1-1  By:  Montford                                          S.B. No. 643
    1-2        (In the Senate - Filed February 17, 1995; February 20, 1995,
    1-3  read first time and referred to Committee on Finance;
    1-4  April 3, 1995, reported favorably by the following vote:  Yeas 10,
    1-5  Nays 0; April 3, 1995, sent to printer.)
    1-6                         A BILL TO BE ENTITLED
    1-7                                AN ACT
    1-8  relating to the administration, imposition, collection, and
    1-9  enforcement of mixed beverage taxes.
   1-10        BE IT ENACTED BY THE LEGISLATURE OF THE STATE OF TEXAS:
   1-11        SECTION 1.  Subdivision (1), Subsection (b), Section 183.001,
   1-12  Tax Code, is amended to read as follows:
   1-13              (1)  "Permittee" means a mixed beverage permittee, <or>
   1-14  a private club registration permittee, a private club exemption
   1-15  certificate permittee, a private club late hours permittee, a daily
   1-16  temporary private club permittee, a daily temporary mixed beverage
   1-17  permittee, a mixed beverage late hours permittee, or a caterer
   1-18  permittee.
   1-19        SECTION 2.  Subsection (a), Section 183.022, Tax Code, is
   1-20  amended to read as follows:
   1-21        (a)  A permittee shall file a <sworn> tax return with the
   1-22  comptroller not later than the 20th day of each month.
   1-23        SECTION 3.  Section 183.055, Tax Code, is amended to read as
   1-24  follows:
   1-25        Sec. 183.055.  CREDITS AND REFUNDS FOR BAD DEBTS <PENALTY>.
   1-26  (a)  A permittee may withhold the payment of the tax on a portion
   1-27  of the gross receipts that remains unpaid by a purchaser if:
   1-28              (1)  during the reporting period in which the mixed
   1-29  beverage is sold, the permittee determines that the unpaid portion
   1-30  will remain unpaid;
   1-31              (2)  the permittee enters the unpaid portion of the
   1-32  sales gross receipts in the permittee's books as a bad debt; and
   1-33              (3)  the bad debt is claimed as a deduction for federal
   1-34  tax purposes during the same or a subsequent reporting period.
   1-35        (b)  If the portion of a debt determined to be bad under
   1-36  Subsection (a) is paid, the permittee shall report and pay the tax
   1-37  on the portion during the reporting period in which payment is
   1-38  made.
   1-39        (c)  A permittee is entitled to credit or reimbursement for
   1-40  taxes paid on the portion of the gross receipts determined to be
   1-41  worthless and actually charged off for federal income tax purposes.
   1-42  <When additional taxes are established as due based on an
   1-43  examination by the comptroller, a penalty equal to 10 percent of
   1-44  the additional taxes due shall be collected with the additional
   1-45  taxes due.>
   1-46        SECTION 4.  Subsection (b), Section 5.50, Alcoholic Beverage
   1-47  Code, is amended to read as follows:
   1-48        (b)  The commission may not increase or decrease a fee set by
   1-49  this code, but if a statute is enacted creating a certificate,
   1-50  permit, or license and there is no fee established, the commission
   1-51  by rule may set a fee.  The commission by rule shall assess and
   1-52  collect annual surcharges from all holders of a certificate,
   1-53  permit, or license issued by the commission in addition to any fee
   1-54  set by this code.  The surcharges shall be set at a level so that
   1-55  the anticipated total of all fees collected by the commission for a
   1-56  fiscal year and all surcharges for a fiscal year are equal to the
   1-57  legislative appropriation to the commission for the regulation of
   1-58  alcoholic beverages.  In assessing a surcharge the commission may
   1-59  not overly penalize any segment of the alcoholic beverage industry
   1-60  or impose an undue hardship on small businesses.  <In setting the
   1-61  surcharge for permittees subject to the mixed beverage tax, the
   1-62  commission shall also recover the reasonable and necessary cost of
   1-63  the administration of the mixed beverage tax by the comptroller.>
   1-64        SECTION 5.  Subsection (b), Section 11.61, Alcoholic Beverage
   1-65  Code, is amended to read as follows:
   1-66        (b)  The commission or administrator may suspend for not more
   1-67  than 60 days or cancel an original or renewal permit if it is
   1-68  found, after notice and hearing, that any of the following is true:
    2-1              (1)  the permittee has been finally convicted of a
    2-2  violation of this code;
    2-3              (2)  the permittee violated a provision of this code or
    2-4  a rule of the commission;
    2-5              (3)  the permittee was finally convicted of a felony
    2-6  while holding an original or renewal permit;
