TEMPORARY RELOCATION OF DISTRIBUTOR OR WHOLESALER DURING EMERGENCY.

(a) In this section, "period of emergency" means a time during which weather, fire, earthquake, or other natural disaster, act of God, or catastrophe affects a distributor's or wholesaler's premises or an area of this state in a way that disrupts the distributor's or wholesaler's normal business operations to the extent that the business cannot receive deliveries at or make deliveries from the premises or perform necessary business operations at the premises.

(b) During a period of emergency, a distributor or wholesaler may temporarily operate all or part of the distributor's or wholesaler's business from an alternate location, including storing alcoholic beverages, maintaining required records, receiving alcoholic beverages from suppliers, dispatching orders intended for sale to authorized purchasers, and performing any other function the distributor or wholesaler is authorized by this code to perform at the licensed or permitted premises. The alternate location is considered the distributor's or wholesaler's licensed or permitted premises, as applicable, for the purposes of this code.

(c) A holder of one of the following permits or licenses may make deliveries to and pick up deliveries from the alternate location in the same manner as this code and commission rules provide for the distributor's or wholesaler's licensed or permitted premises:

(1) a distiller's and rectifier's permit;

(2) a winery permit;

(3) a wholesaler's permit;

(4) a general class B wholesaler's permit;

(5) a carrier permit;

(6) a brewer's license; or

(7) a general distributor's license.

(d) A distributor or wholesaler who temporarily operates all or part of the distributor's or wholesaler's business from an alternate location as provided by Subsection (b) shall immediately notify the administrator, in writing, of the alternate location. The notice must include a statement affirming that the alternate location satisfies the requirements of Subsection (e).

(e) The alternate location must be in an area where the sale of the applicable alcoholic beverages has been approved by a local option election or where the distributor or wholesaler had been operating under Section 251.77 or 251.78. If malt beverages are handled at the alternate location, the alternate location must be in the area assigned to the distributor under Subchapters C and D, Chapter 102.

(f) If the delivery vehicles operated by the affected distributor or wholesaler are wholly or partially disabled, the administrator may grant the distributor or wholesaler the authority to contract with another distributor or wholesaler for the temporary sharing of delivery vehicles. Authority granted under this subsection is in addition to authority granted under other provisions of this code to share delivery vehicles and warehouses.

(g) A distributor's or wholesaler's authority to operate from an alternate location under this section expires on the first anniversary of the date the distributor or wholesaler commences business operations at an alternate location. The administrator may grant the distributor or wholesaler a one-year extension of the authority to operate from an alternate location under this section, after which the distributor or wholesaler must apply for a license or permit for the alternate location in the usual manner.