By: Armbrister S.B. No. 372
97S0876/1
A BILL TO BE ENTITLED
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 (c), Section 71.0091, Agriculture
1-23 Code, is amended to read as follows:
2-1 (c) If the owner of a citrus plant, citrus plant product, or
2-2 citrus substance seized under Subsection (a) of this section is
2-3 unknown to the department, the department shall publish or post
2-4 notice that, not earlier than the fifth day after the first day on
2-5 which notice is published or posted, the department may treat or
2-6 destroy the citrus plant, citrus plant product, or citrus
2-7 substance. The department shall publish the notice for three
2-8 consecutive days in a newspaper of general circulation in the
2-9 county in which the citrus plant, citrus plant product, or citrus
2-10 substance is located or post the notice in the immediate vicinity
2-11 of the area in which the citrus plant, citrus plant product, or
2-12 citrus substance is located. The notice must describe the citrus
2-13 plant, citrus plant product, or citrus substance seized. If the
2-14 owner claims the citrus plant, citrus plant product, or citrus
2-15 substance before the date for destruction set by the notice, the
2-16 department shall deliver the citrus plant, citrus plant product, or
2-17 citrus substance to the owner at the owner's expense. If the owner
2-18 does not claim the citrus plant, citrus plant product, or citrus
2-19 substance before the date the notice specifies that destruction is
2-20 permitted, the department may destroy or arrange for the
2-21 destruction of the citrus plant, citrus plant product, or citrus
2-22 substance.
2-23 SECTION 5. Subsection (a), Section 71.010, Agriculture Code,
2-24 is amended to read as follows:
2-25 (a) A person who is aggrieved and will be injured by a
3-1 quarantine or whose property is to be destroyed by order of the
3-2 department is entitled to appeal to the district court of any
3-3 county in which the quarantine or order is established or issued.
3-4 In order to appeal, the person must give written notice of appeal
3-5 to the department not later than the 10th day following the date of
3-6 the order or proclamation. The notice must name the district court
3-7 in which the application is filed.
3-8 SECTION 6. Subsection (a), Section 71.103, Agriculture Code,
3-9 is amended to read as follows:
3-10 (a) Except as provided by Subsection (b) of this section, if
3-11 the department determines following field inspection that the
3-12 vegetable plants inspected are apparently free of injurious pests
3-13 and of the diseases and insects listed in Sections 71.104-71.109 of
3-14 this code, as applicable, the department shall issue a certificate
3-15 tag or stamp for those plants. Plants certified under this section
3-16 shall be known as "state certified plants."
3-17 SECTION 7. Subsection (a), Section 71.110, Agriculture Code,
3-18 is amended to read as follows:
3-19 (a) If, at the time of field inspection, the department
3-20 finds an injurious pest or [a] disease or insect listed in Sections
3-21 71.104-71.109, as applicable, the grower of the plants shall
3-22 delimit the infection or infestation and clean the plants by use of
3-23 a disinfectant.
3-24 SECTION 8. Subsection (b), Section 71.114, Agriculture Code,
3-25 is amended to read as follows:
4-1 (b) The department shall charge an inspection fee, as
4-2 provided by rule of the department, for each acre [over five acres]
4-3 to be inspected.
4-4 SECTION 9. Section 73.004, Agriculture Code, is amended to
4-5 read as follows:
4-6 Sec. 73.004. INJURIOUS [DANGEROUS] DISEASES AND PESTS.
4-7 [(a)] In accordance with Subchapter A, Chapter 71, of this code,
4-8 the department shall establish quarantines against [the following]
4-9 pests and [plant] diseases determined by department rule to be
4-10 injurious[, which are not widely distributed in this state and are
4-11 public nuisances:]
4-12 [(1) Black scale (Saissetia oleae);]
4-13 [(2) Branch and twig borer (Melalgus confertus);]
4-14 [(3) Long-tailed mealy bug (Pseudococcus adonidum);]
4-15 [(4) Orange-peel miner (Marmara species);]
4-16 [(5) Withertip of lime (Glocosporium limetticolm); and]
4-17 [(6) False spider mite (Brevipalus sp.).]
