74R4396 DLF-D
          By Gutierrez                                           H.B. No. 669
          Substitute the following for H.B. No. 669:
          By Rodriguez                                       C.S.H.B. No. 669
                                 A BILL TO BE ENTITLED
    1-1                                AN ACT
    1-2  relating to the quarantine of rabid animals.
    1-3        BE IT ENACTED BY THE LEGISLATURE OF THE STATE OF TEXAS:
    1-4        SECTION 1.  Section 826.042, Health and Safety Code, is
    1-5  amended to read as follows:
    1-6        Sec. 826.042.  QUARANTINE OF ANIMALS.  (a)  The board shall
    1-7  adopt rules governing the testing of quarantined animals and the
    1-8  procedure for and method of quarantine.
    1-9        (b)  The local health authority shall quarantine or test in
   1-10  accordance with board rules any animal that the local health
   1-11  authority has probable cause to believe may be rabid or may have
   1-12  exposed a person to rabies.
   1-13        (c)  An owner shall submit for quarantine an animal that:
   1-14              (1)  is reported to be rabid or to have exposed an
   1-15  individual to rabies; or
   1-16              (2)  the owner knows or suspects is rabid or has <to
   1-17  have> exposed an individual to rabies.
   1-18        (d)  A veterinarian shall submit for quarantine an animal
   1-19  that:
   1-20              (1)  is in the possession of the veterinarian; and
   1-21              (2)  the veterinarian knows or suspects is rabid or has
   1-22  exposed an individual to rabies.
   1-23        (e)  The owner or veterinarian shall submit the animal to the
   1-24  local health authority of the county or municipality in which the
    2-1  exposure occurs.
    2-2        SECTION 2.  The importance of this legislation and the
    2-3  crowded condition of the calendars in both houses create an
    2-4  emergency and an imperative public necessity that the
    2-5  constitutional rule requiring bills to be read on three several
    2-6  days in each house be suspended, and this rule is hereby suspended,
    2-7  and that this Act take effect and be in force from and after its
    2-8  passage, and it is so enacted.