A Little Freedom Goes a Long Way

December 5, 2019 • Originally published in The Houston Courant

Carine Martinez

Carine Martinez joined the Foundation in 2016 and is campaign director of Secure and Sovereign Texas and has been director of research and publications since 2021.

As campaign director, she oversees the Foundation’s initiative to look for additional and innovative policy solutions for the state of Texas to help secure its southern border.

As director of research and publications, she oversees and manages the publication schedules for all policy areas the Foundation is working on and is responsible for editing research publications.

Carine also conducted research on Texas–Mexico paradiplomacy, as well as, earlier on, on the effects on taxpayers and consumers of government programs that grant special privileges to certain businesses in the form of subsidies, tax credits, regulatory advantages, or other favors.

She is the co-editor of the Foundation’s Policymaker’s Guide to Corporate Welfare and is the author of several research publications, notably on film incentives, the hotel occupancy tax, and the three-tier system of alcohol distribution. She testified on these issues before the Texas Legislature during its 85th and 86th regular sessions. She was published in several newspapers including the Austin American-Statesman, The Hill, and Forbes.

Carine began working in public policy as a policy intern at the Foundation in 2014. She later worked as a policy analyst for Texas Action during the 84th Legislature and then spent a year in Washington, D.C., working as a research associate for the Charles Koch Institute.

She holds a bachelor’s degree in international business administration (completed in English, French, and Spanish) and a master’s degree in American studies from the Sorbonne in Paris, France.

Carine is originally from Paris, France, but happily moved to the United States in 2011 and finally to Texas in 2013. She became an American citizen in 2019.

We should always celebrate more freedom in our lives. December 5 is no different. Eighty-six years ago, Prohibition was repealed.

This year, Texas can celebrate its own version of Repeal Day. This December marks three months since another kind of prohibition was abolished—on beer to go. On September 1, Texans were finally allowed to buy their favorite craft beer at a local brewery to bring and drink at home.

Until that date, Texans could buy wine to bring home from a local winery and distilled spirits from a distillery, but in most cases, not beer from breweries. The places that brew beer and were able to sell to-go had to be licensed as brewpubs—not breweries—which have low production caps in comparison.

If this sounds complicated, that’s because it is. After Prohibition, most states adopted a system called the three-tier system, which separates the alcoholic beverages industry in three tiers—manufacturers, distributors, and retailers—and strictly regulates them. The system has long been both complex and unfair in how it regulates different sorts of alcohol and players. Craft beer had to fight for its freedom to grow, and Texas has been dispensing that freedom drop by drop over the years, sometimes even taking it back.

But the recent legislative session saw some improvements on several fronts. The Legislature reduced the number of licenses and permits needed to operate, simplified the label application process, and ended the distinction between beer and ale—all of which made it burdensome and more costly for brewers to operate, with no benefits for consumers or public safety.

However, to paraphrase Gov. Abbott, what we really cared about was beer-to-go. Despite bipartisan support in both chambers of the Texas Legislature, beer-to-go was ignored in the relevant committees—and only later adopted when amended to another bill.

But what does it have to do with freedom? A lot—on all fronts.

First, consumers will have more choice. If you visit a brewery and you like the beer, you don’t need to visit several supermarkets to find it (as has happened to me); you can simply buy some at the brewery until your next visit to the store. It also might be the wise decision to make, rather than drinking on-site before driving home—with public safety benefiting along the way.

For brewers, it means more of their products are finally available to more consumers. That’s especially true of less-common varieties of beers that may not find space on retailers’ shelves. The new law also allows Texas brewers to compete with breweries in other states that already could sell beer to go—benefiting businesses and the Texas economy along the way.

Back in 2013, when the Texas Legislature passed a law authorizing breweries to open taprooms to sell their own beer (for on-premises consumption), 96 craft breweries were operating in Texas. The number rose to 251 in 2017. Those new jobs—and the economic boost to their communities—show how helpful a little liberalization of a market can be.

Finally, as less well-known beers benefit from being more easily available to consumers, demand is created at retailers—benefiting both distributors and retailers.

I like to call this the freedom multiplier effect: A small liberalization can go a long way.

Let’s not rest on our laurels though; more can still be done. Craft brewers are still restrained from operating more efficiently by burdensome contract provisions with distributors, which are currently set in statute. Worse, since 2013, craft brewers have been barred from selling their distribution rights to distributors, but distributors can resell them for a profit. This is hardly the kind of market freedom Texas is so proud to boast about.

On Repeal Day, all Texans should raise their glasses of cold craft beer to toast a little more freedom in our lives. Let’s also seize the occasion to consider what other burdensome regulations could be repealed so the freedom multiplier effect can apply to the benefit of us all.

Carine Martinez

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