By Johnson                                            H.B. No. 2874
       74R3865 DAK-F
                                 A BILL TO BE ENTITLED
    1-1                                AN ACT
    1-2  relating to exempting from the sales and use tax machinery and
    1-3  equipment used to prepare, plant, cultivate, or harvest timber.
    1-4        BE IT ENACTED BY THE LEGISLATURE OF THE STATE OF TEXAS:
    1-5        SECTION 1.  Section 151.316(a), Tax Code, is amended to read
    1-6  as follows:
    1-7        (a)  The following items are exempted from the taxes imposed
    1-8  by this chapter:
    1-9              (1)  horses, mules, and work animals;
   1-10              (2)  animal life the products of which ordinarily
   1-11  constitute food for human consumption;
   1-12              (3)  feed for farm and ranch animals;
   1-13              (4)  feed for animals that are held for sale in the
   1-14  regular course of business;
   1-15              (5)  seeds and annual plants the products of which:
   1-16                    (A)  ordinarily constitute food for human
   1-17  consumption;
   1-18                    (B)  are to be sold in the regular course of
   1-19  business; or
   1-20                    (C)  are used to produce feed for animals
   1-21  exempted by this section;
   1-22              (6)  fertilizers, fungicides, insecticides, herbicides,
   1-23  defoliants, and desiccants exclusively used or employed on a farm
   1-24  or ranch in the production of:
    2-1                    (A)  food for human consumption;
    2-2                    (B)  feed for animal life; or
    2-3                    (C)  other agricultural products to be sold in
    2-4  the regular course of business;
    2-5              (7)  machinery and equipment exclusively used or
    2-6  employed on a farm or ranch in the building or maintaining of roads
    2-7  or water facilities or in the production of:
    2-8                    (A)  food for human consumption;
    2-9                    (B)  grass;
   2-10                    (C)  feed for animal life; or
   2-11                    (D)  other agricultural products to be sold in
   2-12  the regular course of business;
   2-13              (8)  machinery and equipment exclusively used in the
   2-14  processing, packing, or marketing of agricultural products by the
   2-15  original producer at a location operated by the original producer
   2-16  exclusively for processing, packing, or marketing the producer's
   2-17  own products; <and>
   2-18              (9)  ice exclusively used by commercial fishing boats
   2-19  in the storing of aquatic species including but not limited to
   2-20  shrimp, other crustaceans, finfish, mollusks, and other similar
   2-21  creatures; and
   2-22              (10)  the first $50,000 of the cost of each unit of
   2-23  machinery or equipment exclusively used in site preparation,
   2-24  planting, cultivating, or harvesting timber.
   2-25        SECTION 2.  The change in law made by this Act does not
   2-26  affect taxes imposed before the effective date of this Act, and the
   2-27  law in effect before the effective date of this Act is continued in
    3-1  effect for purposes of the liability for and collection of those
    3-2  taxes.
    3-3        SECTION 3.  This Act takes effect October 1, 1995.
    3-4        SECTION 4.  The importance of this legislation and the
    3-5  crowded condition of the calendars in both houses create an
    3-6  emergency and an imperative public necessity that the
    3-7  constitutional rule requiring bills to be read on three several
    3-8  days in each house be suspended, and this rule is hereby suspended.