Craft beer bills pass out of House committee

From Open The Taps.

After waiting in a long queue of bills that were sent from the Senate to the House, the Craft Beer Bills (SBs 515-518 and 639) should see some movement again this week. Our team in Austin has been in regular communication with the House sponsor (Chairman Wayne Smith) and his committee – the House Licensing and Administrative Procedures Committee – and they are confident that the bills will be voted out unanimously this week. Because the companion bills in the House already had a public hearing, these bills only need to be brought up during a meeting of the committee to get a vote. The next step in the process will be for the Calendar Committee to schedule the bills for consideration by the full House, and we anticipate that happening sometime next week or the following week. More to follow as the week progresses, but stay tuned.

The bills in question passed the Senate on March 25. True to Rep. Smith’s word, the bills were unanimously passed out of the House Licensing and Administrative Procedures Committee yesterday afternoon, so the next step is Calendars and a vote on the House floor. We are truly in the home stretch here. I suppose there’s still the chance of something going wrong, but at this point I’m beginning to feel it. After four legislative sessions, this looks like it’s finally going to happen.

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