By Uher H.B. No. 968 75R1783 DD-D A BILL TO BE ENTITLED 1-1 AN ACT 1-2 relating to the care and treatment of game fowl. 1-3 BE IT ENACTED BY THE LEGISLATURE OF THE STATE OF TEXAS: 1-4 SECTION 1. Section 42.09, Penal Code, is amended by adding 1-5 Subsections (g) and (h) to read as follows: 1-6 (g) It is a defense to prosecution under Subsection (a)(1) 1-7 that the actor's conduct constituted trimming a comb or wattle or 1-8 altering a spur of a game rooster and that the conduct was done in 1-9 accordance with the standards promulgated by the American Poultry 1-10 Association, as those standards existed on January 1, 1997. 1-11 (h) It is a defense to prosecution under Subsection (a)(1), 1-12 (a)(2), or (a)(4) that the animal is a game fowl, that the actor 1-13 owns, raises, or cares for the game fowl for the purpose of 1-14 showing, selling, or transporting the game fowl, and that the 1-15 treatment of the game fowl for which the actor is being prosecuted 1-16 was consistent with the standards promulgated by the American 1-17 Poultry Association, as those standards existed on January 1, 1997. 1-18 SECTION 2. Section 821.021, Health and Safety Code, is 1-19 amended to read as follows: 1-20 Sec. 821.021. DEFINITION. (a) In this subchapter, "cruelly 1-21 treated" includes tortured, seriously overworked, unreasonably 1-22 abandoned, unreasonably deprived of necessary food, care, or 1-23 shelter, cruelly confined, or caused to fight with another animal. 1-24 (b) For the purposes of this subchapter, an animal is not 2-1 "cruelly treated" if the animal is treated in a manner that is 2-2 consistent with the standards promulgated by the American Poultry 2-3 Association, as those standards existed on January 1, 1997. 2-4 SECTION 3. The defenses added by this Act to Section 42.09, 2-5 Penal Code, are available to a person regardless of when the 2-6 offense was committed but only for trials commencing on or after 2-7 the effective date of this Act. 2-8 SECTION 4. The importance of this legislation and the 2-9 crowded condition of the calendars in both houses create an 2-10 emergency and an imperative public necessity that the 2-11 constitutional rule requiring bills to be read on three several 2-12 days in each house be suspended, and this rule is hereby suspended, 2-13 and that this Act take effect and be in force from and after its 2-14 passage, and it is so enacted.