Convenience Big Store: Lt. Gov. Patrick has a warning for state agencies in Texas

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Lt. Gov Dan Patrick isn't declaring war on the Texas bureaucracy quite like President Donald Trump has with the federal government. Still, it is clear his frustration is growing on two key fronts: the lottery and THC retailers.

Weeks after blasting the Texas Lottery Commission for overstepping its authority on how it regulates the sale of lottery tickets, the Houston Republican was taking state health officials to task for allowing for a proliferation of THC retailers — something he said the Legislature never intended when they passed a 2019 law legalizing hemp sales.

In both cases, Patrick dusted off his old broadcasting skills from his tenure at KHOU in Houston. He did his own social media investigations to show problems he saw with the lottery sales and THC retailers, for which he partly holds state agencies responsible.

Patrick told me he "absolutely" believes Texas bureaucrats are taking too many liberties and not following the Legislature's intent on important issues.

Given that the Legislature typically meets just once every two years, he said there can be 12 to 18 months where "agencies kind of go their own way."

His message to state agencies is for them to be more proactive and reach out to the Legislature when they see abnormalities, like a shocking surge in lottery sales or a jaw-dropping surge in THC businesses opening up.

"Part of those issues are when agencies don't communicate with the Legislature," Patrick said. "There was no input to us that 'we might have a problem here.'"

The agencies are just part of the issue. In the case of the surge in THC products, state Sen. Charles Perry, R-Lubbock, said a lot of the blame has to be on an industry that is exploiting loopholes to get around the intent of the Legislature.

At their press conference, Patrick and Perry both said the THC products being sold in Texas are often far more harmful to people than the industry is letting on. Reporter Isaac Yu has much more on what has happened over the last two years that has lawmakers vowing to shut down THC retailers statewide.

"We're going to ban your stores," Patrick said.

Jeremy Wallace, Texas politics reporter

jeremy.wallace@houstonchronicle.com

Who's Up, Who's Down

A daily stock market style report on key players in Texas politics.

Up: Minnie Fisher Cunningham.

Earlier this week, the Texas Senate passed a resolution honoring the New Waverly native for playing a central role in getting women the right to vote in Texas two years before the 19th Amendment passed in 1920. Now, some lawmakers are starting preliminary talks to begin pushing for a memorial on the grounds of the Texas Capitol to honor Cunningham and the women's suffragist movement in Texas. Currently, there is a historical plaque commemorating the movement across the street from the Capitol in front of a parking lot.

Down: Casinos.

Hope is clearly diminishing fast that this is the year that the Texas Legislature allows expanded casino gambling in Texas. Monday marks the halfway point of the 140-day session, and no casino legislation has passed any committees in the House or Senate. In Irving earlier this week, the Las Vegas Sands Corp., which had been pushing for a zoning change to a parcel of land there that could allow a casino in the future if the Legislature expanded gambling, reversed course under pressure from the community, the Dallas Morning News reported. They stripped any reference to casinos from their proposal.

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Another new episode of the Texas Take Podcast hits tonight with Scott Braddock and I digging more into potential changes to the state abortion ban, the GOP fight against THC retailers and the early lowdown on a Paxton vs. Cornyn primary battle.

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