According to reporting from the Texas Tribune, the state agency that oversees alcohol sales is quite the workplace.
Agency officials annually spend tens of thousands of dollars going to lavish resorts to hobnob with industry giants in order to learn “best practices” from their colleagues in other states.
While we hope any state agency would seek to adopt best practices, the Tribune raises serious concerns when their reporter discovered that Texas’ alcohol laws in some cases favor large corporate alcohol companies over craft producers and certain retail chains over others.
All told, there is some evidence that the Texas Alcoholic Beverage Commission is not fulfilling its duty to the taxpayers and citizens of Texas. Whether one drinks or not, each of us should hope our regulatory agencies spend their budgets wisely and seek to create an open marketplace that promotes fairness, competition and innovation in order to spur tax revenue.
It does not appear that the TABC is doing this.
We hope our state representatives take these allegations seriously and hold the TABC accountable.