Texas Supreme Court will hear strip-club fee case

February 12, 2010

Anonymous The Associated Press The San Marcos Record Fri Feb 12, 2010, 04:28 PM CST

Dallas — The legal dance over Texas' so-called "pole tax," a $5 entrance fee at strip clubs, is going before the state Supreme Court.

The Supreme Court agreed Friday to consider whether the fee is unconstitutional. Lower courts have ruled it an improper regulation of free expression.

Texas lawmakers approved the fee in 2007 and the money was intended to fund programs helping victims of sexual assault. Although many clubs have ignored the fee, more than $12 million has been collected. That money has been held in an account pending the outcome of the legal fight.

The Texas Entertainment Association, which represents strip clubs across the state, sued in 2007 to block the fee. A state district judge first struck it down in 2008. In 2009, the Austin-based 3rd Court of Appeals said it improperly singled out a form of expression, nude dancing, for regulation.

Lawyers for Texas Attorney General Greg Abbott and state Comptroller Susan Combs appealed to the state Supreme Court.

The state has argued the fee is legal because it applies only to clubs that sell alcohol while offering live nude entertainment. The strip clubs argue it is unconstitutional because it applies only to clubs that have nude dancing.

The Texas Association Against Sexual Assault, which supports the fee, contends there's a proven link between live, nude entertainment, consumption of alcohol and sexual violence. The group wants the money to help survivors of sexual assault.

The Houston Chronicle reported in May 2009 that about half the strip clubs in Texas were not paying the fee. The comptroller's office has said if the state prevails in court, officials will try to collect all unpaid fees and clubs that haven't paid could also be fined.

The Supreme Court scheduled oral arguments in the case for March 25 at the St. Mary's University law school in San Antonio.

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