store. In this lesson, you will learn: State the Texas age rule precisely: no sales to anyone under 21, with ID review before every sale. Know the four criteria that make an ID valid under §300.701(c). Separate what the rule requires from common store policies layered on top. Know the consequences of an underage sale — and the one exception that protects a store that checked properly. What is the age requirement for hemp products in Texas?. Twenty-one. Under the amended Chapter 300 rules (Subchapter G, effective as permanent rules March 31, 2026), a 'minor' is anyone under 21 years of age, and delivering, selling, or offering to sell a consumable hemp product to a minor is prohibited — §§300.101(26) and 300.701(a). This isn't a leftover tobacco rule or a store policy. It came in fast and specifically for hemp: Executive Order GA-56 (September 10, 2025) directed DSHS and TABC to impose a 21+ age gate with government-ID verification, DSHS adopted emergency rules on October 2, 2025, and the requirement became part of the permanent Chapter 300 rules on March 31, 2026. Who has to be ID-checked? (Everyone — that's the rule). The rule is stricter than most people assume. §300.701(b): a person who sells CHP 'must verify each purchaser's age by reviewing a valid proof of identification before completing the sale of any CHP.' Each purchaser. Any sale. Before completing it. Notice what the rule does not say. It doesn't say 'anyone who appears under 40' — the Texas hemp rule does not establish an under-40 exception; carding by apparent age is store policy, not the rule. The rule as written requires the ID review for every purchaser, including the regular you've known for years and the customer who is obviously in their seventies. A 'card everyone, every time' policy isn't overkill; it's the policy that matches the rule text. What counts as a valid ID?. §300.701(c) says valid proof of identification 'may include' a driver's license issued by Texas or another state, a passport, or an identification card issued by a state or government agency. DSHS's own age-verification checklist adds military ID as an example. If the document lacks any element required by §300.701(c), don't rely on it — every valid ID must meet the four criteria: It includes a physical description and a photograph that matches the person's appearance. It provides the individual's date of birth. It was issued by a government agency. It is not expired. What happens if a store sells to someone under 21?. The consequence DSHS spells out is existential for a retailer: under §300.702(a), the department may revoke a consumable hemp license or retail hemp registration — after an opportunity for a hearing — if it determines the holder or an employee sold, served, or delivered a CHP to a minor. Read that again: or an employee. Your newest hire's mistake is the registration's problem. DSHS can also impose administrative penalties (§300.606) and pursue additional enforcement under Health and Safety Code Chapters 431 and 443 (§300.702(c)). For unintentional or negligent violations, §300.606(b) requires DSHS to notify the retailer and provide an opportunity to resolve the issue — a reason to take any notice seriously and respond fast, not a reason to relax. And the damage follows you: on the manufacturing side, a license revoked for sale to a minor bars relicensure for five years (§300.202(b)(7)). There is one exception, and it's the reason disciplined checking protects you: §300.702(b) — revocation doesn't apply where the minor falsely represented being at least 21 'by displaying an apparently valid proof of identification.' The rule provides an exception when the minor falsely presented an apparently valid proof of identification — which is why a genuine, careful ID review matters. Does the rule cover delivery and online orders?. Delivery, yes — explicitly. §300.701(a) prohibits 'delivering' a CHP to a minor, §300.702(a) reaches products 'sold, served, or delivered,' and DSHS's checklist applies 'each time you conduct the sale, service, or delivery of a CHP.' If product changes hands away from your counter, the age check travels with it: physical ID review at handoff. Online orders are the unsettled part. The rule requires reviewing a valid ID 'before completing the sale' but prescribes no mechanics for remote sales — it does not say whether an online age-verification service satisfies the review, or whether only physical inspection at delivery does. Until DSHS or counsel says otherwise, the conservative reading is the safe one: treat a remote order as incomplete until a person has physically reviewed a valid ID at handoff. If your business model depends on shipping or remote fulfillment, this is a question for your attorney, not a gap to guess at. Where does TABC fit in?. Two agencies can walk through your door. DSHS regulates the consumable hemp program itself, but §300.103(a) authorizes both DSHS and TABC employees to enter, inspect, sample, and photograph for compliance. TABC also inspects hemp retailers and reports violations to DSHS. If you also hold a TABC license or permit — a liquor store, bar, or convenience store selling beer — a parallel set of TABC rules (16 TAC §§35.5–35.6, made permanent in early 2026) separately prohibits CHP sales to under-21s and separately mandates age verification, on pain of suspension or cancellation of the TABC license. One underage sale in a dual-licensed store can put both credentials at risk. The exact division of labor between the two agencies is still settling; what's certain is that the 21+ rule and the ID check are enforced from both directions. Here is a real-world example. A cashier waves through a regular — mid-fifties, buys the same gummies every Friday, everyone knows him. No ID check. A week later a DSHS field visit asks the same cashier to walk through the age-verification procedure, and she answers honestly: 'we check anyone who looks young.' That answer describes a store policy. It does not describe §300.701(b), which requires reviewing valid ID for each purchaser before each sale. Nothing bad happened — the regular was 54. But the store's procedure, as practiced, could not have generated the one thing that protects a registration when a 20-year-old with a good fake gets through: evidence that the store reviews an apparently valid ID every single time. The fix cost nothing: card everyone, and say so in the written procedure. Key takeaways. 21 is the line: a minor is anyone under 21, and selling, offering, or delivering a CHP to one is prohibited (§§300.101(26), 300.701(a)). The rule requires ID review for EACH purchaser before EACH sale (§300.701(b)) — 'card everyone under 40' is store-policy folklore, not the Texas rule. Valid ID = government-issued, unexpired, with birthdate and a matching photo/physical description (§300.701(c)). An underage sale — even by an employee — can cost the registration (§300.702(a)); the apparently-valid-ID exception (§300.702(b)) only protects stores that genuinely check. Delivery sales carry the same duty; online-order verification mechanics are unsettled — fail closed and ask counsel. Dual-licensed stores answer to TABC too (16 TAC §§35.5–35.6). And finally, the checklist: Age-verification procedure checklist. Written procedure states: valid ID reviewed for every purchaser, every sale — no appearance-based exceptions. Every register can state the four validity criteria (photo/description match, birthdate, government-issued, unexpired). Staff compute the 21st-birthday cutoff date rather than estimating age. Refusal script in place for no-ID, expired-ID, and suspected straw purchases — refusals logged. Delivery orders: physical ID review at handoff before the product changes hands. Online/remote fulfillment (if any) reviewed with counsel — no reliance on a checkout birthdate field. Training on this procedure documented per employee, with dates. If TABC-licensed: staff know the TABC rules apply in parallel. You've completed this HempDash Academy lesson. Test what you learned below, or see how HempDash can help put it into practice. This recording is educational information, not legal advice — rules change, so verify current requirements with DSHS and your attorney.