Updated September 4, 2026. This post originally described SB26-164 as pending and the federal change as a single November 2026 deadline. The bill had already died in committee, and the federal date split in two on September 2. Both are corrected below.
Colorado's hemp industry has been navigating two regulatory tracks at once, one state and one federal. Neither changes what you can buy at a CBD shop today. Both are worth understanding before they do.
Colorado's SB26-164 Died in Committee
SB26-164 would have created a formal regulatory framework for hemp-derived THC beverages, covering manufacturing standards, distribution oversight, and point-of-sale rules for a category that grew fast with light guardrails. It was introduced April 17, 2026 and postponed indefinitely in Senate Finance on April 28.
The bill came after state investigators found mislabeled products in the market, including hemp-derived vape products sold as marijuana-derived and some contaminated with banned substances. Colorado has been trying to draw a clearer line between standard CBD wellness products and products designed to deliver intoxicating THC effects. With SB26-164 dead, hemp beverages head into the federal deadlines without a state framework.
For people buying tinctures, gummies, capsules, and topicals at shops like The CBD Store in Loveland, this bill would not have changed anything. It was aimed at a specific segment. What it signals is that Colorado regulators are paying attention to that segment.
The Federal Definition Changes on Two Dates
The 2025 Hemp Act redefines hemp using total THC rather than delta-9 alone, counts THCA toward the total, and caps finished products at 0.4 milligrams of total THC per retail container. The whole package, not per serving.
That was set for a single date of November 12, 2026 until the President signed H.R. 6500 on September 2, 2026, which moved most of it to December 11, 2026. What remains on November 12, 2026 is narrow: only cannabinoids a cannabis plant cannot naturally produce, meaning HHC, THC-O, and similar lab-created compounds with no plant analogue. Everything else, including the total-THC standard, the container cap, THCA, hemp-derived Delta-9, and Delta-8 converted from CBD, moves to December 11, 2026.
The distinction is not natural versus lab-converted. It is whether the plant can produce the compound at all, which is why converted Delta-8 sits in the December group rather than the November one.
Colorado Governor Jared Polis has publicly criticized the federal rule, and the U.S. Hemp Roundtable estimates it would render roughly 95% of existing hemp cannabinoid products federally unlawful. The delay to December 11 came from a stopgap funding bill, and it funds the government through that same date, so the hemp deadline can move again if the funding deadline does.
Nothing on Colorado shelves has changed yet. Products on sale today are compliant with current law, and the 0.3% delta-9 standard holds through December 10, 2026. We stopped reordering the products these deadlines affect and are selling through what is left.
What to Ask Your CBD Shop
If you have questions about specific products, what is in them, how they are sourced, and whether these deadlines affect them, that is exactly the conversation worth having in person. At The CBD Store in Loveland, every product is third-party lab tested and we carry brands that are transparent about their formulations.
We are open Monday through Saturday, 11am to 6pm at 677 E. Eisenhower Blvd. in Loveland, CO. Reach us at (970) 966-7939, browse in-stock products at thecbdstorecompany.com, or read the full deadline breakdown at thecbdstorecompany.com/hemp-act.
