AN ACT
1-1 relating to certain regulatory functions of the Department of
1-2 Agriculture.
1-3 BE IT ENACTED BY THE LEGISLATURE OF THE STATE OF TEXAS:
1-4 SECTION 1. Subdivision (1), Section 14.201, Agriculture
1-5 Code, is amended to read as follows:
1-6 (1) "Public warehouseman" means a person who stores
1-7 cotton, wheat, rye, oats, or rice, or any kind of produce[, wares,
1-8 merchandise, or personal property for hire].
1-9 SECTION 2. Subsection (a), Section 14.203, Agriculture Code,
1-10 is amended to read as follows:
1-11 (a) The department may [shall] appoint warehouse examiners
1-12 to examine warehouses[, including corporations chartered under
1-13 Subchapter B of this chapter. The department shall not appoint
1-14 more than one examiner for every 50 warehouses and corporations].
1-15 SECTION 3. Subsection (c), Section 18.003, Agriculture Code,
1-16 is amended to read as follows:
1-17 (c) An organic certification shall be for a period
1-18 prescribed by the department [expires on August 31 of each year].
1-19 A person who fails to submit a renewal fee on or before the
1-20 expiration date of the certification must pay, in addition to the
1-21 renewal fee, the late fee provided by Section 12.024 of this code.
1-22 SECTION 4. Subsection (d), Section 71.0091, Agriculture
1-23 Code, is amended to read as follows:
2-1 (d) If the owner of a citrus plant, citrus plant product, or
2-2 citrus substance seized by the department under this section fails
2-3 or refuses to treat or destroy the citrus plant, citrus plant
2-4 product, or citrus substance immediately after being instructed to
2-5 do so by the department, the department may abate the nuisance by
2-6 destroying the citrus plant, citrus plant product, or citrus
2-7 substance or may otherwise treat the citrus plant, citrus plant
2-8 product, or citrus substance so that it is no longer a nuisance.
2-9 In enforcing this subsection, the department may call on the
2-10 sheriff of the county in which the citrus plant, citrus plant
2-11 product, or citrus substance is located, and the sheriff shall
2-12 cooperate with the department and provide assistance necessary to
2-13 abate the nuisance.
2-14 SECTION 5. Subsection (a), Section 71.010, Agriculture Code,
2-15 is amended to read as follows:
2-16 (a) A person who is aggrieved and will be injured by a
2-17 quarantine or whose property is to be destroyed by order of the
2-18 department is entitled to appeal to the district court of any
2-19 county in which the quarantine or order is established or issued.
2-20 In order to appeal, the person must give written notice of appeal
2-21 to the department not later than the 10th day following the date of
2-22 the order or proclamation. The notice must name the district court
2-23 in which the application is filed.
2-24 SECTION 6. Subsection (a), Section 71.103, Agriculture Code,
2-25 is amended to read as follows:
3-1 (a) Except as provided by Subsection (b) of this section, if
3-2 the department determines following field inspection that the
3-3 vegetable plants inspected are apparently free of injurious pests
3-4 and of the diseases and insects listed in Sections 71.104-71.109 of
3-5 this code, as applicable, the department shall issue a certificate
3-6 tag or stamp for those plants. Plants certified under this section
3-7 shall be known as "state certified plants."
3-8 SECTION 7. Subsection (a), Section 71.110, Agriculture Code,
3-9 is amended to read as follows:
3-10 (a) If, at the time of field inspection, the department
3-11 finds an injurious pest or [a] disease or insect listed in Sections
3-12 71.104-71.109, as applicable, the grower of the plants shall
3-13 delimit the infection or infestation and clean the plants by use of
3-14 a disinfectant.
3-15 SECTION 8. Subsection (b), Section 71.114, Agriculture Code,
3-16 is amended to read as follows:
3-17 (b) The department shall charge an inspection fee, as
3-18 provided by rule of the department[, for each acre over five acres
3-19 to be inspected].
3-20 SECTION 9. Section 73.004, Agriculture Code, is amended to
3-21 read as follows:
3-22 Sec. 73.004. INJURIOUS [DANGEROUS] DISEASES AND PESTS.
3-23 [(a)] In accordance with Subchapter A, Chapter 71, of this code,
3-24 the department shall establish quarantines against [the following]
3-25 pests and [plant] diseases determined by department rule to be
4-1 injurious[, which are not widely distributed in this state and are
4-2 public nuisances:]
4-3 [(1) Black scale (Saissetia oleae);]
4-4 [(2) Branch and twig borer (Melalgus confertus);]
4-5 [(3) Long-tailed mealy bug (Pseudococcus adonidum);]
4-6 [(4) Orange-peel miner (Marmara species);]
4-7 [(5) Withertip of lime (Glocosporium limetticolm); and]
4-8 [(6) False spider mite (Brevipalus sp.).]