    2-7              (4)  the permittee made a false or misleading statement
    2-8  in connection with his original or renewal application, either in
    2-9  the formal application itself or in any other written instrument
   2-10  relating to the application submitted to the commission, its
   2-11  officers, or employees;
   2-12              (5)  the permittee is indebted to the state for taxes,
   2-13  fees, or payment of penalties imposed by this code, <or> by a rule
   2-14  of the commission, or by Chapter 183, Tax Code;
   2-15              (6)  the permittee is not of good moral character or
   2-16  his reputation for being a peaceable and law-abiding citizen in the
   2-17  community where he resides is bad;
   2-18              (7)  the place or manner in which the permittee
   2-19  conducts his business warrants the cancellation or suspension of
   2-20  the permit based on the general welfare, health, peace, morals, and
   2-21  safety of the people and on the public sense of decency;
   2-22              (8)  the permittee is not maintaining an acceptable
   2-23  bond;
   2-24              (9)  the permittee maintains a noisy, lewd, disorderly,
   2-25  or unsanitary establishment or has supplied impure or otherwise
   2-26  deleterious beverages;
   2-27              (10)  the permittee is insolvent or mentally or
   2-28  physically unable to carry on the management of his establishment;
   2-29              (11)  the permittee is in the habit of using alcoholic
   2-30  beverages to excess;
   2-31              (12)  the permittee knowingly misrepresented to a
   2-32  customer or the public any liquor sold by him;
   2-33              (13)  the permittee was intoxicated on the licensed
   2-34  premises;
   2-35              (14)  the permittee sold or delivered an alcoholic
   2-36  beverage to an intoxicated person;
   2-37              (15)  the permittee possessed on the licensed premises
   2-38  an alcoholic beverage that he was not authorized by his permit to
   2-39  purchase and sell;
   2-40              (16)  a package store or wine only package store
   2-41  permittee transported or shipped liquor, or caused it to be
   2-42  transported or shipped, into a dry state or a dry area within this
   2-43  state;
   2-44              (17)  the permittee is residentially domiciled with a
   2-45  person who has a financial interest in an establishment engaged in
   2-46  the business of selling beer at retail, other than a mixed beverage
   2-47  establishment, except as authorized by Section 22.06, 24.05, or
   2-48  102.05 of this code;
   2-49              (18)  the permittee is residentially domiciled with a
   2-50  person whose permit or license was cancelled for cause within the
   2-51  12-month period preceding his own application;
   2-52              (19)  the permittee is not a citizen of the United
   2-53  States or has not been a citizen of Texas for a period of one year
   2-54  immediately preceding the filing of his application, unless he was
   2-55  issued an original or renewal permit on or before September 1,
   2-56  1948, and has been a United States citizen at some time; or
   2-57              (20)  the permittee permitted a person to open a
   2-58  container of alcoholic beverage or possess an open container of
   2-59  alcoholic beverage on the licensed premises unless a mixed beverage
   2-60  permit has been issued for the premises.
   2-61        SECTION 6.  Subsections (a) and (c), Section 28.17, Alcoholic
   2-62  Beverage Code, are amended to read as follows:
   2-63        (a)  The commission may summarily suspend, without a hearing,
   2-64  the permit of a permittee who fails to file a return, post the
   2-65  security required by the comptroller under Section 183.053, Tax
   2-66  Code, or make a tax payment.  The administrative procedure law,
   2-67  Chapter 2001, Government Code, <The Administrative Procedure and
   2-68  Texas Register Act (Article 6252-13a, Vernon's Texas Civil
   2-69  Statutes)> does not apply to the commission in the enforcement and
   2-70  administration of this section.
    3-1        (c)  The commission shall terminate a suspension made under
    3-2  this section when the permittee files all required returns, posts
    3-3  the security required by the comptroller under Section 183.053, Tax
    3-4  Code, and makes all required tax payments, including payment of
    3-5  penalties that are due.
    3-6        SECTION 7.  The importance of this legislation and the
    3-7  crowded condition of the calendars in both houses create an
    3-8  emergency and an imperative public necessity that the
    3-9  constitutional rule requiring bills to be read on three several
   3-10  days in each house be suspended, and this rule is hereby suspended.
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