By:  Duncan                                            S.B. No. 631
         Line and page numbers may not match official copy.
         Bill not drafted by TLC or Senate E&E.
                                A BILL TO BE ENTITLED
                                       AN ACT
 1-1     relating to modifications of the official cotton growers' boll
 1-2     weevil eradication program.
 1-3           BE IT ENACTED BY THE LEGISLATURE OF THE STATE OF TEXAS:
 1-4           SECTION 1.  Section 74.108, Agriculture Code, is amended by
 1-5     adding subsection (d) to read as follows:
 1-6           (d)  The commissioner shall have the power to inspect the
 1-7     books and other financial records of the foundation at any time.
 1-8           SECTION 2.  Section 74.1101, Agriculture Code, is amended to
 1-9     read as follows:
1-10           Sec. 74.1101.  LIABILITY OF APPLICATORS
1-11           (a)  In this section, "applicator" means an individual or
1-12     other person that is not a member, director, officer, or employee
1-13     of the foundation and that contracts with the foundation to apply
1-14     pesticides or other chemicals using aircraft or other equipment to
1-15     further or support the eradication or diapause efforts undertaken
1-16     under this subchapter.
1-17           (b)  An applicator is not jointly and severally liable for
1-18     any act or omission of the foundation under this subchapter
1-19     [provided that the foundation maintains the liability coverage
1-20     required under Subsection (c)].
1-21           (c)  The foundation shall have liability coverage in effect
1-22     for any eradication or diapause efforts for which it uses
 2-1     applicators.  The coverage shall apply to acts and omissions of the
 2-2     foundation and volunteers and be in the amount of at least $500,000
 2-3     for each single occurrence of death, bodily injury, or property
 2-4     damage.
 2-5           [(d)  The commissioner may provide that the foundation include
 2-6     an applicator as an additional named insured in any policy of
 2-7     insurance required under Subsection (c).]
 2-8           [(e)  This section expires September 1, 1999.]
 2-9           SECTION 3.  Section 74.115(b), Agriculture Code, is amended
2-10     to read as follows:
2-11           (b)  In addition to any other remedies for the collection of
2-12     assessments and penalties, [the department may place and perfect an
2-13     assessment lien on cotton produced and harvested that year from the
2-14     acreage that is subject to the assessment that is due and unpaid.
2-15     A buyer of cotton takes free of the assessment lien if the buyer
2-16     has not received written or actual notice of the assessment lien or
2-17     if the buyer has paid for the cotton by a check on which the
2-18     department is named as a joint payee.  In an action to enforce the
2-19     assessment lien, the burden is on the department to prove that the
2-20     buyer of cotton received written or actual notice of the assessment
2-21     lien.  A buyer of cotton other than a person buying cotton from the
2-22     cotton grower takes free of the assessment lien.] the commissioner
2-23     may adopt rules relating to a compliance certificate program for
2-24     eradication assessments.
2-25     The rules may include:
2-26           (1)  provisions establishing and relating to the obligations
 3-1     of growers, ginners, and buyers in due course to see that
 3-2     assessments are paid in a timely manner,
 3-3           (2)  provisions allowing incentives in the form of discounted
 3-4     assessments for growers who pay assessments before the due date,
 3-5     and
 3-6           (3)  any other provisions the commissioner may deem proper.
 3-7           SECTION 4.  Section 74.122, Agriculture Code, is amended to
 3-8     read as follows:
 3-9           Sec. 74.122.  QUARANTINE
3-10           The department shall [may] adopt rules relating to quarantining
3-11     areas of this state for boll weevil or pink bollworm control, as
3-12     necessary to prevent reinfestations of eradicated areas, including
3-13     quarantining areas of the state that are infested with the boll
3-14     weevil or the pink bollworm.  The rules must address the storage of
3-15     regulated articles and the movement of regulated articles into and
3-16     out of a quarantined area.  The department may also adopt rules
3-17     governing the movement of regulated articles from other states into
3-18     this state if the articles are known to be infested with the boll
3-19     weevil or the pink bollworm.
3-20           SECTION 5.  Subchapter D, Chapter 74, Agriculture Code, is
3-21     amended by adding new Section 74.1291 to read as follows:
3-22           Sec. 74.1291 VENUE
3-23           For any action to which the foundation is properly a party,
3-24     venue shall be proper in Travis County.  Nothing in this section
3-25     shall reduce the protections found in Section 74.129 of this Code.
3-26           SECTION 6.  The importance of this legislation and the
 4-1     crowded condition of the calendars in both houses create an
 4-2     emergency and an imperative public necessity that the
 4-3     constitutional rule requiring bills to be read on three several
 4-4     days in each house be suspended, and that this Act take effect and
 4-5     be in force from and after its passage, and it is so enacted.