HB 2885 Texas House · 89th Legislature (2025)

Relating to allowing the governing bodies of certain political subdivisions to call for a local option election relating to the sale of alcoholic beverages.

HB 2885 allows specific counties (with 70,000-100,000 residents, containing part of the Colorado River, and bordering a city of 1 million+ residents) and municipalities to hold local elections on legalizing alcohol sales. County commissioners courts or city councils can initiate these votes by resolution or motion to decide if alcohol sales should be permitted in their area. The bill creates a new process under Texas Election Code Section 501.0211, directly affecting eligible communities seeking to change local alcohol regulations. It takes effect September 1, 2025, without altering current alcohol laws but providing a structured voting mechanism.
Bill status signed all 5 stages cleared
Introduction
Mar 2025
Committee Review
Jun 2025
House Passage
Jun 2025
Senate Passage
Jun 2025
Signed into Law
Jun 2025
Introduced Mar 19, 2025 Signed Jun 20, 2025
Maddy AI version diff · 2 comparisons

What changed between versions

Engrossed Enrolled · 4 edits · Jun 2, 2025
MODERATE
The bill was converted from its 'Engrossed' version to the final 'Enrolled' version, which is the version signed into law. The substantive policy content remains the same, though the formatting was cleaned up and the final certification signatures from legislative officers were added.
Scope change
The bill's scope regarding which political subdivisions can call for local option elections on alcohol sales was expanded to include municipalities with 240,000+ population, those spanning multiple counties, and those bordering large man-made lakes.
SCOPE

Added eligibility criteria for municipalities to call for alcohol sales elections, including population thresholds of 240,000 or more, municipalities located in two or more counties, and municipalities bordering man-made lakes with at least 20,000 acres.

TECHNICAL

Added new subsection (d) allowing municipalities meeting the expanded criteria to vote specifically on mixed beverages.

Added certification signatures from the President of the Senate, Speaker of the House, Chief Clerk of the House, and Secretary of the Senate to confirm passage and conference committee adoption.

Removed draft formatting artifacts, page numbers, and internal tracking codes from the text.

Floor votes · Senate May 26, 2025 · House Apr 29, 2025

How they voted

273
Passed
Total votes 30
May 26, 2025
D Democratic10
10 Yea
100% Yea
R Republican20
17 Yea 3 Nay
85% Yea
Vote distribution
All Yea All Nay Mixed No data
Full legislative history

Actions timeline

Total actions
75
Key actions
23
Committee
18
Amendments
7
Jun 2, 2025
Upper · Passed
Signed in the Senate
upper
Jun 2, 2025
Lower · Passed
Signed in the House
lower
Jun 1, 2025
Upper · Passed
Senate adopts conference committee report
upper
Jun 1, 2025
Lower · Passed
House adopts conference committee report
lower
May 29, 2025
Upper · Passed
House requests conference committee-reported
upper
May 29, 2025
Lower · Passed
House requests conference committee
lower
May 29, 2025
Introduced
House refuses to concur in Senate amendments
lower
May 27, 2025
Introduced
Senate Amendments Analysis distributed
lower
May 27, 2025
Introduced
Senate Amendments distributed
lower
May 26, 2025
Lower · Passed
Senate passage as amended reported
lower
May 26, 2025
Upper · Passed
Passed
upper
May 26, 2025
Upper · Passed
Passed to 3rd reading as amended
upper
May 26, 2025
Upper · Passed
Amended
upper
May 26, 2025
Introduced
Amendment(s) offered
upper
May 23, 2025
Upper · Passed
Committee report printed and distributed
upper
May 23, 2025
Upper · Passed
Reported favorably w/o amendments
upper
May 22, 2025
Upper · Passed
Vote taken in committee
upper
May 15, 2025
Upper · Passed
Left pending in committee
upper
May 15, 2025
Upper · Passed
Testimony taken in committee
upper
May 5, 2025
Committee
Referred to State Affairs
upper
May 5, 2025
Introduced
Read first time
upper
Apr 30, 2025
Introduced
Received from the House
upper
Apr 30, 2025
Lower · Passed
Passed
lower
Apr 29, 2025
Lower · Passed
Passed to engrossment
lower
Apr 25, 2025
Lower · Passed
Committee report sent to Calendars
lower
Apr 25, 2025
Lower · Passed
Transferred to Calendars Committee
lower
Apr 21, 2025
Lower · Passed
Committee report distributed
lower
Apr 15, 2025
Lower · Passed
Reported favorably w/o amendment(s)
lower
Apr 15, 2025
Committee
Recommended to be sent to Local & Consent
lower
Apr 8, 2025
Lower · Passed
Left pending in committee
lower
Apr 8, 2025
Lower · Passed
Testimony taken/registration(s) recorded in committee
lower
Mar 19, 2025
Committee
Referred to Licensing & Administrative Procedures
lower
Mar 19, 2025
Introduced
Read first time
lower
2 primary · 0 co-sponsors

Sponsors