No drunks = no money?

It looks like the Texas' stepped-up enforcement of the no-drunks-in-bars rule is starting to hit the state where it really hurts: in the pocketbook.

Phillip Jones, president and CEO of the Dallas Convention and Visitors Bureau, said he's gotten calls from hundreds of people concerned about the crackdown. Two groups — one with almost 25,000 people and another of several thousand — have said they're not considering Dallas as a convention site because of the stepped-up bar surveillance, he said.

Recent public outcry over the crackdown came after busts at 30 Dallas bars this month. And even though officials are trying to assure everyone that the state really doesn't want to go after, say, people who just bump into a wall en route from the hotel bar to their hotel room — the program was designed to reduce drunk driving — the enforcement may make some people afraid to have a good time in Texas.

State Rep. Kino Flores, chairman of the House Licensing and Administrative Procedures Committee, has set a hearing on the Texas Alcoholic Beverage Commission crackdown, and he's asked TABC head Alan Steen to consider a moratorium on the program until the hearing. With convention dollars on the line, Houstonist has a hunch we'll see some changes.