Texas House to Vote on Beer Bills Today

After having been voted out of the Texas Senate and out of committee in the House, the five craft beer bills permitting Texas brewpubs to distribute and small-production breweries to offer on-site sales direct to consumers have been scheduled for a full House vote today, Friday, May 17.

The five bills must pass as a package for any one to become law. Texans can help ensure that these pro-entrepreneur bills pass by contacting our Texas representatives immediately. There is no need to contact your state senator. The Texas Senate has already passed these bills. After the House vote, the final step would be getting the bills signed by Governor Rick Perry.

If you don’t know who your representative is, enter your address here.

Your note could be short and sweet along these lines:

Texans, historically, have been able to agree on freedom and beer. As constituent in your district _##_, I have been following the craft brewery issues, and I ask that you vote FOR the bills SB 515, 516, 517, 518, and 639. I would drink to your political courage and dedication to the principles of market competition.

If all five bills pass the House with a two-thirds majority and are signed by the governor, they will become effective right away. If they receive a more than half but not quite two-thirds of the votes, the bills would go into effect September 1, 2013.

On Twitter, the hashtag #txlege often gets you some tweets by people physically inside if you're looking for the live play-by-play today.