4-18 [(b) For purposes of the citrus zone, the following pests
4-19 and diseases are a public nuisance:]
4-20 [(1) False spider mite (Brevipalus sp.);]
4-21 [(2) Withertip of lime (Glocosporium limetticolm);]
4-22 [(3) Whitefly (Aleyrodes, nubifera);]
4-23 [(4) Woolly whitefly (Aleurothrixus howardi);]
4-24 [(5) Flocculent whitefly (Aleurothrixus floccosa);]
4-25 [(6) Guava whitefly (Trialeurodes floridensis);]
5-1 [(7) Bay whitefly (Paraleurodes perseae);]
5-2 [(8) Inconspicuous whitefly (Bemesia inconspicua);]
5-3 [(9) Florida spirea aphid (Aphis spirecola);]
5-4 [(10) Citrus root weevil (Pachnaeus litus Germar);]
5-5 [(11) Meleanose (Phomopsis citri);]
5-6 [(12) Rufous scale (Selenaspidus articulatus);]
5-7 [(13) Snow scale (Unaspis citri);]
5-8 [(14) Six-spotted mite (Tetranychus sexmaculatus);]
5-9 [(15) Purple mite (Panohychus citri);]
5-10 [(16) Orange sawyer (Elaphidion inerne);]
5-11 [(17) Spiny blackfly (Aleurocanthus woglumi);]
5-12 [(18) Citrus scab;]
5-13 [(19) Black scale (Saissetia oleae);]
5-14 [(20) Citrus mealy bug;]
5-15 [(21) Cottony cushion scale;]
5-16 [(22) Citrus thrips (scirtothrips citri, Moulton);]
5-17 [(23) Barnacle scale;]
5-18 [(24) California red scale;]
5-19 [(25) Oystershell scale;]
5-20 [(26) Citrus red spider; and]
5-21 [(27) Citrus fruit and storage rot].
5-22 SECTION 10. The heading of Subchapter A, Chapter 74,
5-23 Agriculture Code, is amended to read as follows:
6-1 SUBCHAPTER A. COTTON PEST [BOLL WEEVIL] CONTROL
6-2 SECTION 11. Section 121.004, Agriculture Code, is amended to
6-3 read as follows:
6-4 Sec. 121.004. CERTIFICATE OF AUTHORITY. (a) The department
6-5 shall issue a numbered certificate of authority to each person who
6-6 determines or influences the grade of [grades, sells, or offers for
6-7 sale] rose plants.
6-8 (b) A certificate of authority expires on December 31 of the
6-9 year in which it is issued.
6-10 (c) Each person who determines or influences the grade of
6-11 rose plants [grower, dealer, wholesaler, and processor] shall pay
6-12 an annual fee for a certificate of authority based on the actual
6-13 amount of work done by or under the direction of the department in
6-14 administering this chapter. The department shall set [fix] a fee,
6-15 as provided by department rule, according to the number of rose
6-16 plants graded [handled, sold, or offered for sale during the
6-17 calendar year].
6-18 [(d) A person who purchases graded stock but does not
6-19 determine or influence the grade is exempt from payment of the fee
6-20 required for a certificate of authority.]
6-21 SECTION 12. Section 121.007, Agriculture Code, is amended to
6-22 read as follows:
6-23 Sec. 121.007. RULES. The [(a) Following notice and public
6-24 hearing, the] department may adopt rules necessary to carry out
6-25 this chapter. [Rules adopted under this chapter are effective only
7-1 if approved in writing by the attorney general.]
7-2 [(b) The department shall publish rules adopted under this
7-3 chapter in pamphlet form.]
7-4 SECTION 13. The following provisions of the Agriculture Code
7-5 are repealed:
7-6 (1) Section 12.005;
7-7 (2) Subsection (c), Section 14.107;
7-8 (3) Subsection (c), Section 14.118;
7-9 (4) Subsection (c), Section 16.002;
7-10 (5) Chapter 17;
7-11 (6) Chapter 19; and
7-12 (7) Section 74.090.
7-13 SECTION 14. The importance of this legislation and the
7-14 crowded condition of the calendars in both houses create an
7-15 emergency and an imperative public necessity that the
7-16 constitutional rule requiring bills to be read on three several
7-17 days in each house be suspended, and this rule is hereby suspended,
7-18 and that this Act take effect and be in force from and after its
7-19 passage, and it is so enacted.