ATTORNEY GENERAL OF TEXAS 

GREG ABBOTT 

March 3,2004 

The Honorable Chris Harris 

Chair, Committee on Administration 

Texas State Senate 

P-0. Box 12068 

Austin, Texas 787 1 l-0268 

Opinion No. GA-01 60 

Re: Determination of the minimum number of 

signatures required on a petition for a local 

option election under the Alcoholic Beverage 

Code (RQ-0107-GA) 

Dear Senator Harris: 

You ask two questions concerning local option elections. You first ask whether voters on 

the “suspense list” or “S list” are to “be included in the total percentage of registered voters required 

to sign [a] local option petition.“’ 

Chapter 25 1 of the Alcoholic Beverage Code governs local option elections. See TEX. ALCO. 

BEV. CODE ANN. $9 25 1 .Ol-81 (Vernon 1995 & Supp. 2004). Provisions for “suspense lists” or 

“S-lists” generally are found in chapter 15 of the Election Code, subchapters D and E. See TEX. 

ELEC. CODE ANN. $j§ 15.081-. 112. (Vernon 2003). A suspense list contains the name of each 

registered voter who failed to submit to the registrar a response confirming the voter’s current 

address. See id. 8 15.08 1; see also id. §§ 15.05 l-.053 (addressing confirmation notice, forms, and 

response). Section 25 1.11 (d) of the Alcoholic Beverage Code, however, provides that voters “whose 

names appear on the list of registered voters with the notation ‘S,’ or a similar notation, shall be 

excluded from the computation of the number of registered voters of a particular territory.” TEX. 

ALCO. BEV. CODE ANN. 5 25 1 .l l(d) (Vernon Supp. 2004). Subsection (d) was added by the 

Seventy-eighth Legislature during its Regular Session, and its effective date was September 1’2003. 

It is, therefore, clear that signatures with the notation “S” or similar notation may not be included 

in calculating the number of required signatures on a petition to hold a local option election that is 

circulated after September 1’2003 .2 

‘Letter from Honorable Chris Harris, Chair, Committee on Administration, Texas State Senate, to Honorable 

Greg Abbott, Texas Attorney General (Sept. 16,2003) (on file with Opinion Committee) [hereinafter Request Letter]. 

2Section 13 of the act amending section 25 1.11 provides that “[tlhe changes in law made by this Act apply only 

to a local option election for which an application for a petition is filed on or after the effective date of this Act. A local 

option election for which an application for a petition is-filed before the effective date of this Act is governed by the law 

in effect immediately before that date, and that law is continued in effect for that purpose.” Act of May 22, 2003,78th 

Leg,. R.S., ch. 1047, $ 13,2003 Tex. Gen. Laws 3007,301O. 
The Honorable Chris Harris - Page 2 (GA-0160) 

You next ask whether an election official has the “discretion to create rules for calculating 

the minimum number of signatures required for a local option alcohol petition absent specific 

language in the Alcoholic Beverage Code.” Request Letter, supra note 1, at 1. 

Section 25 1.11 sets forth requirements for ordering a local option election and establishes 

the minimum number of signatures required for various types of petitions: 

(a) The commissioners court, at its next regular session on or after the 

30th day after the date the petition is filed, shall order a local option election 

to be held on the issue set out in the petition if the petition is filed with the 

registrar of voters not later than the 60th day after the date the petition is 

issued and bears the actual signatures of a number of qualified voters of the 

political subdivision equal to: 

(1) 35 percent of the registered voters in the 

subdivision for a ballot issue that permits voting for or 

against; 

(A) “The legal sale of all alcoholic 

beverages for off-premise consumption only.“; 

(B) “The legal sale of all alcoholic 

beverages, except mixed beverages.“; 

(C) “The legal sale of all alcoholic 

beverages including mixed beverages.“; or 

(D) “The legal sale of mixed 

beverages.“; 

(2) 25 percent of the registered voters in the 

subdivision who voted in the most recent general election for 

a ballot issue that permits voting for or against “The legal sale 

of wine on the premises of a holder of a winery pennit.“; or 

(3) 35 percent of the registered voters in the 

subdivision who voted in the most recent gubernatorial 

election for an election on any other ballot issue. 

(d) Voters whose names appear on the list of registered voters with 

the notation “S,” or a similar notation, shall be excluded from the 

computation of the number of registered voters of a particular territory. 
The Honorable Chris Harris - Page 3 (GA-0160) 

TEX. ALCO. BEV. CODE ANN. 0 25 1.11 (a)( l)-(3), (d) (V emon Supp. 2004). The legislature has thus 

provided specific instructions for the computation of voters in a local option petition, including a 

precise mathematical formula for calculating the required number of voters. Where the language of 

a statute is clear and unambiguous, there is no room for additional interpretation. See Fleming Foods 

of Tex. v. Rylander, 6 S.W.3d 278,284 (Tex. 1999); see also Mitchell Energy Corp. v. Ashworth, 

943 S.W.2d 436, 438 (Tex. 1997) (in construing a statute one must attempt to give effect to the 

legislature’s intent). As a result, an election official does not have discretion to adopt additional 

rules for calculating the minimum number of signatures required. 
The Honorable Chris Harris - Page 4 (GA-0160) 

SUMMARY 

Suspense list voters may not be included in determining the 

minimum number of required signatures for a local option alcohol 

petition. An election official does not have discretion to adopt rules 

for calculating the minimum number of signatures required for a local 

option alcohol petition. 

BARRY R. MCBEE 

First Assistant Attorney General 

DON R. WILLETT 

Deputy Attorney General for Legal Counsel 

NANCY S. FULLER 

Chair, Opinion Committee 

Rick Gilpin 

Assistant Attorney General, Opinion Committee