HBA-NRS H.B. 1794 77(R)BILL ANALYSIS Office of House Bill AnalysisH.B. 1794 By: Wise Licensing & Administrative Procedures 7/16/2001 Enrolled BACKGROUND AND PURPOSE Prior to the 77th Legislature, state law provided that all charter members of a private club needed to participate equally in the initial purchase of all alcoholic beverages if the club used the pooling system to stock its alcoholic beverages. Some private clubs found it difficult to organize because of the high cost of the original purchase of alcoholic beverages. House Bill 1794 provides that the original purchase of alcoholic beverages may be done through a loan directly to the club from a third party and authorizes a club that uses a pooling system to maintain several accounts to keep track of funds to minimize club costs and maximize efficiency in its operation. RULEMAKING AUTHORITY It is the opinion of the Office of House Bill Analysis that this bill does not expressly delegate any additional rulemaking authority to a state officer, department, agency, or institution. ANALYSIS House Bill 1794 amends the Alcoholic Beverage Code to authorize the original purchase of all alcoholic beverages made by a private club to be funded by a cash contribution from each member or from a loan to the club by a third person guaranteed by all the members. The bill authorizes a person who provides a loan to the club under a pool system to be related or unrelated to the club and authorizes a loan for the original purchase to be repaid from the alcoholic beverages replacement account. The bill authorizes a private club to combine the club's alcoholic beverages replacement account, general operating account, and any other account into a single master account if the club is able to generate statements reflecting the funds allocated to each component account. If the club contracts with a third party to provide management or other services for the club, the bill authorizes the club to permit the club's master account to be combined with the master accounts of other clubs to which the third party provides similar services if the third party is able to generate, for the commissioner (sic) to review on request, statements reflecting the funds allocated to each component account of the combined account and the club's master account. The bill applies to the holder of a food and beverage certificate. EFFECTIVE DATE September 1, 2001.