Enrolled Bill Summary

            Senate Bill 970 adds an Agriculture Code chapter to require anyone who grows or harvests for sale a desert plant from a set of listed genera to register with the Texas Department of Agriculture (TDA). Covered by the bill are yucca, agave, ferocactus, echinocactus, echinocereus, ariocarpus, fouquieria, mammillaria, and opuntia. Registration information must ensure that the plants will be harvested from the registrant's own property or from the property of a landowner who has granted the seller authority to harvest them. A desert plant may not be sold, offered for sale, or transported out of state unless a registrant has met specified documentation requirements certifying the sale or transport. The bill gives the TDA the power to issue and enforce an order stopping a sale or shipment of desert plants that is unaccompanied by the requisite documentation. Also, it authorizes the TDA to seize plants or shipments that are intended for transfer out of Texas and are not accompanied by such documentation. The bill creates an offense and related criminal penalties, including possible imprisonment, for the sale, sale offer, or advertisement of a desert plant or shipment without documentation. It also provides for administrative penalties.

Reason Given for Veto:  "Senate Bill No. 970 would establish new fees and regulations for those who produce and harvest various cactus plants. As a result, the practice of xeriscaping would face artificial barriers in the marketplace at a time when government should be encouraging efforts to conserve water. Increasing administrative costs on the nursery industry is not an appropriate way to enforce current statutes."