Hudson Repeals Alcohol Ordinance to Comply With State Law

Hudson’s City Council on Thursday, Nov. 12, voted unanimously to repeal the city’s alcohol ordinance and put a new one in its place, KLTV reported that evening and The Lufkin Daily News confirmed the next day. The city’s official agendas page says regular council meetings are held at 5 p.m. on the second Thursday of every month, matching the Thursday both newspapers described. Official minutes and the posted agenda packet for that meeting were not opened for this report.

The change is meant to match a state law, not to rewrite who may sell alcohol in town. City leaders told KLTV the new rules follow Senate Bill 1008, effective Sept. 1, 2025. That statute, the station reported, restricts the circumstances in which a city or a public health district can bill a local alcohol license or permit charge.

KLTV, citing the city, said the local charge is off-limits for certain food-related outfits once they have already paid an operating fee at the Texas Department of State Health Services, a county, a city, or a public health district. Those categories, as the station listed them, are retail food stores, food service establishments, temporary food service establishments, mobile food units, and roadside food vendors. City Administrator Gerald Williamson told the station the statute stops Hudson from collecting that fee from qualifying businesses once the operating charge has already been paid.

A lower fee where the city can still charge one

If a business is not required to hold a state health or food-service permit, it will still owe Hudson’s alcohol permit fee, the city told KLTV. Liquor stores and bonded warehouses were given as examples that stay outside the exemption. The Lufkin Daily News wrote that the new ordinance sets that remaining city fee at $25, and that some earlier permit charges had run as high as $250, according to Williamson. At the meeting, KLTV reported, Williamson said he believed the new fee was $25 and that he believed some previous fees were $250. This report treats $25 as the figure both accounts describe, with the administrator’s wording on the older $250 amount left as his own recollection.

KLTV reported that state alcohol fees remain due, and that Texas Alcoholic Beverage Commission applications still have to be certified in the city secretary’s office, which may collect its own fee for that paperwork. The city plans to post a page on its website explaining the local rules, the station said.

Council members asked how much authority the city actually keeps over the permits, The Lufkin Daily News reported. Williamson answered that businesses still have to present their permits locally, but that TABC rules govern whether an applicant qualifies, and that the city has virtually no say in that decision.

Burn bans tied to the county

The same Thursday night, the council approved a separate ordinance on burn bans, The Lufkin Daily News reported. Under that rule, a city burn ban will automatically follow when Angelina County imposes or lifts one. Williamson said the change should make the restrictions easier to keep consistent. Mayor Caleb Ramsey told the paper it would help in places where the city line leaves neighboring properties under different rules.

The paper also reported that the council went into closed session at 5:26 p.m. to take up personnel and a litigation update, returned to public session at 6:11 p.m., and took no action afterward. A remark in that same article about a “rate increase” not being passed on to residents was not tied clearly to the alcohol fee, which is being lowered, and is not treated here as part of the alcohol ordinance.

The city’s official City Hall page lists offices at 3458 Ted Trout Drive, Hudson, Texas 75904, with a main telephone number of 936-875-2358 and weekday hours from 9 a.m. to 4 p.m. Repealing the old ordinance and adopting the new one does not, by itself, change state TABC licensing. Official minutes, if posted later, would be the place to confirm any ordinance numbers and the precise fee schedule.

Related reading: Double Oak Rejects Alcohol Sales, Stays Dry.