The Lubbock Chamber of Commerce formed a political action committee and is considering hiring a consulting firm in efforts to bring a petition to Lubbock voters for legalizing the sale of alcohol in the City of Lubbock and possibly all of Lubbock County.
In July, the Chamber of Commerce issued a survey to its some 2,000 Lubbock businesses members. The principle question was, regardless of how store owners would vote in a general election, should the issue of alcohol sales in Lubbock come to a vote?
Twenty percent of owners responded to the survey, and of those, 80 percent voted in favor of letting Lubbock voters decide whether Lubbock should remain a dry municipality or legalizing the sale of alcohol within city limits, said Norma Johnson, vice president of legislative affairs for the chamber.
The Chamber of Commerce has formed the "Let Lubbock Vote" political action committee.
The political action committee is considering working with consultants to make the petition effort as successful as it can be, Johnson said.
"We're looking at a couple of consultants," she said. "That's really all I can say at this point. But we're meeting with consultants who have a 100-percent success rate in this area of petition efforts."
Johnson declined to comment where the consultants were located, but said the consulting firm has dealt with 130 petition efforts in 70 jurisdictions and all efforts had succeeded.
Currently, the political action committee is developing a petition that would legalize alcohol sales in the city of Lubbock, but all of Lubbock County could be included on the petitions, Johnson said. It has not been determined whether the petition will only include the sale of beer and wine like in Wolfforth or if distilled spirits will be included.
"The purpose of the political action committee is to promote the petition effort that would result in placing alcohol sales on the local ballot," she said. "The political action committee is most interested in the effort so Lubbock voters can decide on this issue."
For the alcohol sales petition to go active, the political action committee must file official notifications and intentions to the Lubbock County Elections Office. The Elections Office then will have to approve the language in the petition and return the petition to the political action committee.
The committee will have 60 days to gather approximately 16,000 signatures - or more if the petition applies to the whole county.
The Chamber projects the petition effort will begin in late September or in October, Johnson said.
The political action committee is considering another petition that would run concurrently with the alcohol sales petition, she said. This petition would allow for restaurants in areas of Lubbock annexed after 1971 to sell mixed drinks.
Currently, restaurants in areas annexed after 1971 that sell mixed drinks have to operate as private clubs, she said. A petition and subsequent passed proposition on the May 9, 2009 ballot would allow private clubs to become open to the public.
Dorothy Kennedy, a Lubbock County Elections Administrator, said to sign the petitions or vote for or against the issue in subsequent propositions on the May ballot, one must be a registered voter in the area the petitions and propositions will impact. For example, if the alcohol sales petition is only for the city of Lubbock and not the county, one must be a registered voter in the city to sign the petition.
To exercise one's voting rights, petition signers must be registered with the Lubbock County Elections Office for more than 30 days.
To register to vote in Lubbock County, Kennedy said one must be a citizen who is at least 18 years old, have a social security number, must not be a convicted felon with no appeals remaining and must have a permanent address in Lubbock. Residence hall rooms are considered a permanent address.
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