By:  Nelson                                            S.B. No. 955
                                 A BILL TO BE ENTITLED
                                        AN ACT
    1-1  relating to exemptions from regulation as a food manufacturer or
    1-2  wholesaler.
    1-3        BE IT ENACTED BY THE LEGISLATURE OF THE STATE OF TEXAS:
    1-4        SECTION 1.  Subdivision (3), Section 431.221, Health and
    1-5  Safety Code, is amended to read as follows:
    1-6              (3)  "Food wholesaler" means a person who distributes
    1-7  food for resale, either through a retail outlet owned by that
    1-8  person or through sales to another person.  The term "food
    1-9  wholesaler" shall not include a commissary which distributes food
   1-10  primarily intended for immediate consumption on the premises of a
   1-11  retail outlet under common ownership or establishments engaged
   1-12  solely in the distribution of alcoholic or nonalcoholic beverages
   1-13  in sealed containers.
   1-14        SECTION 2.  Section 431.2211, Health and Safety Code, is
   1-15  amended to read as follows:
   1-16        Sec. 431.2211.  APPLICATION OF SUBCHAPTER. This subchapter
   1-17  does not apply to:
   1-18              (1)  a person, firm, or corporation that harvests,
   1-19  packages, washes, or ships raw fruits or vegetables; or
   1-20              (2)  an individual who sells prepackaged nonperishable
   1-21  foods, including dietary supplements, from a private home.
   1-22        SECTION 3.  The importance of this legislation and the
   1-23  crowded condition of the calendars in both houses create an
   1-24  emergency and an imperative public necessity that the
    2-1  constitutional rule requiring bills to be read on three several
    2-2  days in each house be suspended, and this rule is hereby suspended,
    2-3  and that this Act take effect and be in force from and after its
    2-4  passage, and it is so enacted.