BILL ANALYSIS

C.S.H.B. 2671

By: Thibaut

Culture, Recreation & Tourism

Committee Report (Substituted)

BACKGROUND AND PURPOSE

Current law exempts a private, noncommercial, family-owned cold storage or processing facility from the requirement that a cold storage or processing facility maintain records of game in the facility.

C.S.H.B. 2671 specifies that these facilities are not exempt from the requirement to maintain records of game in the facility if the facility is located on a hunting lease and is made available to individuals other than the landowner, the landowner's nonpaying family members, or the landowner's nonpaying guests. The bill removes from the definition of "quartering" the removal of trimmings from the neck and rib cage and modifies the definition to conform to current practice by authorizing a hunter to process an animal down to the knee, instead of the hock.

RULEMAKING AUTHORITY

It is the committee's opinion that this bill does not expressly grant any additional rulemaking authority to a state officer, department, agency, or institution.

ANALYSIS

C.S.H.B 2671 amends the Parks and Wildlife Code to define "quartering" as the processing of an animal into not more than two hindquarters each having the leg bone (femur) attached down to the knee, rather than attached to the hock, and two front shoulders each having the leg bones (scapula and humerus) attached down to the elbow, rather than two forequarters each having the leg portion to the knee attached to the shoulder blade. The bill removes from the definition of "quartering" the removal of trimmings from the neck and rib cage. The bill specifies that a private, noncommercial, family-owned cold storage or processing facility is not required to maintain a book containing a record of game in the facility unless the facility is located on a hunting lease and is made available to individuals other than the landowner, the landowner's nonpaying family members, or the landowner's nonpaying guests. The bill provides that the cold storage or processing records requirements do not require the entry or maintenance of a record for the carcass of a deer or antelope that is properly tagged and is placed in a private cold storage or processing facility. The bill defines "carcass," "hunting lease," and "private cold storage or processing facility."  

EFFECTIVE DATE

September 1, 2009.

COMPARISON OF ORIGINAL AND SUBSTITUTE

C.S.H.B. 2671 removes a provision in the original defining "public cold storage or processing facility" and adds a provision not in the original defining "private cold storage or processing facility."

 C.S.H.B. 2671 differs from the original by providing that a private, noncommercial, family-owned cold storage or processing facility is not required to maintain records of game in the facility unless the facility is both located on a hunting lease and is made available to individuals other than the landowner, the landowner's nonpaying family members, or the landowner's nonpaying guests, whereas the original provides that such facility is not required to keep those records unless the facility is located on a hunting lease.

C.S.H.B. 2671 differs from the original by providing that a properly tagged deer or antelope carcass placed in a private cold storage or processing facility does not require the entry or maintenance of a record, whereas the original provides that such record is not required unless the carcass is placed in a public cold storage or processing facility.