BILL ANALYSIS |
C.S.H.B. 338 |
By: Burrows |
Agriculture & Livestock |
Committee Report (Substituted) |
BACKGROUND AND PURPOSE
Informed observers note that the practice of agriculture and the related industry can be unpredictable and that farmers and producers are often unable to accurately predict crop yields, which has led to certain acreage contract disputes pitting large multinational agricultural product buyers with dedicated litigation budgets against much smaller producers and farmers. C.S.H.B. 338 seeks to avoid these disputes by providing for a contract type disclosure for the purchase of an agricultural product.
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CRIMINAL JUSTICE IMPACT
It is the committee's opinion that this bill does not expressly create a criminal offense, increase the punishment for an existing criminal offense or category of offenses, or change the eligibility of a person for community supervision, parole, or mandatory supervision.
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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.
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ANALYSIS
C.S.H.B. 338 amends the Agriculture Code to require a contract between a producer and a purchaser regarding an agricultural product to clearly and conspicuously state on its face that it is an acreage contract or a quantity contract, as applicable. The bill defines "acreage contract" as a contract that requires a producer to deliver to a purchaser all of the production of a specified agricultural product grown on land described in the contract, unless clearly and conspicuously stated otherwise in the contract's language, and expressly excludes from the term a contract that requires a producer to deliver a specified quantity of an agricultural product. The bill defines "quantity contract" as a contract that requires a producer to deliver to a purchaser a specified quantity of an agricultural product, regardless of the amount of the product grown by the producer. The bill prohibits a purchaser from filing suit against a producer under an acreage contract unless the producer knowingly fails to deliver to the purchaser all of an agricultural product grown on specified land as provided by the acreage contract.
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EFFECTIVE DATE
September 1, 2017.
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COMPARISON OF ORIGINAL AND SUBSTITUTE
While C.S.H.B. 338 may differ from the original in minor or nonsubstantive ways, the following comparison is organized and formatted in a manner that indicates the substantial differences between the introduced and committee substitute versions of the bill.
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