How Criminal History Affects TABC Permit Eligibility for Owners and Officers

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Criminal history affects a TABC application under more than one standard, and the permit or license decides which. For most permits, such as a Mixed Beverage Permit, the Alcoholic Beverage Code lets TABC deny an application when, among other grounds, the applicant was convicted of violating the Code in the two years before filing or fewer than five years have passed since a felony sentence ended. For beer licenses, the Code requires denial after a final felony conviction in the five years before filing. Two retail authorizations, the Wine and Malt Beverage Retailer’s Permit (BG) and the Retail Dealer’s On-Premise License (BE), add mandatory rules of their own that reach the applicant’s spouse and run five years from the end of a sentence, parole, or probation. For a company, the history of its officers and owners is part of the review, and changes after the permit issues must be reported.

Permits: grounds TABC may use

Section 11.46(a) lists circumstances in which TABC “may deny” an original or renewal permit. Those tied to a person’s history or household are:

Ground Time window
a conviction for violating the Alcoholic Beverage Code the two years before the application is filed
a felony conviction until five years have passed since the sentence ended, by pardon or otherwise
a violation of the Code or a TABC rule involving moral turpitude, as distinguished from a technical violation the six months before the application
not being of good moral character, or having a bad reputation for being peaceable and law-abiding where the applicant lives no fixed window
living with a person whose permit or license was cancelled for cause cancellation within the 12 months before the application

Because these grounds are discretionary, the facts around a record, such as its age and nature, matter to the outcome. One ground is not discretionary: under Section 11.46(d), TABC must deny an original permit to a person convicted under Section 101.76, which covers letting someone else use a permit or using someone else’s, for five years from the conviction.

Beer licenses: the general rules

Section 61.42(a) says TABC “shall deny” a distributor’s or retailer’s license if the applicant was finally convicted of a felony during the five years immediately before filing, or is not of good moral character or has a bad reputation for being peaceable and law-abiding. Section 61.43(a)(2) adds a discretionary ground: TABC “may deny” the license if five years have not passed since a felony sentence ended. The mandatory rule counts from the conviction; the discretionary one, like the permit rule, counts from the end of the sentence.

The BG and the BE: mandatory rules of their own

Section 25.06, for the Wine and Malt Beverage Retailer’s Permit, and Section 69.06, for the Retail Dealer’s On-Premise License, go further than both general rules. Each says the commission “shall deny” an original application if:

  • the applicant or the applicant’s spouse was finally convicted, in the five years before the application, of a felony or of a listed offense, including prostitution, bookmaking, gambling, a controlled substances offense, bootlegging, a firearms or deadly weapon offense, a Code violation that led to a cancellation or a fine of at least $500, or more than three Code violations involving minors; or
  • five years have not passed since the end of a sentence, parole, or probation served for one of those convictions.

The same tests apply when the permit or license is renewed. For a company, “applicant” includes the partner, officer, trustee, or receiver primarily responsible for managing the premises.

One record, four answers (hypothetical)

Take an invented applicant who was finally convicted of a felony in March 2020, whose sentence ended in March 2023 with no parole or probation after it, and who applies in October 2026:

Application Rule Result in October 2026
Mixed Beverage Permit (MB) may deny until five years after the sentence ended (Section 11.46(a)(2)) discretionary; the felony ground stays available to TABC until March 2028
Wine and Malt Beverage Retailer's Permit (BG) must deny an original application until five years after the sentence ended (Section 25.06(b)) mandatory denial until March 2028
Retail Dealer's On-Premise License (BE) Section 61.42(a)(6)'s five years from the conviction have passed, but Section 69.06(b) requires denial until five years after the sentence ended mandatory denial until March 2028
Retail Dealer's Off-Premise License (BF) Section 61.42(a)(6)'s five years have passed; Section 61.43(a)(2) allows denial until five years after the sentence ended discretionary until March 2028

The same history means a mandatory denial for a BG or BE and a discretionary question for an MB or a BF. In every case the character and reputation grounds remain, so the record still has to be answered in the application.

Whose history counts

  • The people behind an entity. The application asks whether any listed officer, director, or owner, or their spouse, has been convicted of or received deferred adjudication for listed offenses, and each officer and majority owner completes a Personal History Sheet.
  • After the permit issues. TABC’s page on managing and reporting changes requires a change in criminal history that affects a person’s qualifications to be reported within 30 days. The requirement covers each officer and any stockholder with an ownership interest greater than 50 percent.
  • Honest answers. Failing to answer, or answering a question falsely or incorrectly, is itself a ground for denial under Section 11.46(a)(4).

Preparing an application around a record

  1. Gather the records for every person who will be listed, including conviction dates and the dates sentences ended.
  2. Compare each record, and for a BG or BE each spouse’s record, to the rule for the exact permit or license, since the five years run from different dates and not every rule leaves TABC a choice.
  3. Answer every history question completely; an incomplete answer creates a separate problem on top of the record.
  4. Do not solve a record by leaving a person off the application while that person keeps control. Section 109.53 requires the permittee to keep exclusive control of the licensed premises and the alcohol on them, and makes unlawful any plan that surrenders control of the permittee’s employees, premises, or business to someone else.

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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