HBA-BSM H.B. 3302 77(R)    BILL ANALYSIS


Office of House Bill AnalysisH.B. 3302
By: Solis, Jim
State Recreational Resources
3/25/2001
Introduced



BACKGROUND AND PURPOSE 

On August, 31, 2000, the Parks and Wildlife Department (department) adopted
new regulations for the shrimping industry amidst contention from the
shrimping community that the data on which these regulations were based was
insufficient and inaccurate, and that the public participation in the
rulemaking process had been limited.  House Bill 3302 requires the
department to return to rules that were in place as of June 30, 2000, and
conduct a comprehensive economic impact analysis of all current state and
federal regulations on the shrimping industry. 

RULEMAKING AUTHORITY

It is the opinion of the Office of House Bill Analysis that rulemaking
authority is expressly delegated to the Parks and Wildlife Commission in
SECTION 1 of this bill. 

ANALYSIS

House Bill 3302 amends law to provide that on the effective date of this
Act, all rules adopted and proclamations issued by the Parks and Wildlife
Commission (commission) on or after July 1, 2000 that relate to the
regulation of the shrimping industry along the Texas Gulf Coast and in the
Gulf of Mexico are repealed, and  require the commission to adopt the rules
and proclamations relating to the regulation of the shrimping industry that
were in effect on June 30, 2000, as emergency rules.  Before the emergency
rules expire, the commission is required to adopt those rules as the rules
relating to the regulation of the shrimping industry.  The bill also
prohibits the commission from adopting any new rules, issuing new
proclamations, or amending existing regulations except as authorized by the
legislature or as required for compliance with federal law.  

 The bill requires the Parks and Wildlife Department to conduct a
comprehensive economic impact analysis of all current state and federal
regulations on the shrimping industry, including an estimate of the
economic impact that regulations passed on or after July 1, 2000 would have
had if those regulations had remained in effect.  The commission is
required to deliver the analysis to the legislature, the lieutenant
governor, and the governor on or before September 1, 2002.  The bill also
requires the Parks and Wildlife Department to prepare a comprehensive study
of the economic and biological health of the shrimping industry, and to
deliver the report to the legislature, the lieutenant governor, and the
governor on or before September 1, 2002.    

EFFECTIVE DATE

On passage, or if the Act does not receive the necessary vote, the Act
takes effect September 1, 2001.