SB1378

A nonresident seller’s permit generally authorizes orders and shipments to businesses permitted to import liquor into Texas. Section 37.07 restricts the seller, its specified officers, employees and affiliates from holding interests in the permit, business, assets or stock of a person authorized to import liquor for resale. The prior law had two historical exceptions: interests acquired by January 1, 1941, and a Texas corporation holding a manufacturer’s license and brewer’s permit issued before April 1, 1971. SB1378 retains those and adds a third. Nonresident seller authority; Prior ownership restriction; Final law.

The new exception requires a winery permit first issued on or before May 1, 2010, for premises in a municipality with more than 130,000 but fewer than 150,000 people. That municipality must lie in three counties, one of which has more than two million but fewer than three million people. Every condition matters; a newer winery permit or a location outside those criteria does not qualify for this exception merely because the business sells wine. Final law, section 37.07(a)(1)(C).

New subsection (b) separately says a nonresident seller who holds a winery permit, or whose affiliate holds one, may not sell wine to that winery permit holder. This restriction is not written as limited to the newly qualifying population-and-date exception. Ownership eligibility therefore does not mean permission to sell wine to the related winery. The other reporting, product-quality, advertising/labeling, container-size, order-solicitation and compliance restrictions in section 37.07 remain. Final law; Prior restrictions; Winery authority before this change.

The five substantive bill versions match and the official amendment index lists none. Both the narrowly defined ownership exception and the related-winery sales prohibition appeared at introduction and survived unchanged. Introduced; Senate committee; Senate-passed; House committee; Final law; Version index; Amendment index.

Compare the published text versions in the official text index. A change is not attributed to a specific amendment here without a verified record.

A business meeting the old-permit and location conditions gains an additional ownership exception. Sellers and affiliated wineries must also observe the new wine-sale restriction. Other businesses outside the criteria do not gain the same exception. The act does not guarantee consumer price reductions, greater sales or eligibility for any named business. Final law.

The revised March 16 fiscal note anticipates no significant state or local fiscal impact and assumes state costs can be absorbed using existing resources. It does not quantify private profits, compliance costs or consumer-price effects. The act makes no appropriation. Fiscal note, revision 1; Final law.