By:  Truan                                             S.B. No. 801
       73R3766 CAS-D
                                 A BILL TO BE ENTITLED
    1-1                                AN ACT
    1-2  relating to maintaining records of certain chemicals used for
    1-3  agricultural purposes; providing penalties.
    1-4        BE IT ENACTED BY THE LEGISLATURE OF THE STATE OF TEXAS:
    1-5        SECTION 1.  Sections 125.005(d), (e), (f), and (g),
    1-6  Agriculture Code, are amended to read as follows:
    1-7        (d)  The employer shall keep the forms and attachments
    1-8  accessible and available for copying and shall store them in a
    1-9  location suitable to preserve their physical integrity until the
   1-10  employer files them with the department as provided by Subsection
   1-11  (e) of this section.
   1-12        (e)  An <The employer shall keep the forms and attachments
   1-13  under this chapter for 30 years.  However, the department shall
   1-14  provide by rule that an> employer shall <may> file with the
   1-15  department annually, as provided by department rule, the forms and
   1-16  attachments, including an estimate of the total amount of each
   1-17  chemical listed on the form that was used.   The department shall
   1-18  categorize and cross-reference the data on the forms in a manner to
   1-19  preserve the data for future medical use.  The department shall
   1-20  retain the data for at least 30 years after the date the department
   1-21  receives the forms and attachments from an <An> employer <who files
   1-22  the forms and attachments with the department under rules adopted
   1-23  under this section is not required to preserve the forms>.
   1-24        (f)  If <After January 1, 1989, if> the department determines
    2-1  after a hearing that an employer has repeatedly failed to maintain
    2-2  the forms and attachments as required by Subsection (d) of this
    2-3  section or to file the forms and attachments with the department as
    2-4  provided by Subsection (e) of this section, <the department may
    2-5  require the employer to file the documents with the department.  In
    2-6  addition,> the person may be subject to any applicable penalties
    2-7  provided by this chapter.
    2-8        (g)  <If agricultural activities for which forms and
    2-9  attachments are maintained cease at a workplace, the forms and
   2-10  attachments shall be filed with the department, and the department
   2-11  shall retain the information for 30 years.>  If an employer covered
   2-12  by this chapter is succeeded or replaced in that function by
   2-13  another person, the person who succeeds or replaces the employer
   2-14  shall file <retain> the forms as provided by Subsection (e) of this
   2-15  section but is not liable for violations committed by the former
   2-16  employer under this chapter or rules adopted under this chapter<,
   2-17  including violations relating to the retention and preservation of
   2-18  forms and attachments>.
   2-19        SECTION 2.  (a)  The change in law made by this Act applies
   2-20  only to an offense committed on or after the effective date of this
   2-21  Act.  For purposes of this section, an offense is committed before
   2-22  the effective date of this Act if any element of the offense occurs
   2-23  before the effective date.
   2-24        (b)  An offense committed before the effective date of this
   2-25  Act is covered by the law in effect when the offense was committed,
   2-26  and the former law is continued in effect for this purpose.
   2-27        SECTION 3.  This Act takes effect September 1, 1993.
    3-1        SECTION 4.  The importance of this legislation and the
    3-2  crowded condition of the calendars in both houses create an
    3-3  emergency and an imperative public necessity that the
    3-4  constitutional rule requiring bills to be read on three several
    3-5  days in each house be suspended, and this rule is hereby suspended.