The latest Texas Alcoholic Beverage Commission news from The Texas Tribune.
He had only been in the job for a few weeks, but the interim director of the troubled Texas Alcoholic Beverage Commission is out. Ed Swedberg abruptly quit Friday after saying he did not want to participate in the termination of another high-ranking official at TABC. Full Story
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The U.S. Department of Justice argued in a legal filing Thursday that courts should drop any further action over the old version of Texas’ voter ID law. That story tops the Texas Political Roundup. Full Story
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Two fresh departures from the troubled Texas Alcoholic Beverage Commission, announced Thursday, bring to five the number of high-level officials calling it quits since The Texas Tribune began publishing a series of stories about lavish spending, mismanagement and regulatory overreach at TABC. Full Story
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On this week's TribCast, Emily talks to Patrick, Jay and Jim about Speaker Joe Straus' "bathroom bill" comments in the New Yorker, the TABC's war with Spec's and a top lobbyist's eight-year-old comments on young women drinking at Baylor. Full Story
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A shake-up continues at the Texas Alcoholic Beverage Commission with the resignation of TABC General Counsel Emily Helm, the third top official to leave the agency in recent months. Full Story
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After a three-year probe, state liquor regulators asked an administrative court to cancel every permit held by Spec's, the state's largest liquor retailer, or fine it more than $700 million. Instead, the judges recommended nothing but a warning. Full Story
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Kevin Lilly is one step closer to becoming a commissioner at the Texas Alcoholic Beverage Commission — an embattled state agency that’s been in the Legislature’s crosshairs over controversial spending practices in recent months. Full Story
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House Republicans successfully added gender-defining language to a bill that would regulate companies like Uber and Lyft. That's among the news in this week's Texas Political Roundup. Full Story
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Amid a controversy over travel to fancy resorts and other spending controversies, the head of the Texas Alcoholic Beverage Commission, Sherry Cook, announced she was stepping down from her job effective May 23. Full Story
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For more than three hours, top TABC officials were grilled by House members for misusing state resources, taking trips to Hawaii on the taxpayers’ dime, mixing vacation with state duties, misreporting who has been assigned which state-owned vehicles, and cozying up to the very industry they’re supposed to be regulating. Full Story
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The state's top alcohol administrator received "hazardous duty" pay while in Hawaii. And the TABC brass has gotten trained as police officers, which allows them to get take-home cars, free gas and an array of weaponry, according to records and interviews. Full Story
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The Texas House on Thursday voted unanimously to cut the Texas Alcoholic Beverage Commission's travel budget and restrict its use of money from outside groups. Full Story
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All the jet-setting and partying by the Texas Alcoholic Beverage Commission, as depicted in an internal flier the agency produced, would come to a screeching halt under budgetary amendments filed Tuesday by state Reps. Jason Isaac, R-Dripping Springs and Ramon Romero, D-Fort Worth. Full Story
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Despite pushback from some opponents, a House committee approved two bills Monday that would regulate the sale of powdered alcohol in Texas. Full Story
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A local Austin coffee bar has been fighting the TABC since 2015 for the right to sell crowlers, aluminum cans filled with draft beer and sealed with a pull tab lid. Legislators are trying to prevent similar conflicts in the future. Full Story
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A state senator is trying again to reform liquor laws that he argues are anti-competitive and protectionist. Full Story
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Concerns about powdered alcohol have led 34 states to ban or considering banning it. However, both the House and Senate are considering legislation that would regulate the product in Texas. Full Story
On this week's TribCast, Emily talks to Evan, Jay and Ross about liquor regulators partying on the taxpayer dime, Energy Secretary Rick Perry's high interest in a historic Texas A&M student body election and the likelihood of a special legislative session. Full Story
Texas liquor regulators claimed this week that an investigative report about its sale of alcohol at a state convention had been turned over to the Texas Rangers. That story fell apart Friday, a day after the Texas Tribune reported on TABC lavish spending practices at out of state conventions. Full Story
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Two state lawmakers say they'd like to question Texas Alcoholic Beverage Commission officials about a Texas Tribune investigation that highlighted out-of-state trips the state liquor regulators took to lavish resorts as far away as Hawaii. Full Story
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