What Documentation and Entity Information a City or County Must Have on File Before It Will Issue a Certificate of Local Compliance

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A city secretary or county clerk certifies a specific applicant at a specific address for specific license or permit types, so the request has to identify all three without gaps or contradictions. In practice that means one of the two forms TABC tells local officials to accept, either the AIMS Application Summary or the paper Required Certifications form (L-CERT), completed with the legal entity, the exact location, and the permit types, along with any local fee the city or county charges.

The two forms a local office accepts

TABC’s page for local government officials lists both as acceptable:

  • The AIMS Application Summary, generated from TABC’s online application system, which shows the principal parties of the applicant entity, the proposed location address, and measured distances to the nearest residence, school, and church.
  • The Required Certifications form (L-CERT), the paper form. Its first page carries the identifying information, and its later pages hold the blocks the city and county sign.

What the identifying page asks for

Page 1 of the L-CERT collects:

  1. Trade name of the location, the name the business will operate under.
  2. Owner of the business, meaning the applicant, such as a corporation, an LLC, or an individual owner.
  3. Type of owner: limited liability company, corporation, partnership, limited liability partnership, limited partnership, or other.
  4. Location address with city, county, state, and ZIP code, and a separate mailing address.
  5. Contact details: business phone, alternate phone, and email.
  6. Type of application: original, reinstatement, change of location, or change of trade name, with the existing license or permit number where one applies.
  7. License and permit types, marked from separate lists for off-premise retailers, on-premise retailers, and wholesalers, distributors, and manufacturers, including add-ons such as the Food and Beverage Certificate (FB) and Late Hours Certificate (LH).
  8. Primary business type at the location, such as restaurant, bar, hotel, grocery, or convenience store.

Where files disagree

A clerk certifies what the paper says, so a mismatch between documents can send the request back:

  • Entity name. The owner name on the form should match the entity’s registration with the Texas Secretary of State exactly. In AIMS, TABC asks applicants to upload the Secretary of State Certificate of Formation or Certificate of Fact, so the registered name is already on record.
  • Address. The location address should be the full address the city or county uses, including suite or unit numbers, and the “not in city limits” box on the city block should reflect where the address actually sits.
  • Permit types. The types marked on page 1 should match the blocks presented for signature. An on-premise restaurant that will hold a Mixed Beverage Permit with an FB needs the on-premise block, not the off-premise one.
  • Principal parties. Where an office works from the AIMS summary, the principal parties listed there should match the entity’s current officers, managers, or partners.

Fees

Section 11.38 of the Alcoholic Beverage Code allows a city and a county each to levy a local fee for permits issued for premises within their boundaries, capped in relation to the state fee. Whether a given city or county charges one, and how it collects it, is set locally, so the fee should be confirmed with the office along with its accepted payment methods.

Assembling the file before the first request

Before approaching the clerk, lay the Secretary of State certificate, the lease or deed showing the address, and the planned permit list side by side and confirm they agree. Then complete page 1 once and use the same information everywhere it appears. A local office that receives a complete, consistent request can certify or refuse on the merits of the location rather than returning it for paperwork.

This article is general information about Texas alcoholic beverage law, not legal advice, and reading it does not create an attorney-client relationship. Statutes and TABC rules change; confirm current requirements with the Texas Alcoholic Beverage Commission, the relevant city or county, or a licensed Texas attorney before acting.

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