How After-Hours and Breach-of-Peace Violations Threaten a TABC Permit
On this page
Selling or serving a drink after legal hours, allowing people to keep drinking after the consumption cutoff, running a premises where fights and disorder happen, and failing to report a breach of the peace are each separate grounds for suspending or cancelling a Texas permit. TABC classifies after-hours sales and operating in a way that allows a breach of the peace as public safety violations, and for those two TABC may refuse to let the business pay a fine instead of serving a suspension.
Four separate grounds in the Code
Section 11.61(b) of the Alcoholic Beverage Code lists the grounds on which TABC may suspend a permit for up to 60 days or cancel it. Four of them fit this subject:
| Ground | What it covers |
|---|---|
| Section 11.61(b)(23) | selling, serving, or delivering alcohol at a time when its sale is prohibited |
| Section 11.61(b)(22) | the permittee drinking, or allowing drinking, on the licensed premises at a time when consumption is prohibited |
| Section 11.61(b)(7) | conducting business in a place or manner that warrants suspension or cancellation based on the general welfare, health, peace, morals, and safety of the people and the public sense of decency |
| Section 11.61(b)(21) | failing to promptly report to TABC a breach of the peace on the licensed premises |
Each stands alone. A late sale needs no complaint, no disturbance, and no intoxicated customer to be a violation, and a fight that the staff handled well still becomes a violation if it goes unreported.
Sale hours and consumption hours are different lines
The Code sets the hours when each type of alcohol may be sold, which vary by permit and beverage, and a separate, later cutoff for drinking on licensed premises. A business can violate either one. Stopping sales on time while letting customers keep drinking past the consumption cutoff is its own ground under Section 11.61(b)(22). In an extended hours area, whether the area qualifies by population or by local adoption, the consumption cutoff is later, and a business there that holds a late hours certificate may also sell later.
The duty to report a breach of the peace
TABC Rule 35.1 turns the Section 11.61(b)(21) duty into deadlines:
- Timing. Report as soon as possible and no later than five calendar days after the incident; for a shooting, stabbing, murder, or an incident involving serious bodily injury, no later than 24 hours.
- Methods. In person at a TABC office, through TABC’s website, by email to breachofpeace@tabc.texas.gov, or through TABC’s online reporting system, unless TABC has required a specific method after an earlier failure to report.
- Content. The rule lists minimum information, including the date and time of the report and of the incident, and the trade name and location of the premises.
Why these violations are treated harshly
- Public safety category. TABC classifies sales during prohibited hours and operating in a way that allows a breach of the peace as public safety violations, which also place the business on a priority list for additional inspections over the following six months.
- No guaranteed fine option. Under TABC Rule 34.4, for sales or consumption during prohibited hours and for breach of the peace on the premises of package stores, mixed beverage permittees, and beer retailers, TABC’s executive director may deny the option to pay a civil penalty instead of a suspension.
- Summary suspension after violence. After a shooting, stabbing, or murder on the premises that is likely to lead to more violence, TABC may suspend a mixed beverage or wine and malt beverage retailer’s permit for up to seven days without a hearing, under Section 11.61(d).
Operating practices that address each ground
- Hours. Confirm the exact sale and consumption cutoffs for the permit and location, set last call early enough to meet the sale cutoff, and clear drinks before the consumption cutoff.
- Premises. Staff and security levels, entry control, and a written procedure for ending service to anyone becoming disorderly go to whether the place and manner of operation warrant action.
- Reporting. Keep a written procedure and a designated person for reporting any breach of the peace within the rule’s deadlines, with the TABC email and online reporting information posted for managers.
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.