HBA-DMH C.S.H.B. 1612 77(R) BILL ANALYSIS Office of House Bill AnalysisC.S.H.B. 1612 By: Goolsby Licensing & Administrative Procedures 4/25/2001 Committee Report (Substituted) BACKGROUND AND PURPOSE Currently, Texas Alcoholic Beverage Commission (TABC) permit application fees are required to be paid to the state in the form of a cashier's check or money order. For TABC to move forward in e-commerce or other types of actions involving the Internet, it is important for TABC to be able to offer convenient forms of payment, including electronic payments. C.S.H.B. 1612 includes additional forms of payment among the types of acceptable payments for permit application fees, and allows TABC to set a reasonable fee for processing such payments. RULEMAKING AUTHORITY It is the opinion of the Office of House Bill Analysis that rulemaking authority is expressly delegated to the Texas Alcoholic Beverage Commission in SECTION 1 (Section 11.35, Alcoholic Beverage Code) of this bill. ANALYSIS C.S.H.B. 1612 amends the Alcoholic Beverage Code to include a teller's check, a check drawn on the account of a corporation applying for a permit, or payment by credit card, charge card, or other electronic form of payment that is approved by Texas Alcoholic Beverage Commission (TABC) rule as an acceptable form of payment for a permit application. The bill authorizes TABC to set a reasonable processing fee to recover expenses incurred by TABC in processing the electronic payment. EFFECTIVE DATE September 1, 2001. COMPARISON OF ORIGINAL TO SUBSTITUTE C.S.H.B. 1612 differs from the original bill by adding a teller's check, a check drawn on the account of a corporation applying for a permit, payment by credit card, and payment by charge card to the acceptable forms of payment for a Texas Alcoholic Beverage Commission permit application fee.