Texas House Bill 2345, the legislative vehicle that seeks to create a carveout in Texas law that would formally authorize Texas's "social poker" clubs to operate as they currently do, has reportedly cleared its first legislative hurdle, a vote in the Texas House Committee on Licensing & Administrative Procedures.
According to Doug Polk, a co-owner of Austin's suburban The Lodge card room, HB 2345 passed the Licensing and Administrative Procedures committee on a 10-2 vote Wednesday morning after being held without a vote one week ago. (The bill actually passed on an 8-2 vote, according to the @texansforholdem account.) The one-week delay in voting followed standard committee procedure.
Polk also noted that the bill has also been assigned to the Texas House Committee on Calendars, which will likely review HB 2345's language and purpose and move it on to a third committee for additional consideation.
Polk's The Lodge card club is one of four prominent Texas clubs to have founded Texans for Hold'em, which in turn lobbied select Texas lawmakers to introduce HB 2345. The bill's favorable vote in the Licensing and Procedures Committee was aided by its chair, State Rep. Ryan Guillen, being the lead sponsor of the pro-club bill.
Online legislative tracking sites will not show HB 2345's passage until Texas's own tracking portal is updated overnight. HB 2345's new status will be available then, as will the status of a rival poker-focused bill also considered by the Licensing and Procedures Committee last week, State Rep. Gene Wu's HB 1601.
Featured image source: Texans for Hold'em