4-9 [(b) For purposes of the citrus zone, the following pests
4-10 and diseases are a public nuisance:]
4-11 [(1) False spider mite (Brevipalus sp.);]
4-12 [(2) Withertip of lime (Glocosporium limetticolm);]
4-13 [(3) Whitefly (Aleyrodes, nubifera);]
4-14 [(4) Woolly whitefly (Aleurothrixus howardi);]
4-15 [(5) Flocculent whitefly (Aleurothrixus floccosa);]
4-16 [(6) Guava whitefly (Trialeurodes floridensis);]
4-17 [(7) Bay whitefly (Paraleurodes perseae);]
4-18 [(8) Inconspicuous whitefly (Bemesia inconspicua);]
4-19 [(9) Florida spirea aphid (Aphis spirecola);]
4-20 [(10) Citrus root weevil (Pachnaeus litus Germar);]
4-21 [(11) Meleanose (Phomopsis citri);]
4-22 [(12) Rufous scale (Selenaspidus articulatus);]
4-23 [(13) Snow scale (Unaspis citri);]
4-24 [(14) Six-spotted mite (Tetranychus sexmaculatus);]
4-25 [(15) Purple mite (Panohychus citri);]
5-1 [(16) Orange sawyer (Elaphidion inerne);]
5-2 [(17) Spiny blackfly (Aleurocanthus woglumi);]
5-3 [(18) Citrus scab;]
5-4 [(19) Black scale (Saissetia oleae);]
5-5 [(20) Citrus mealy bug;]
5-6 [(21) Cottony cushion scale;]
5-7 [(22) Citrus thrips (scirtothrips citri, Moulton);]
5-8 [(23) Barnacle scale;]
5-9 [(24) California red scale;]
5-10 [(25) Oystershell scale;]
5-11 [(26) Citrus red spider; and]
5-12 [(27) Citrus fruit and storage rot].
5-13 SECTION 10. The heading of Subchapter A, Chapter 74,
5-14 Agriculture Code, is amended to read as follows:
5-15 SUBCHAPTER A. COTTON PEST [BOLL WEEVIL] CONTROL
5-16 SECTION 11. Section 121.004, Agriculture Code, is amended to
5-17 read as follows:
5-18 Sec. 121.004. Certificate of Authority. (a) The department
5-19 shall issue a numbered certificate of authority to each person who
5-20 determines or influences the grade of [grades, sells, or offers for
5-21 sale] rose plants.
5-22 (b) A certificate of authority expires on December 31 of the
5-23 year in which it is issued.
5-24 (c) Each person who determines or influences the grade of
5-25 rose plants [grower, dealer, wholesaler, and processor] shall pay
6-1 an annual fee for a certificate of authority based on the actual
6-2 amount of work done by or under the direction of the department in
6-3 administering this chapter. The department shall set [fix] a fee,
6-4 as provided by department rule, according to the number of rose
6-5 plants graded [handled, sold, or offered for sale during the
6-6 calendar year].
6-7 [(d) A person who purchases graded stock but does not
6-8 determine or influence the grade is exempt from payment of the fee
6-9 required for a certificate of authority.]
6-10 SECTION 12. Section 121.007, Agriculture Code, is amended to
6-11 read as follows:
6-12 Sec. 121.007. Rules. The [(a) Following notice and public
6-13 hearing, the] department may adopt rules necessary to carry out
6-14 this chapter. [Rules adopted under this chapter are effective only
6-15 if approved in writing by the attorney general.]
6-16 [(b) The department shall publish rules adopted under this
6-17 chapter in pamphlet form.]
6-18 SECTION 13. The following provisions of the Agriculture Code
6-19 are repealed:
6-20 (1) Section 12.005;
6-21 (2) Subsection (c), Section 14.107;
6-22 (3) Subsection (c), Section 14.118;
6-23 (4) Subsection (c), Section 16.002;
6-24 (5) Chapter 17;
6-25 (6) Chapter 19, Agriculture Code, as added by Section
7-1 2.01, Chapter 76, Acts of the 74th Legislature, 1995; and
7-2 (7) Section 74.090.
7-3 SECTION 14. The importance of this legislation and the
7-4 crowded condition of the calendars in both houses create an
7-5 emergency and an imperative public necessity that the
7-6 constitutional rule requiring bills to be read on three several
7-7 days in each house be suspended, and this rule is hereby suspended,
7-8 and that this Act take effect and be in force from and after its
7-9 passage, and it is so enacted.
_______________________________ _______________________________
President of the Senate Speaker of the House
I hereby certify that S.B. No. 372 passed the Senate on
April 24, 1997, by the following vote: Yeas 29, Nays 0.
_______________________________
Secretary of the Senate
I hereby certify that S.B. No. 372 passed the House on
May 7, 1997, by a non-record vote.
_______________________________
Chief Clerk of the House
Approved:
_______________________________
Date
_______________________________
Governor