State guide

Texas SB 650: ID scanning for convenience stores

By Apparent Logic, LLC · Updated October 5, 2026
Legal sources checked October 5, 2026 · How we review sources

Does a Texas convenience store need to scan IDs for alcohol sales? Alcoholic Beverage Code §109.61(a-1) generally requires both visual inspection and electronic access for covered retail sales for off-premises consumption. Check your permit and the exceptions before choosing a scanner or changing staff procedures.

Which stores and sales are covered?

TABC lists permit types P, Q, BQ, BF, BG and BE for sales to consumers for off-premises consumption, unless they operate a restaurant or hold a brewpub license on the premises. Read the full statutory exceptions for your business.

§109.61(a-1) excludes specified manufacturer, brewpub, mixed-beverage and restaurant premises; qualifying event sales at public entertainment facilities; specified deliveries; and manufacturer-sealed containers collected from an outdoor pickup area on the retailer’s premises. These exceptions do not remove the laws against underage sales.

For an ordinary bar’s on-premises sales, see the separate Texas bar guide. A store name or business category alone does not determine its permit obligations.

What happens if an ID will not scan or connectivity fails?

§109.61(a-1) permits manual entry into an electronic reader if the license or certificate cannot be electronically scanned. The card still needs visual inspection. We do not claim Check ID provides the statute’s manual-entry alternative for an unreadable card.

Subsection (a-2) limits TABC discipline for an electronic-access failure caused by disrupted or unavailable internet/data connectivity when the seller visually checked age. Subsection (d-1) separately provides criminal defenses for connectivity failure or a purchaser aged 40 or older. Those are defenses with their own scope, not a general exemption from the scanning rule for everyone over 40.

Does the 2027 date mean there is no current risk?

No. Subsection (a-4) delays TABC discipline under (a-1) for sales before September 1, 2027. Subsection (d) separately makes a violation of the section a Class A misdemeanor, subject to (d-1). TABC distinguishes these provisions.

Subsection (a-3) also describes limited protection from TABC discipline for an underage sale when its electronic-check conditions are met. We do not claim that Check ID’s result satisfies its requirement that a scan device identify an ID as valid. §106.03 has separate reasonable-reliance conditions, and its scan-related limitation matters when a reader identifies a document as invalid.

Can the business keep the scanned information?

§109.61(b) prohibits retaining information accessed under the section; (c) prohibits marketing it. The code also retains (b-1), which describes storing retained information and TABC rules. The text presents both provisions. Ask TABC and your lawyer how they apply to your setup rather than assuming that a log, one-way code or cloud service is exempt.

Where Check ID fits

On iPhone and iPad, Check ID reads supported US and Canadian license and ID-card barcodes and compares the encoded birth and expiry dates with your configured rules. A “Verified” barcode result means the information passed those checks; it does not prove that the card is genuine or belongs to the holder. A fake can encode plausible information.

Scan history does not store the scanned person’s name, birth date, address, document number or an ID photo. Records can include the outcome, age in whole years, issuing jurisdiction, document type and scan time. Teams adds venue, device and operator attribution when available. Teams keeps records on our servers for two years by default; Free and Pro history covers seven days on the device or in your iCloud.

Repeat-entry codes, guest lists and product analytics have separate handling. See Security and data for the details and How verification works for supported checks and limitations. Data minimization does not establish that the app’s storage or sharing fits a particular law.

We do not claim Check ID is a transaction scan device under §109.61, that using it satisfies (a-1), or that its storage fits subsection (b). Verify those questions before deploying it for a statutory requirement.

Related guides

• Texas bars and on-premises ID checks
• Alcohol, tobacco and vape checks at one register
• Shared devices and staff shifts with Teams

Sources and review scope

• Texas Alcoholic Beverage Code §109.61.
• SB 650 (2025), enrolled text; effective September 1, 2025.
• Texas Alcoholic Beverage Code §106.03.
• TABC, Age Verification.

Frequently asked questions