By: Black H.B. No. 608
73R1416 MJW-F
A BILL TO BE ENTITLED
1-1 AN ACT
1-2 relating to the ownership, recovery, theft, and taxation of exotic
1-3 livestock and exotic fowl, and to civil liability for trapping or
1-4 killing an estray.
1-5 BE IT ENACTED BY THE LEGISLATURE OF THE STATE OF TEXAS:
1-6 SECTION 1. Section 142.001, Agriculture Code, is amended by
1-7 amending Subdivision (1) and adding Subdivisions (4) and (5) to
1-8 read as follows:
1-9 (1) "Estray" means stray livestock, stray exotic
1-10 livestock, or stray exotic fowl.
1-11 (4) "Exotic livestock" means grass-eating or
1-12 plant-eating, single-hooved or cloven-hooved mammals that are not
1-13 indigenous to this state and are known as ungulates, including
1-14 animals from the swine, horse, tapir, rhinoceros, elephant, deer,
1-15 and antelope families but not including a mammal defined by Section
1-16 63.001, Parks and Wildlife Code, as a game animal, or by Section
1-17 71.001, Parks and Wildlife Code, as a fur-bearing animal, or any
1-18 other indigenous mammal regulated by the Parks and Wildlife
1-19 Department as an endangered or threatened species. The term does
1-20 not include a nonindigenous mammal located on publicly owned land.
1-21 (5) "Exotic fowl" means any avian species that is not
1-22 indigenous to this state. The term includes ostriches but does not
1-23 include a bird defined by Section 64.001, Parks and Wildlife Code,
1-24 as a game bird or any other indigenous bird regulated by the Parks
2-1 and Wildlife Department as an endangered or threatened species.
2-2 The term does not include nonindigenous birds located on publicly
2-3 owned land.
2-4 SECTION 2. Chapter 142, Agriculture Code, is amended by
2-5 adding Section 142.0021 to read as follows:
2-6 Sec. 142.0021. OWNERSHIP OF EXOTIC WILDLIFE AND FOWL. (a)
2-7 A person may claim to be the owner of exotic livestock or exotic
2-8 fowl under this chapter only if:
2-9 (1) the animal is tagged, branded, banded, or marked
2-10 in another manner that identifies the animal as being the property
2-11 of the claimant; or
2-12 (2) the person acquired the animal by purchase, gift,
2-13 devise, inheritance, or other lawful transfer or the animal was
2-14 born or hatched on property owned or leased by the claimant or on
2-15 other property under an agreement with the claimant in which the
2-16 claimant may assert ownership of the animal and:
2-17 (A) the animal, when normally in the possession
2-18 of the owner, is impounded within a fence or by another restraining
2-19 device that is generally appropriate to prevent the escape of the
2-20 type of animal claimed; or
2-21 (B) the animal claimed is of such rarity or has
2-22 such genetic marking or other attributes as to identify the animal
2-23 as having come from the claimant's stock having the same rarity or
2-24 attributes.
2-25 (b) Under Subsection (a)(2) of this section, a lawful
2-26 transfer does not include the live taking of an animal in this
2-27 state on property that is owned or leased by a person other than
3-1 the claimant.
3-2 SECTION 3. Chapter 142, Agriculture Code, is amended by
3-3 adding Section 142.0031 to read as follows:
3-4 Sec. 142.0031. LIABILITY FOR ESTRAYS; PERSON OTHER THAN
3-5 OWNER. If an animal that is an estray roams about the property of
3-6 a person other than the animal's owner and that person or the
3-7 person's agent or employee traps or kills the animal, the person
3-8 and the person's agent or employee are not liable for damages if
3-9 the person, agent, or employee who trapped or killed the animal had
3-10 no reason to believe that the animal was owned.
3-11 SECTION 4. Sections 161.001(a)(3) and (4), Agriculture Code,
3-12 are amended to read as follows:
3-13 (3) "Exotic livestock" has the meaning assigned by
3-14 Section 142.001 of this code <means grass-eating or plant-eating,
3-15 single-hooved or cloven-hooved mammals that are not indigenous to
3-16 this state and are known as ungulates, including animals from the
3-17 swine, horse, tapir, rhinoceros, elephant, deer, and antelope
3-18 families>.
3-19 (4) "Exotic fowl" has the meaning assigned by Section
3-20 142.001 of this code <means any avian species that is not
3-21 indigenous to this state. The term includes ostriches>.
