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79R7783 AJA-F

By:  Whitmire                                                     S.B. No. 1627



A BILL TO BE ENTITLED

AN ACT

relating to the packaging and contents of certain alcoholic 
beverages.      
	BE IT ENACTED BY THE LEGISLATURE OF THE STATE OF TEXAS:                        
	SECTION 1.  Section 5.38, Alcoholic Beverage Code, is 
amended to read as follows:
	Sec. 5.38.  QUALITY AND PURITY OF BEVERAGES.  (a) The 
commission shall require by rule that any alcoholic beverage sold 
in this state conform in all respects to its advertised quality.
	(b)  The commission shall promulgate and enforce rules 
governing the labeling and advertising of all alcoholic beverages 
sold in the state, and shall adopt and enforce a standard of 
quality, purity, and identity of all alcoholic beverages[.  The 
commission shall promulgate and enforce necessary rules] to 
safeguard the public health and to insure sanitary conditions in 
the manufacturing, refining, blending, mixing, purifying, 
bottling, rebottling, and sale of alcoholic beverages.
	(c)  The regulations of the Alcohol and Tobacco Tax and Trade 
Bureau of the United States Department of the Treasury with respect 
to the standard of liquor in unbroken original containers are 
adopted for liquor sold in this state.
	(d)  The commission shall accept a federal certificate of 
label approval and exemptions from federal certificates of label 
approval issued by the Alcohol and Tobacco Tax and Trade Bureau of 
the United States Department of the Treasury as constituting full 
compliance with any applicable standard adopted under this section 
regarding quantity, purity, identity, and sanitation of liquor in 
unbroken original containers.  The commission may not require any 
additional testing or review of products or formulas as a condition 
of label or product approval.
	SECTION 2.  Section 5.39, Alcoholic Beverage Code, is 
amended to read as follows:
	Sec. 5.39.  REGULATION OF LIQUOR CONTAINERS.  The 
regulations of the Alcohol and Tobacco Tax and Trade Bureau of the 
United States Department of the Treasury with respect to the 
standards of fill of liquor in unbroken original containers are 
adopted for [commission shall adopt rules to standardize the size 
of containers in which] liquor [may be] sold in the state [and 
relating to representations required or allowed to be displayed on 
or in the containers.  To accommodate the alcoholic beverage 
industry's conversion to the metric system, the commission shall 
adopt rules permitting the importation and sale of liquor in 
metric-sized containers as well as in containers sized according to 
the United States standard gallon system].
	SECTION 3.  Section 37.07, Alcoholic Beverage Code, is 
amended to read as follows:
	Sec. 37.07.  PROHIBITED ACTIVITIES.  No holder of a 
nonresident seller's permit, nor any officer, director, agent, or 
employee of the holder, nor any affiliate of the holder, regardless 
of whether the affiliation is corporate or by management, 
direction, or control, may do any of the following:
		(1)  hold or have an interest in the permit, business, 
assets, or corporate stock of a person authorized to import liquor 
into this state for the purpose of resale unless the interest was 
acquired on or before January 1, 1941, or unless the permittee is a 
Texas corporation holding a manufacturer's license and a brewer's 
permit issued before April 1, 1971;
		(2)  fail to make or file a report with the commission 
as required by a rule of the commission;
		(3)  sell liquor for resale inside this state that 
fails to meet the standards of quality, purity, and identity 
prescribed by Section 5.38 [the commission];
		(4)  advertise any liquor contrary to the laws of this 
state or to the rules of the commission, or sell liquor for resale 
in this state in violation of advertising [or labeling] rules of the 
commission;
		(5)  sell liquor for resale inside this state or cause 
it to be brought into the state in a size of container prohibited by 
Section 5.39 [this code or by rule of the commission];
		(6)  solicit or take orders for liquor from a person not 
authorized to import liquor into this state for the purpose of 
resale;
		(7)  induce, persuade, or influence, or attempt to 
induce, persuade, or influence, a person to violate this code or a 
rule of the commission, or conspire with a person to violate this 
code or a rule of the commission; or
		(8)  exercise a privilege granted by a nonresident 
seller's permit while an order or suspension against the permit is 
in effect.
	SECTION 4.  Section 37.11, Alcoholic Beverage Code, is 
amended by adding Subsections (f) and (g) to read as follows:
	(f)  A holder of a nonresident seller's permit shall file 
with the commission a list of the permit holder's labels for 
products to be sold in the state and the permit holder's federal 
certificate of label approval from the Alcohol and Tobacco Tax and 
Trade Bureau of the United States Department of the Treasury or a 
federal certificate of exemption from that agency, as applicable, 
for those products.
	(g)  Subsections (a)-(e) do not apply to a distilled spirits 
product if a federal certificate of label approval or a federal 
certificate of exemption is filed for the product under Subsection 
(f).
	SECTION 5.  This Act takes effect September 1, 2005.