Texas House Rep. Smithee authors bill amending alcohol sales rules in annexed areas

Passed bill authored by State Rep. John Smithee seeks to amend the Alcoholic Beverage Code to ensure annexed areas adopt the wet or dry status of the annexing municipality, clarifying alcohol sales regulations, according to the Texas Legislature website.

In the House, 51 Democrats and 39 Republicans voted in favor of the bill, while 25 Republicans opposed it.

Meanwhile, in the Senate, 11 Democrats and 17 Republicans voted in favor, while three Republicans voted against it.

John Smithee introduced the bill in the Texas House on Tuesday, March 11, during the 89th regular legislative session.

Smithee graduated from West Texas A&M with a BBA and again from Texas Tech University Law School with a JD.

Smithee, a Republican, was elected to the Texas State House in 1985 to represent the state’s 86th House district, replacing previous state representative Bob Simpson.

According to the Texas Legislature, the bill’s official text was summarized as follows: ‘Relating to the sale of alcoholic beverages in areas annexed by certain municipalities’.

The following is our breakdown, based on the actual bill text, and may include interpretation to clarify its provisions.

In essence, the bill amends the Alcoholic Beverage Code to address the sale of alcoholic beverages in certain annexed areas. It specifies that in municipalities wholly located in counties containing sections of U.S. Highways 60 and 87, with populations over 12,000, any annexed territory automatically adopts the wet or dry status (allowing or prohibiting the sale of alcoholic beverages) of the annexing municipality. This change applies retroactively and prospectively to areas annexed before, on, or after the bill’s effective date, which is set for Sept. 1, 2025.

The bill received its final legislative approval on Tuesday, May 27, and was signed into law by Gov. Greg Abbott on Friday, June 20.

Bills in Texas go through a multi-step legislative process, including committee review, debates, and votes in both chambers before reaching a final decision. Each session, there are typically thousands of bills introduced, but only a portion successfully navigate the process to become law.

You can read more about the bills and other measures here.