More Texas towns seek to loosen restrictions on selling alcohol.
A political action committee hoping to make Buda and Kyle wet said it has collected enough signatures to put language easing laws regulating alcohol sales on each city’s ballot.
The Better Business for Hays political action committee, recently formed by business owners, is working on a proposition that would allow all alcoholic beverages to be sold in both cities where permitted under Texas law, clearing the way for a wider variety of bars and other establishments that serve and sell alcohol.
Currently, grocery and convenience stores in Buda and Kyle can sell beer and wine. Liquor stores can set up shop in Kyle but not Buda. Restaurants in both cities can obtain alcohol permits if less than half of their revenue comes from alcohol sales, according to the Texas Alcoholic Beverage Commission.
A restaurant’s permit allows the sale of liquor, wine and beer, but a less expensive permit to sell only beer and wine is not an option in either city.
[…]
City election officials have to certify the signatures against a list of registered voters to then make it on the ballots.
If approved, the proposition would be on the May 2012 ballot in Kyle and the November 2012 ballot in Buda.
We’ve seen quite a few of these elections in recent years – in Dallas, Lubbock, Luling and Friendswood – and as far as I can tell since I’ve been paying attention to this sort of thing, none have failed to pass. I’m always amazed at how many of these places there are, and how it is that these laws have remained on the books for so long. I wish the people of Buda and Kyle the best as they seek to update themselves.