Legislation allowing Texans to buy alcohol to go from restaurants is on its way to becoming the law in Texas.
The State Senate passed House Bill 1024 by the vote of 30-to-1 and it's now headed to Governor Abbott's desk.
The legislation was designed after a COVID-10 business waiver put in place by Governor Abbott during the height of the pandemic to help restaurants survive the lockdown.
During his State of the State address Abbott called on lawmakers to pass legislation making some of those waivers law. "I'm asking the legislature to make permanent some of the regulatory relief that I authorized," said Abbott.
When he laid out the bill on the Senate floor Wednesday afternoon State Senator Kelly Hancock spoke of its economic impact after Governor Abbott put it in place. "Unfortunately, what we've seen during the pandemic is approximately 15% of our restaurants have not made it, but I can assure you that without this provision that number would have been greater."
The bill passed in the Texas House by the vote of 144 Yeas, 1 Nays, 1 Present, not voting. It was authored by State Representative Charlie Geren, the owner of Railhead Smokehouse in Fort Worth.
Upon the bill's passage Lt. Governor Dan Patrick publicly acknowledged his role. "Thanks for doing that Charlie," said Patrick. "A lot of restaurants survived because of the action." Hancock also heaped praise on Geren saying, "During the difficult times of the pandemic there was no greater advocate for our restaurants, those that were suffering at the time, than Representative Charlie Geren."