3-22 SECTION 5. Section 31.03(e), Penal Code, is amended to read
3-23 as follows:
3-24 (e) Except as provided by Subsection (f) of this section, an
3-25 offense under this section is:
3-26 (1) a Class C misdemeanor if the value of the property
3-27 stolen is less than $20;
4-1 (2) a Class B misdemeanor if:
4-2 (A) the value of the property stolen is $20 or
4-3 more but less than $200; or
4-4 (B) the value of the property stolen is less
4-5 than $20 and the defendant has previously been convicted of any
4-6 grade of theft;
4-7 (3) a Class A misdemeanor if:
4-8 (A) the value of the property stolen is $200 or
4-9 more but less than $750; or
4-10 (B) the property stolen is one firearm, as
4-11 defined by Section 46.01 of this code, and is valued at less than
4-12 $400;
4-13 (4) a felony of the third degree if:
4-14 (A) the value of the property stolen is $750 or
4-15 more but less than $20,000, or the property is one or more head of
4-16 cattle, horses, sheep, swine, <or> goats, or exotic livestock or
4-17 exotic fowl as defined by Section 142.001, Agriculture Code, or any
4-18 part of these animals <thereof> under the value of $20,000;
4-19 (B) regardless of value, the property is stolen
4-20 from the person of another or from a human corpse or grave;
4-21 (C) the property stolen is one firearm, as
4-22 defined by Section 46.01 of this code, and is valued at more than
4-23 $400;
4-24 (D) the property stolen is two or more firearms,
4-25 as defined by Section 46.01 of this code; or
4-26 (E) the value of the property stolen is less
4-27 than $750 and the defendant has been previously convicted two or
5-1 more times of any grade of theft;
5-2 (5) a felony of the second degree if:
5-3 (A) the value of the property stolen is less
5-4 than $100,000 and the property is:
5-5 (i) combustible hydrocarbon natural or
5-6 synthetic natural gas, or crude petroleum oil;
5-7 (ii) equipment designed for use in
5-8 exploration for or production of natural gas or crude petroleum
5-9 oil; or
5-10 (iii) equipment designed for use in
5-11 remedial or diagnostic operations on gas or crude petroleum oil
5-12 wells;
5-13 (B) the value of the property stolen is $20,000
5-14 or more but less than $100,000; or
5-15 (C) the value of the property is less than
5-16 $100,000 and the property was unlawfully appropriated or attempted
5-17 to be unlawfully appropriated by threat to commit a felony offense
5-18 against the person or property of the person threatened or another
5-19 or to withhold information about the location or purported location
5-20 of a bomb, poison, or other harmful object that threatens to harm
5-21 the person or property of the person threatened or another person;
5-22 or
5-23 (6) a felony of the first degree if:
5-24 (A) the value of the property stolen is $100,000
5-25 or more; or
5-26 (B) the value of the property is $100,000 or
5-27 more and the property was unlawfully appropriated or attempted to
6-1 be unlawfully appropriated in the manner described by Subdivision
6-2 (5)(C) of this subsection.
6-3 SECTION 6. Section 31.03, Penal Code, is amended by adding
6-4 Subsection (h) to read as follows:
6-5 (h) For the purposes of Subsection (a) of this section, a
6-6 person is the owner of exotic livestock or exotic fowl as defined
6-7 by Section 142.001, Agriculture Code, only if the person qualifies
6-8 to claim the animal under Section 142.0021, Agriculture Code, if
6-9 the animal is an estray.
6-10 SECTION 7. Section 23.51(6), Tax Code, is amended to read as
6-11 follows:
6-12 (6) "Exotic animal" means a species of game not
6-13 indigenous to this state, including axis deer, nilga antelope, red
6-14 sheep, <or> other cloven-hoofed ruminant mammals, or exotic fowl as
6-15 defined by Section 142.001, Agriculture Code.
6-16 SECTION 8. (a) The change in law made by Sections 5 and 6
6-17 of this Act applies only to an offense committed on or after the
6-18 effective date of this Act. For purposes of this section, an
6-19 offense is committed before the effective date of this Act if any
6-20 element of the offense occurs before the effective date.
6-21 (b) An offense committed before the effective date of this
6-22 Act is covered by the law in effect when the offense was committed,
6-23 and the former law is continued in effect for this purpose.
6-24 SECTION 9. This Act takes effect September 1, 1993.
6-25 SECTION 10. The importance of this legislation and the
6-26 crowded condition of the calendars in both houses create an
6-27 emergency and an imperative public necessity that the
7-1 constitutional rule requiring bills to be read on three several
7-2 days in each house be suspended, and this rule is hereby suspended.