The Texas Alcoholic Beverage Commission meets Sept. 1 for the first time since June, and the only item of substance on the agenda is a closed-door deliberation on the employment of the agency’s executive director. The notice says the five commissioners will discuss the matter and take no action on it.
Everything else on the agenda is procedural — call to order, return to open session, announcement of the next meeting date, adjournment. The meeting starts at 9 a.m. by videoconference, an hour and a half earlier than the commission’s usual start, with the presiding officer in the room at agency headquarters on Mesa Drive in Austin. Thomas W. Graham has run the agency since July 2022, after 17 years on its staff.
State law lets a public body close a meeting to discuss the appointment, employment, compensation, evaluation, reassignment, duties, discipline or dismissal of an officer or employee — a list broad enough to cover an annual review. The commission carries such an item on nearly every agenda, sometimes naming the executive director and sometimes referring only to a commission employee. Notices of that kind give no reason, and none is required. The agency has announced no departure and no appointment.
The commission has met in this shape before. On June 10, 2022, it convened with a single closed personnel item and nothing else — the appointment of an executive director — and Graham was sworn in the following month. The five commissioners normally meet every two or three months at 10:30 a.m., and last met June 2. They are unpaid gubernatorial appointees serving staggered six-year terms, and the agency announced the reappointment of two of them, Deborah Gray Marino and Hasan K. Mack, on Aug. 19.
The commission licenses the businesses that make, ship and sell alcohol in Texas. Since 2025 it has also been writing the state’s rules for hemp-derived THC products, after the governor vetoed a ban that June and directed the agency by executive order that September to regulate the products instead. That work has appeared on every 2026 agenda. Watch for the date the commissioners set for their next regular meeting.
Meeting at a glance
- When
- 9 a.m. CT Tuesday, September 1, 2026. The notice was filed August 24 at 3:55 p.m. An hour and a half earlier than the commission’s usual start time.
- Where
- Videoconference under Government Code §551.127. The presiding officer is to be physically present at 5806 Mesa Drive, Austin, which is open to the public during the open portions.
- Governing body & chair
- Texas Alcoholic Beverage Commission — five unpaid members appointed by the governor to staggered six-year terms. Robert A. Eckels is chairman and presiding officer.
- Format
- Special called meeting. The only substantive item is a closed session on the executive director’s employment; the notice states no action will be taken on that item.
- Live video
- Streamed and archived on the agency’s Swagit channel
- Full agenda
- Secretary of State Open Meeting Viewer · agency meetings page
Commission members
- Robert A. Eckels — chairman; Spring; attorney and former Harris County judge.
- Deborah Gray Marino — San Antonio; senior vice president, SWBC.
- M. Scott Adkins — El Paso; fire-alarm and security company president.
- Hasan K. Mack — Austin; municipal bond attorney.
- Chad M. Craycraft — Dallas; general counsel, Graduation Alliance.
Roster from the agency’s leadership page, cross-checked against the governor’s appointment releases — Eckels as chairman, September 29, 2025, Adkins and Craycraft, January 24, 2025, and the Marino and Mack reappointments announced August 19, 2026. Home cities follow the governor’s releases where they differ from the agency page. Meeting contact: Luann Dickerson, Office of the Executive Director, (512) 206-3217.