A bill that would loosen alcohol restrictions on Sunday morning, effective Sept. 1, was approved, 115-24, by the Texas Legislature. Under the measure, beer and wine can be sold as early as 10 a.m. The current start time is noon. But two measures that would allow liquor sales on Sunday failed to make it out of committee.
They also approved a measure allowing restaurants to continue selling alcohol-to-go.
In a related development, Arizona Gov. Doug Ducey signed a measure allowing about 3,000 restaurants to permanently offer cocktails-to-go. But they’ll have to pay an administrative fee to state liquor regulators and another fee to go towards a fund to compensate bar and grocery store owners for another five years.
Meanwhile, Nebraska Gov. Pete Ricketts signed a new law making cocktails-to-go permanent. It also permits distillers to create up to 100,000 gallons of spirits per year, which is an increase from 10,000 gallons per year. Finally, taxes have been dropped on the creation of canned cocktails.