Will Rogers once said: "I don't make jokes. I watch the government and report the facts." That's how we feel about the new Texas law requiring craft beer breweries that produce more than 225,000 barrels a year to pay a distributor to deliver their beer.

That includes making a delivery to their own facility.

The effort involved in getting your favorite beer from the producer to your mug is one that hails from the Prohibition era. Pre-Prohibition, breweries could engage in manipulative practices, making their products exclusive to some retailers and preventing competition from other breweries.

Post-Prohibition, the 21st Amendment gave states the authority to write laws governing the sale of alcoholic beverages. States devised a three-tier system — producer, distributor (or wholesaler) and retailer — to keep producers from selling directly to retailers or acting as both supplier and retailer at the same time.

That was a good idea in 1933, but this is 2017.

Oskar Blues, a Colorado-based brewery, spent millions to open a facility in Austin and will be subject to the absurdities of House Bill 3287. It will have to surrender some of the revenue it collects from its tap room to pay distributors to "deliver" beer sitting in refrigerators just yards away.

How does such a ridiculous regulation line up with the view that Texas is a free-market state, not beholden to such folly?

The answer lies in the power of the second tier — the beer distributor.

There are plenty of producers of beer (as well as wine and spirits) who'd prefer not to use distributors. Unfortunately, beer and liquor distribution is a billion-dollar industry with a strong lobby — and deep pockets.

It doesn't come as much surprise to know the three of the top four recipients of beer distribution campaign cash are our governor, lieutenant governor and House speaker. From 2013 to 2016, according to Texans for Public Justice, Gov. Greg Abbott received $1.4 million in donations from distributors; Lt. Gov. Dan Patrick, $688,000; and House Speaker Joe Straus, $508,000.

For the distributors, it is all about maintaining control. It's not as if they'd go out of business if Texas abolished the three-tier system. Some breweries have no interest in investing in a sales force and marketing team to sell their products; that's where distributors can help. Also, distributors still have access to the largest breweries such as Anheuser-Busch and Coors.

HB 3287 is the antithesis of free-market governance. Texas can and should do better.

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