BILL ANALYSIS S.B. 700 By: Sims (Swinford) 4-4-95 Committee Report (Unamended) BACKGROUND Under current law the Texas Department of Agriculture registers more than 11,000 pesticide products each year. However, approximately 80% of these products are re-registered with no changes to the label from the previous year. Less than 5% of these 11,000 registrations are for limited-use products. This results in a shuffling of paperwork and thousands of documents being mailed each year relating to labels that don't change. Most of the labels are also received and reviewed during a very narrow time frame during the year causing work backlogs. Any change in a pesticide label would require review, so this process would not bypass new labels. PURPOSE SB 700 allows the registration of pesticides biennially with staggered times for renewal, instead of annually on December 31. RULEMAKING AUTHORITY It is the committee's opinion that this bill expressly grants rulemaking authority to the Texas Department of Agriculture in SECTION 1 (a) to adopt a system under which registrations expire on various dates during the year. SECTION BY SECTION ANALYSIS SECTION 1: Amends Sections 76.043 (a) and (c), Agricultural Code, stipulating that the expiration date of a pesticide is on the second anniversary of the date of its approval or renewal except that the Department of Agriculture shall by rule adopt a system of staggered expiration dates for registrations. Deletes December 31, annually as the expiration date. SECTION 2: Section 76.044 (a), Agricultural Code, is amended to change the pesticide registration fee from $100 to $200. SECTION 3: A registration in effect on the effective date of this Act remains so until the registration expires or is revoked by the department. SECTION 4: Emergency clause. SUMMARY OF COMMITTEE ACTION SB 700 was considered by the House Committee on Environmental Regulation in a public hearing on April 4, 1995. Rep. Swinford testified in favor of the bill. SB 700 was reported favorably without amendment with the recommendation that it do pass and be printed, by a record vote of six (6) ayes, no (0) nays, no (0) pnv, and three (3) absent.