Judge strikes down strip club fee By Corrie MacLaggan | Friday, March 28, 2008, 02:32 PM A state district judge today ruled that Texas may not collect a $5-per-customer strip club fee that went into effect in January.
Judge Scott Jenkins wrote in an opinion that the fee, "while furthering laudable goals, violates the First Amendment to the United States Constitution and is therefore invalid."
By CAROLYN FEIBEL Copyright 2008 Houston Chronicle
State Rep. Ellen Cohen pledged Monday to revive a $5-per-patron strip club fee, three days after a Travis County district judge struck down the law as unconstitutional.
"We are discouraged by Judge Jenkins' verdict, but we are not disheartened," said Cohen, the law's primary sponsor when it was signed into law last June. Later Monday, she traveled to Austin to meet with the Texas Attorney General's Office, which plans to appeal the ruling.