Alcohol To-Go Sales Now Legal In Texas
Texas Gov. Greg Abbott signed a bill Wednesday making permanent alcohol to-go sales in Texas, the Texas Tribune reported.
House Bill 1024 — which passed through the Texas Senate last week — allows beer, wine, and mixed drinks to be ordered for pickup and delivery from restaurants.
“Today is a great day for Texas restaurants, as well as for their customers,” Abbot said when signing the bill.
Abbott originally signed a waiver in March 2020 allowing alcohol to-go sales to counteract COVID-19 restrictions. The waiver was set to expire in May 2020, but was extended indefinitely while lawmakers drafted permanent legislation.
“It turned out that Texas liked it so much, the Texas Legislature wanted to make that permanent law in the state of Texas,” Abbott said.
The new law will give restaurants an added option for revenue as they try to recover. In Texas, thousands of restaurants closed, and 700,000 restaurant employees lost their jobs at the start of the pandemic, according to the Texas Restaurant Association.
Bill Allowing Permanent Alcohol To-Go Sales Passes CA Senate
The California Senate unanimously passed a bill allowing to-go alcohol sales in the state, the California Globe reported.
Senate Bill 389, passed Monday, would allow establishments with retail on-sale liquor licenses, and licensed breweries operating as eating places, to sell alcoholic beverages for off-sale consumption. It also adds to the current Department of Alcoholic Beverage Control law, allowing establishments to sell to-go cocktails without the requirement for customers to order food.
“If allowing restaurants to sell carry-out cocktails helps keep their doors open, we must do it,” state Sen. Bill Dodd, who wrote the bill, said Monday. “This about preserving jobs and getting our economy back on track.”
According to the National Restaurant Association, 78% of restaurant owners who began selling take-out alcohol rehired laid off employees — 16% more than restaurants who hadn’t.
Florida Passes Alcohol To-Go Law
Florida Gov. Ron DeSantis signed into law Thursday alcohol to-go sales, making permanent a COVID-19 executive order issued last spring.
The bill goes into effect July 1, and includes a compromise with limitations on restaurants reached by the Florida Legislature in April, according to Florida Politics. Restaurants with regular “quota” licenses must derive 60% of their revenue from food and non-alcoholic sales to sell alcohol to-go, while restaurants with special alcoholic beverage licenses need 51%.
“I’m excited about this,” DeSantis said in a news conference. “If it didn’t work, it wouldn’t have worked and we would’ve admitted that. I think it was popular and I think businesses really appreciated it, and now it will be a permanent part of our state’s laws.”
To-go alcohol orders can be wine-based or liquor-based, and must be accompanied by the sale of food.