BILL ANALYSIS

C.S.H.B. 3712

By: Hernandez

Licensing & Administrative Procedures

Committee Report (Substituted)

BACKGROUND AND PURPOSE

Leaders in the alcoholic beverage industry have raised concerns regarding the inability for retail account owners to receive samples from beer distributors. During the Texas Alcoholic Beverage Commission's most recent sunset review, the ability for malt beverage distributors to give samples to owners or general managers of retail accounts was inadvertently prohibited even though this practice has been in place for decades. C.S.H.B. 3712 seeks to address this issue by allowing malt beverage distributors to give the owner or general manager of a retail account a sample of no more than 72 ounces of a new brand of beer before deciding to carry the beverage in their stores.

CRIMINAL JUSTICE IMPACT

It is the committee's opinion that this bill does not expressly create a criminal offense, increase the punishment for an existing criminal offense or category of offenses, or change the eligibility of a person for community supervision, parole, or mandatory supervision.

RULEMAKING AUTHORITY

It is the committee's opinion that this bill does not expressly grant any additional rulemaking authority to a state officer, department, agency, or institution.

ANALYSIS

C.S.H.B. 3712 amends the Alcoholic Beverage Code to authorize a distributor's license holder or the license holder's agent, representative, or employee to furnish or give a sample of malt beverages to a holder of a permit or license authorizing the sale of such alcoholic beverages at retail in the same manner and subject to the same requirements as a wholesaler's permit holder or that permit holder's agent, representative, or employee who furnishes or gives a sample of liquor to a holder of a permit authorizing the sale of that category of alcoholic beverages as revised by the bill. The bill removes the packaging requirement on the three liters of any brand of wine that may be provided as a sample and replaces the authorization for a wholesaler's permit holder to provide not more than one six-pack of any alcoholic beverage other than distilled spirits or wine so packaged with an authorization for a distributor's license holder to provide not more than 72 ounces of any brand of malt beverage.

EFFECTIVE DATE

September 1, 2023.

COMPARISON OF INTRODUCED AND SUBSTITUTE

While C.S.H.B. 3712 may differ from the introduced in minor or nonsubstantive ways, the following summarizes the substantial differences between the introduced and committee substitute versions of the bill.

While both the introduced and the substitute authorize distributors of malt beverages to provide samples of those beverages, the substitute includes clarifications not in the introduced that this authorization applies to a distributor's license holder providing samples to the holder of a license authorizing the sale of that category of alcoholic beverages.

The substitute removes the packaging requirements for provided samples, whereas the introduced did not. The substitute includes a clarification absent from the introduced that the premises on which the applicable beverages may be sampled are the premises of the permitted or licensed retailer.