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April Online Exclusive:

Attendees & The Hotel Bar—Texas ‘Last Call’ Bill To Boost Convention Business Denied

A Texas legislator was met with opposition after trying to pass a bill that was meant to attract convention attendees who wish to party until the “wee hours” of the morning.

According to a March 28 report in The Dallas Morning News, a proposed Texas law that would allow the state’s “big-city” hotels to serve alcohol throughout the night failed after a debate among House representatives.

Rep. Harold Dutton sponsored the bill to eliminate the 2 a.m. “last call” at large meeting hotels as an “economic-development tool” to attract conventions that instead choose destinations with no last call such as New Orleans and Las Vegas.

Dutton said the bill would have let hotels in metropolitan areas apply for all-night mixed-beverage permits that would allow drinks to be served past the 2 a.m., but only to hotel guests and only in hotels that have 100 or more rooms. Under the bill, guests would have to pay the bar tab on their hotel bill when they check out.

Those who opposed the bill, such as Rep. Charlie Howard, said the bill would encourage alcohol related crimes. The newspaper quoted Howard as saying, “On a Sunday morning, when most of us are going to church, these people will be coming out of the hotel bar drunk as coots, killing us and our kids.”
Rep. Robert Talton said the measure would circumvent local liquor laws, give hotels too much leeway and be hard to enforce, according to the newspaper report.

Dutton said he plans to re-introduce the bill in the future.

How important is a city’s last call allowances to you and your group? Do you think Texas legislatures should of passed the bill? Click here and tell us what you think.