1-1 By: Lucio S.B. No. 811 1-2 (In the Senate - Filed February 28, 1995; March 1, 1995, read 1-3 first time and referred to Committee on Natural Resources; 1-4 March 15, 1995, reported favorably by the following vote: Yeas 7, 1-5 Nays 1; March 15, 1995, sent to printer.) 1-6 A BILL TO BE ENTITLED 1-7 AN ACT 1-8 relating to liability for false disparagement of perishable food 1-9 products. 1-10 BE IT ENACTED BY THE LEGISLATURE OF THE STATE OF TEXAS: 1-11 SECTION 1. Title 4, Civil Practice and Remedies Code, is 1-12 amended by adding Chapter 96 to read as follows: 1-13 CHAPTER 96. FALSE DISPARAGEMENT OF PERISHABLE FOOD PRODUCTS 1-14 Sec. 96.001. DEFINITION. In this chapter, "perishable food 1-15 product" means a food product of agriculture or aquaculture that is 1-16 sold or distributed in a form that will perish or decay beyond 1-17 marketability within a limited period of time. 1-18 Sec. 96.002. LIABILITY. (a) A person is liable as provided 1-19 by Subsection (b) if: 1-20 (1) the person disseminates in any manner information 1-21 relating to a perishable food product to the public; 1-22 (2) the person knows the information is false; and 1-23 (3) the information states or implies that the 1-24 perishable food product is not safe for consumption by the public. 1-25 (b) A person who is liable under Subsection (a) is liable to 1-26 the producer of the perishable food product for damages and any 1-27 other appropriate relief arising from the person's dissemination of 1-28 the information. 1-29 Sec. 96.003. PROOF. (a) The trier of fact shall presume 1-30 that a person who disseminates the information described by Section 1-31 96.002(a)(3) knows the information is false if it is shown that, at 1-32 the time the information was disseminated, the information was not 1-33 based on reasonable and reliable scientific inquiry, facts, or 1-34 data. 1-35 (b) The presumption established by this section may be 1-36 rebutted by appropriate evidence. 1-37 SECTION 2. This Act takes effect September 1, 1995, and 1-38 applies only to information disseminated on or after that date. 1-39 SECTION 3. The importance of this legislation and the 1-40 crowded condition of the calendars in both houses create an 1-41 emergency and an imperative public necessity that the 1-42 constitutional rule requiring bills to be read on three several 1-43 days in each house be suspended, and this rule is hereby suspended. 1-44 * * * * *