PALMER — Two draft ballot measures presently under review by the city of Palmer and Mat-Su Borough would ban most marijuana businesses, if voters approve.

The identically worded measures would exempt businesses dealing with industrial hemp, but would outlaw parlors, cafes, commercial grow operations for recreational uses, or any other forms of business trading in the drug, at least as they appeared in copies provided by the respective municipal clerks.

The primary sponsor of the Palmer initiative, Donna Irsik, said Friday the city measure had been rejected by the city clerk and would need to be reworded. Irsik said she was waiting to see the precise nature of the changes required before commenting in detail. The borough-level initiative is still under legal review.

Texas State Rep. David Simpson (R), a staunch Tea Party member and conservative Christian, made headlines earlier this month when he put forth "the evangelical argument for total legalization of cannabis."

In an interview with The Daily Beast, Simpson quoted Timothy 4:4, which reads “everything God created is good." Under Simpson's reading of the text, all God's creations, marijuana included, are good.

Tens of thousands of Texans with a loved one suffering from epilepsy are now waiting to see what Governor Abbott will do. The legislature has sent to his desk a bill that would permit the medical use of marijuana oils to treat intractable epilepsy. The question is, will he sign it or veto it?

First, the good news that really isn't good news at all, but whatever. As of late Monday afternoon's 96-34 Texas House vote, both chambers of the Legislature have passed medical marijuana reform legalization. Texans who suffer from intractable epilepsy and are able to get their hands on low-THC cannabidiol oil will not be prosecuted.

As has been said over and over again by advocates for medical marijuana, legalizing cannabidiol oil, especially the low-THC version allowed by the Texas bill, is not enough. Treatment is not available to all the people who could be helped, and keeping THC content to 5 percent or lower takes options away from doctors. (THC is the chemical in marijuana that gets you high.)

Texas marijuana reform activists are busy balancing a small victory with the passage of a limited medical marijuana bill with major shortcomings in the law, which allows the use of Cannabidiol oils for the treatment of seizures.

First off, the law doesn't allow the use of whole-plant marijuana. Cannabidiol oil, or CBD oil, is a derivative of marijuana that doesn't cause euphoria. Medical marijuana proponents say whole-plant marijuana treats a wide array of illnesses and ailments and that the plant is more effective as a whole.

But there's another problem — a legal problem.

Medical marijuana could be legal in Texas, sort of.

The Texas House of Representatives voted 96 to 34 to approve the second reading of a Senate bill that would allow limited use of Cannabidiol oils, a marijuana derivative, Progress Texas said in a press release..

And the proposals authors are Republican! Crazy.

Maybe the times are a changin'? 

Progress Texas Executive Deputy Ed Espinoza said the approval is historic.

He is right.

“Marijuana policy reform has made history in Texas! More than 20,000 people engaged in a serious conversation this year, and we are pleased to see strong support from a bipartisan majority," Espinoza said in a press release.

Despite concerns from some lawmakers that they were taking the first step toward legalizing marijuana, the Texas House tentatively approved a bill Monday that would allow epilepsy patients in Texas to use medicinal oils containing a therapeutic component found in the plant.

AUSTIN, Texas (Christian Examiner) -- Texas bills legalizing marijuana and decriminalizing possession of it passed state House committees earlier this month, but will not become law in the Lone Star State.

House Calendar Committee Chair Todd Hunter (R- Corpus Christi) reportedly refused to schedule the two bills before the deadline for action, The Daily Chronic reported.

"We're not seeing symptom reduction. We're seeing symptom elimination."

Medical marijuana(Photo: Josh Stephen / WFAA)

DENVER – Growing up in Texas, the threat of seizures always prevented Alexis Bortell from riding a bicycle.

"There's a big difference, because in Colorado I've had a decrease in seizures, and in Texas I had them every day," the nine-year-old told us.

No seizures means no restrictions on bikes.

A frightening seizure that Alexis experienced in February prompted the Bortells to move from Rowlett to a Denver suburb.

Conroe Police Department Public Information Officer Dorcy Riddle stands amongst 10 to 20,000 marijuana plants waiting to be cut down by authorities Wednesday, Aug. 21, 2013, in Conroe, Texas. (AP Photo/ Houston Chronicle, Cody Duty)

AUSTIN–The House preliminarily approved a narrowly-focused medicinal marijuana bill Monday that would allow patients with one type of epilepsy to use low-THC cannabis to treat their symptoms.

Under the bill, physicians could prescribe orally-administered cannabis that is low in THC, the psychoactive chemical in marijuana, for patients with intractable epilepsy who haven’t found success with other drugs. The House approved the measure 96-34.