BILL ANALYSIS

 

 

 

H.B. 1806

By: Flynn

Culture, Recreation & Tourism

Committee Report (Unamended)

 

 

 

BACKGROUND AND PURPOSE

 

Current law does not adequately address issues of fraud in fishing tournaments, including whether a person who alters the length or weight of a fish entered in such a tournament is committing fraud. The purpose of H.B. 1806 is to address fishing tournament fraud and support competitiveness and fairness in tournaments by classifying certain actions as fraudulent acts.

 

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

 

H.B. 1806 transfers a provision of law in the Parks and Wildlife Code in a subchapter on freshwater fishing to a subchapter applicable to freshwater and saltwater fishing and expands the definition of "fishing tournament" in that provision by removing the term freshwater, used to describe the type of fish that are caught by the participants in the tournament. The bill includes, in provisions specifying as an offense certain actions taken by a person with the intent to affect the outcome of a fishing tournament, altering the length or weight of a fish for the purpose of representing that the fish as entered in the tournament was that length or weight when caught and entering a fish in the tournament that was taken in violation of any provision of the Parks and Wildlife Code or a proclamation or regulation of the Parks and Wildlife Commission adopted under the code.

 

EFFECTIVE DATE

 

On passage, or, if the bill does not receive the necessary vote, September 1, 2011.