HB 2436/SB 1575 hearings set for Tuesday morning

But the battle is far from won. Please call the members of both committees, and bring as many people as you can to the public hearings on Tuesday to show your support.

From our good friend Chip McElroy at Live Oak:

Hey Folks,

I have some good news and some other good news. Which one you want to hear first?

OK first the good news – HB 2436 is scheduled for hearing in the House Licensing and Administrative Procedures Committee meeting on Tuesday, April 19 at 8 am. That is this coming Tuesday.

The other good news – SB 1575 is scheduled for hearing in the Senate Business and Commerce Committee meeting on Tuesday, April 19 at 8am. That is this coming Tuesday.

Sound like I am repeating myself? I am, but it is not a mistake. Both hearings are at the same time. We are working on a fix which will be something like putting one bill on first in the schedule in one meeting and putting it on late in the other meeting. I’ll keep you posted.

So here’s what we need to do.. We need as many brewery employees, owners, significant others, etc. to show up as possible. Everyone should “drop a card” at each meeting. That means fill out the form to “testify” at the hearing. You do not have to actually speak. Just fill out name, who you represent, the bill you are concerned with, and that you are for it and check the box that you do or do not wish to testify. So, we need as many filled out forms as we can get and we need warm bodies in seats.

In both committees they have requested that only one person testify for the bills. I plan to testify. We can have more people speak, but in may annoy them. What we can certainly have is written testimony. But please, please show up for the hearings. It is important to have people there. Do not have the mistaken idea that, if you dont speak, it is not important to be there. Speaking or not, please show up and drop a card. It was very effective that lots of folks showed up for 602 and 660.

The other thing we need to do is have our brewery fans and mailing list folks contact the members who are on each of these committees and ask that they vote for HB 2436 / SB 1575 to move it out of the committee(s) and on toward passage. The meetings are on Tuesday first thing in the a.m. so we need to act fast. Sorry about the late notice, but I just found about about the House yesterday and got official notice about the Senate committee today.

The committee members are:

House Committee on Licensing & Administrative Procedures:
Rep. Mike Hamilton – Chair (512) 463-0412
Rep. Chente Quintanilla – Vice Chair (512) 463-0613
Rep. Joe Driver (512) 463-0574
Rep. Charlie Geren (512) 463-0610
Rep. Roland Gutierrez (512) 463-0452
Rep. Patricia Harless (512) 463-0496
Rep. John Kuempel (512) 463-0602
Rep. Jose Menendez (512) 463-0634
Rep. Senfronia Thompson (512) 463-0720

Senate Committee on Business & Commerce
Sen. John Carona – Chair (512) 463-0116
Sen. Chris Harris – Vice Chair (512) 463-0109
Sen. Kevin Eltife (512) 463-0101
Sen. Craig Estes (512) 463-0130
Sen. Mike Jackson (512) 463-0111
Sen. Eddie Lucio, Jr. (512) 463-0127
Sen. Leticia Van de Putte (512) 463-0126
Sen. Kirk Watson (512) 463-0114
Sen. John Whitmire (512) 463-0115

The meetings will be held in the Capital. House meeting: E2.012, Senate meeting: E1.016. The exact room number may not be correct, but the floor is correct and it is easy to figure out what room it is in, once you are there.