By Hinojosa                                           H.B. No. 3067
         76R2749 KEL-D                           
                                A BILL TO BE ENTITLED
 1-1                                   AN ACT
 1-2     relating to cruelty to animals.
 1-3           BE IT ENACTED BY THE LEGISLATURE OF THE STATE OF TEXAS:
 1-4           SECTION 1.  Chapter 38, Code of Criminal Procedure, is
 1-5     amended by adding Article 38.39 to read as follows:
 1-6           Art. 38.39.  EVIDENCE OF SEPARATE ENCLOSURES FOR ANIMALS.  A
 1-7     person may not be convicted of an offense under Section
 1-8     42.09(a)(6), Penal Code, if proof that the person caused one animal
 1-9     to fight with another animal consists solely of evidence that those
1-10     animals were sheltered in separate cages, houses, or other
1-11     enclosures.
1-12           SECTION 2.  Section 42.09, Penal Code, is amended by adding
1-13     Subsections (g) and (h) to read as follows:
1-14           (g)  It is a defense to prosecution under Subsection (a)(1)
1-15     that the actor's conduct:
1-16                 (1)  constituted trimming a comb or wattle or altering
1-17     a spur of a chicken; and
1-18                 (2)  was consistent with the standards adopted by the
1-19     American Poultry Association, as those standards existed on January
1-20     1, 1999.
1-21           (h)  It is a defense to prosecution under Subsection (a)(1),
1-22     (a)(2), or (a)(4) that:
1-23                 (1)  the animal is a chicken;
1-24                 (2)  the actor owns, raises, or cares for the chicken
 2-1     for the purpose of showing, selling, or transporting the chicken;
 2-2     and
 2-3                 (3)  the treatment of the chicken for which the actor
 2-4     is being prosecuted was consistent with the standards adopted by
 2-5     the American Poultry Association, as those standards existed on
 2-6     January 1, 1999.
 2-7           SECTION 3.  Section 821.021, Health and Safety Code, is
 2-8     amended to read as follows:
 2-9           Sec. 821.021.  DEFINITION.  (a)  In this subchapter, "cruelly
2-10     treated" includes tortured, seriously overworked, unreasonably
2-11     abandoned, unreasonably deprived of necessary food, care, or
2-12     shelter, cruelly confined, or caused to fight with another animal.
2-13           (b)  For the purposes of this subchapter, an animal is not
2-14     "cruelly treated" if the animal is treated in a manner that is
2-15     consistent with the standards adopted by the American Poultry
2-16     Association, as those standards existed on January 1, 1999.
2-17           SECTION 4.  (a)  The change in law made by Article 38.39,
2-18     Code of Criminal Procedure, as added by this Act, applies to an
2-19     offense under Section 42.09(a)(6), Penal Code, committed before,
2-20     on, or after the effective date of this Act, except that a final
2-21     conviction for an offense under that section that exists on the
2-22     effective date of this Act is unaffected by this Act.
2-23           (b)  The defenses added by this Act to Section 42.09, Penal
2-24     Code, are available to a person regardless of when the offense was
2-25     committed but only for trials commencing on or after the effective
2-26     date of this Act.
2-27           SECTION 5.  This Act takes effect September 1, 1999.
 3-1           SECTION 6.  The importance of this legislation and the
 3-2     crowded condition of the calendars in both houses create an
 3-3     emergency and an imperative public necessity that the
 3-4     constitutional rule requiring bills to be read on three several
 3-5     days in each house be suspended, and this rule is hereby suspended.