AUSTIN, TX – Texas voters overwhelmingly said “YES” to alcohol sales in “dry” cities and counties on May 9th, the latest in a statewide trend toward modernizing outdated liquor laws in cities and counties.
“Clearly, Texans are thirsty for modernization,” said Council Vice President Dale Szyndrowski – noting that out of 38 total alcohol elections, 31 passed for a 81.5% success rate. “Residents understand that modernizing local alcohol laws increases revenues and economic activity while providing added consumer convenience.”
Szyndrowski stated that since the Texas State Legislature changed state law in 2003 to make it less complicated to hold "wet/dry" elections, more than 500 petitions have been issued authorizing local option elections and more than 350 elections have been held. For those elections since 2003, over 80% have voted in favor of alcohol sales.
"This steady surge of local option alcohol elections shows that Texans want modern alcohol laws similar to those common throughout the rest of the country,” Szyndrowski said. “Adults can now make purchases closer to home rather than having to drive miles out of the way – and, the community gets the tax revenue.”
Szyndrowski said that Texas is one of a number of states across the country modernizing outdated alcohol laws to generate revenue, noting that since 2002, 14 states have allowed Sunday spirits sales for a total of 36 states.