Honorable 0. N. Huwhreys

Acting Administrator, Texas Liquor Control Board Austin, Texas Opinion No. M- 208 Re: Whether a permit or a license may be refused an applicant under Articles 666-11 and 667-5, 2, V.P.C., where the applicant is a United States citizen, but he was not such citizen a period of three years immediatelypreceding the filing of his application, although a Texas resident for three or more years during that time? Dear Mr. Humphreys: The letter from your department requesting an Opinion of this office reads, in part, as follows:

"In Section 11 of Article I of the Texas Liquor ControlAct (Article666-11 of Vernon's Texas Penal Code) it is provided as follows: 'TheBoard or Administratormay refuse to issue a permit
. . .to any applicant.
. . if it has reasonable grounds to believe and finds any of the following to be true:

. . .(11). That the applicant is not a citizen of the United States or has not been a citizen of Texas for a period of three (3)years immediatelypreceding the filing of his application,
. . .i' "In Section 5, 2, of Article II of the ControlAct (Article667-5, 2 of Vernon's Code) it is provided as follows: Texas Liquor Texas Penal

-looO-Hon. 0. N. HumphreYS, Page 2, (M-208

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. . . . The County Judge shall refuse to approve the application for such license if he has reasonable grounds to believe and finds any of the followingto be true: ....2. If a Distributor or Retailer:
....(e)That the applicant is not a citizen of Texas for a period of three (3)years irmnediatelypreceding the filing of his application.
. .;I~ "Ourquestion is this: May an application for a permit or license be refusedwhere the applicant is a citizen of the United Statesbut has not been a citizen of the United States for a period of three years preceding the filing of his application and has been a resident of the State of Texas for a period of three or more years immediatelypreceding the filingof his application?" In DeGrasierv. Stephens, 191Tex. 194, 105 S.W. 992 (1907),the court upheld a statutoryrequirement that an ;;I;zant for a retail liquor licensebe a citizen of the issueA.

and also a resident of the countywherein the license is The court said that the requirementdid not contravene the Privileges and Immunitites,Equal Protection, and/or Due ProcessClause, but was calculatedto aid in regulating the liquortraffic, by rendering the licensee subject toprocess where suit is brought on his bond, and by facilitating the.determinationof his other qualificationsto exercise his license. cf: Ziffinv. Reeves, 308U.S. 132 (1939). The provisions of the Texas LiquorControl Act that require a naturalperson, or a partnershipcomposed of natural persons, or an association of naturalpersons to be resident citizens of Texas for three (3)years innnediately preceding the filingof an application in order to be eligible to receive a permit or licensehave been held constitutional in Attorney General's OpinionNo. C-427 (1965). The question now presented requiresa definition of the term "citizenof Texas". Section 43-B, of Article I of the Texas LiquorControl Act (Article666-43B,V.P.C.) provides as follows:

"When the terms 'citizenof Texas' and 'citizen of this state' are used in thisAct, they shall mean not only citizenship in Texas, as required by thisAct, but shall also require citizenship in the United States." -lool-Hon. 0. N. Humphrey9 Page 3, (M- 208

When Section 43-B of Art. I is read into Section 11 of Article I and Section 5, 2 of Article II of the Texas Liquor Control Act, it becomes apparent that the application may be refused unless the applicant has been both a citizen of the United States and a citizen of Texas fora period of three (3)years immediatelypreceding the filingof his application. Therefore, in answer to your specificquestion, it is the opinion of this office that an application for a permit or license may be refusedwhere the applicant is now a citizen of the United States,but has not been a citizenof the United States for a period of three (3)years immediatelypreceding the filing of his application,although he has been a resident of the State of Texas for a period of three (3)ormore years immediately preceding the filing of his application. SUMMARY An application for a permit or licensemay be refused underArticle 666-11 and 667-5, 2,V.P.C., where the applicant is a United States citizen,but he was not'such a citizen for a period of three (3) years immediatelypreceding the filingof his application although a Texas resi ent for three (3)or more years during that

Prepared by Douglas H. Chilton y Assistant Attorney General APPROVED: OPINION COMMITTEE Hawthorne Phillips,Chairman Kerns Taylor, Co-Chairman W. V. Geppert Lonny Zwiener Arthur Sandlin Jack Sparks STAFF LEGAL ASSISTANT A. J. Carubbi, Jr.

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