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.