A first-offense Class A misdemeanor for selling or providing alcohol in Texas is punishable by up to one year in county jail, a fine of up to $4,000, or both. The charge most commonly arises under Section 106.06 of the Texas Alcoholic Beverage Code, which covers buying alcohol for or giving alcohol to anyone under 21. On top of the criminal sentence, a conviction triggers an automatic 180-day driver’s license suspension, and if you hold a TABC permit or the person you served caused harm, you may also face administrative action and a civil lawsuit.
What Conduct the Charge Covers
Section 106.06 makes it a Class A misdemeanor to purchase alcohol for a minor or to give, provide, or otherwise make alcohol available to a person under 21.1State of Texas. Texas Alcoholic Beverage Code Section 106.06 – Purchase of Alcohol for a Minor; Furnishing Alcohol to a Minor The conduct does not have to look like a sale in the conventional sense. Handing a beer to a teenager at a party, buying a bottle for someone else’s underage child, or knowingly letting a minor drink at a gathering on your property can all fit the statute.
There is one narrow exception. A parent, legal guardian, spouse, or court-appointed custodian may provide alcohol to a minor, but only if that adult is visibly present the entire time the minor possesses or drinks it. If you rely on this exception, you carry the burden of proving it. Anyone else who serves the minor, including grandparents, older siblings, and family friends, is outside the exception.
A separate offense, selling alcohol in a dry area under Section 101.31, is a Class B misdemeanor for a first or second offense, not a Class A. If your charge is a dry-area sale, the penalty range is lower than what this article describes.2State of Texas. Texas Alcoholic Beverage Code Section 101.31 – Alcoholic Beverages in Dry Areas
Penalties for a First-Offense Class A Misdemeanor
Under Texas Penal Code Section 12.21, a Class A misdemeanor carries up to one year in county jail, a fine of up to $4,000, or both.3State of Texas. Texas Penal Code Section 12.21 – Class A Misdemeanor Those are the statutory maximums. Judges routinely impose less, and for a first-time offender a jail sentence is often replaced or shortened by probation.
The charge escalates out of Class A territory in one situation: if the minor you provided alcohol to causes serious bodily injury or death because of their intoxication, Section 106.06(c-1) makes the offense a state jail felony. State jail felonies carry 180 days to two years in a state jail facility and a possible fine of up to $10,000, and state jail time is served without parole.4Office of the Attorney General of Texas. Penal Code Offenses by Punishment Range
Automatic Driver’s License Suspension
A conviction for making alcohol available to a minor triggers an automatic 180-day driver’s license suspension. This applies regardless of whether the offense involved a vehicle.5Texas Alcoholic Beverage Commission. Underage Drinking
Mandatory Conditions if the Event Involved Binge Drinking
If the court places you on community supervision and the offense occurred at a gathering that involved binge drinking or forced consumption, the judge must impose additional conditions. You must complete 20 to 40 hours of community service tied to alcohol education, attend an approved alcohol awareness program, and have your license suspended for 180 days.1State of Texas. Texas Alcoholic Beverage Code Section 106.06 – Purchase of Alcohol for a Minor; Furnishing Alcohol to a Minor These are not optional add-ons the judge can waive.
What the Prosecution Has to Prove
To convict, the state must show you bought alcohol for or gave alcohol to a person under 21. In practice, that evidence tends to come from surveillance footage, store receipts, undercover sting operations, or witness testimony. If the minor was at a party on your property, prosecutors may argue you knowingly permitted the alcohol to be served even without proving you personally handed anything over.
The parent-guardian exception is an affirmative defense, not something the prosecution has to disprove up front. If you’re relying on it, you’ll need to establish both the qualifying relationship and your visible presence while the minor possessed or consumed the alcohol.1State of Texas. Texas Alcoholic Beverage Code Section 106.06 – Purchase of Alcohol for a Minor; Furnishing Alcohol to a Minor
TABC Action Against License Holders
If you hold a TABC permit or license, the criminal charge is only half of your problem. Section 11.61 of the Alcoholic Beverage Code lets the TABC suspend a permit for up to 60 days or cancel it outright after a conviction for a code violation, a felony conviction, a sale to an intoxicated person, or operation of the business in a way that threatens public welfare.6State of Texas. Texas Alcoholic Beverage Code ALCO BEV 11.61
For a first offense of selling alcohol to a minor, the TABC’s published penalty chart calls for an 8 to 12 day suspension. Allowing a minor to possess or consume alcohol on your licensed premises is 3 to 5 days for a first offense. In place of or in addition to suspension, the commission can assess $300 per day of suspension as a monetary penalty.7Texas Alcoholic Beverage Commission. TABC Public Safety Penalty Chart Because this is a separate administrative proceeding, it can move forward even while the criminal case is pending, and how you resolve the criminal charge can drive what the TABC does with your license.
Civil Liability if Someone Was Hurt
Texas dram shop law creates a separate civil exposure that has nothing to do with your criminal sentence. When a minor under 18 is involved, any adult 21 or older who knowingly served the minor, or who allowed the minor to be served alcohol on their property, can be sued for damages caused by that minor’s intoxication. This liability applies to private hosts, not just bars and stores. The only people exempt are the minor’s parent, guardian, spouse, or court-appointed custodian.8State of Texas. Texas Alcoholic Beverage Code Section 2.02 – Causes of Action
If a teenager gets drunk at your gathering and then causes a wreck, you could be personally on the hook for the injured party’s medical bills, lost wages, and other damages, in addition to whatever the criminal court imposes.
Keeping the Charge Off Your Record
A Class A misdemeanor conviction shows up on background checks and can block employment, housing, and professional licensing for years. Texas offers two ways to limit that fallout, and which one applies depends on how your case ends.
Deferred Adjudication and Automatic Nondisclosure
If you can negotiate deferred adjudication instead of a straight guilty plea, you serve a probationary term without a conviction being entered. Complete it successfully and you become eligible for an order of nondisclosure, which seals the record from most public access.
For a first-time misdemeanor (other than the offenses the statute excludes), nondisclosure is automatic. The court must issue the order once 180 days have passed from the date you were placed on deferred adjudication, provided you’ve been discharged and dismissed and have no prior convictions or deferred adjudications beyond traffic fines.9State of Texas. Texas Government Code GOV’T 411.072 Nondisclosure is off the table if you’ve ever been convicted of or placed on deferred adjudication for family violence, a registerable sex offense, murder, trafficking, stalking, or certain other serious crimes. Sealed records still remain accessible to law enforcement and some government agencies.
Expunction
Expunction wipes the arrest record entirely, but you only qualify if the case did not end in a conviction: dismissal, acquittal, or pardon. A conviction cannot be expunged. If the charges were never formally filed, you have to wait at least one year from the date of arrest for a Class A or B misdemeanor before you can petition.10State of Texas. Texas Code of Criminal Procedure CRIM P Art. 55.01
When to Get a Lawyer Involved
A first-offense Class A misdemeanor is exactly the kind of case where good representation changes the outcome. Prosecutors often have room to reduce a Class A to a Class B or to recommend probation rather than jail for a first-time offender, and deferred adjudication is frequently on the table when a lawyer negotiates for it. Walking in unrepresented rarely produces those results, because prosecutors have little reason to extend favorable terms to defendants who aren’t asking for them through counsel.
If you hold a TABC license, hire someone who can handle both fronts. A plea that resolves the criminal case cleanly can still cost you your permit if the administrative side isn’t managed alongside it. And if anyone was seriously injured, the risk of the charge escalating to a state jail felony, along with a possible dram shop lawsuit, raises the stakes far beyond what a first-time misdemeanor usually carries.