By:  Armbrister                                        S.B. No. 609
                                 A BILL TO BE ENTITLED
                                        AN ACT
    1-1  relating to the authority of cities, towns and other political
    1-2  subdivisions of the state to regulate pesticides and pesticide use.
    1-3        BE IT ENACTED BY THE LEGISLATURE OF THE STATE OF TEXAS:
    1-4        SECTION 1.  Sec. 76.101, Agriculture Code, is amended by
    1-5  adding a Subsection (d) to read as follows:
    1-6        (d)(1)  Except as otherwise provided by this subsection, no
    1-7  city, town, county, or other political subdivision of this state
    1-8  shall adopt any ordinance, rule or regulation regarding pesticide
    1-9  sale or use.
   1-10              (2)  Nothing in this subsection shall be construed to
   1-11  limit the authority of a city, town or county to zone for the sale
   1-12  or storage of such products, to provide or designate sites for
   1-13  disposal of such products or to regulate discharge to sanitary
   1-14  sewer systems.
   1-15              (3)  This subsection shall not prevent a city, town,
   1-16  county or any political subdivision from complying with any federal
   1-17  or state law or regulation.  A city, town, county or other
   1-18  political subdivision may take any action otherwise prohibited by
   1-19  this subsection in order to comply with any federal requirements or
   1-20  to avoid any federal or state penalties or fines.
   1-21        SECTION 2.  Article 135b-6, the Texas Structural Pest Control
   1-22  Act, is amended by adding a new Sec. 11C to read as follows:
   1-23        Sec. 11C.  (a)  Except as otherwise provided by this section,
    2-1  no city, town, county, or other political subdivision of this state
    2-2  shall adopt any ordinance, rule or regulation regarding pesticide
    2-3  sale or use.
    2-4        (b)  Nothing in this section shall be construed to limit the
    2-5  authority of a city, town or county to zone for the sale or storage
    2-6  of such products, to provide or designate sites for disposal of
    2-7  such products or to regulate discharge to sanitary sewer systems.
    2-8        (c)  This section shall not prevent a city, town, county or
    2-9  any political subdivision from complying with any federal or state
   2-10  law or regulation.  A city, town, county or other political
   2-11  subdivision may take any action otherwise prohibited by this
   2-12  subsection in order to comply with any federal requirements or to
   2-13  avoid any federal or state penalties or fines.
   2-14        SECTION 3.  The importance of this legislation and the
   2-15  crowded condition of the calendars in both houses create an
   2-16  emergency and an imperative public necessity that the
   2-17  constitutional rule requiring bills to be read on three several
   2-18  days in each house be suspended, and this rule is hereby suspended,
   2-19  and that this Act take effect and be in force from and after its
   2-20  passage, and it is so enacted.