BILL ANALYSIS

C.S.H.B. 191

By: Stephenson

Agriculture & Livestock

Committee Report (Substituted)

BACKGROUND AND PURPOSE

It has been suggested that some Texans improperly dispose of unwanted pesticides or store such pesticides in unsafe conditions due to the lack of organized collection activities that allow for the responsible disposal of pesticide waste. C.S.H.B. 191 seeks to address this issue by providing for statewide regulated pesticide waste and pesticide container collection activities.

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.

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. 191 amends the Agriculture Code to require the Department of Agriculture (TDA), in coordination with the Texas Commission on Environmental Quality (TCEQ) and the Texas A&M AgriLife Extension Service, to organize pesticide waste and pesticide container collection activities statewide. The bill authorizes the TDA, TCEQ, and the extension service to contract for the services of contractors to implement the collection activities and facilitate the collection of canceled, unregistered, or otherwise unwanted pesticide products and pesticide containers. The bill establishes the pesticide disposal fund as a fund in the state treasury outside the general revenue fund to be administered by the TDA and composed of money deposited to the credit of the fund from pesticide registration fees and interest earned on the investment of money in the fund. The bill requires the TDA to deposit annually to the credit of the fund from pesticide registration fees an amount not to exceed $400,000 to cover the cost of administering the collection activities, restricts appropriation of money in the fund to the purposes of the collection activities, and prohibits the TDA from increasing the amount of a pesticide registration fee for such purposes.

EFFECTIVE DATE

September 1, 2019.

COMPARISON OF ORIGINAL AND SUBSTITUTE

While C.S.H.B. 191 may differ from the original in minor or nonsubstantive ways, the following summarizes the substantial differences between the introduced and committee substitute versions of the bill.

The substitute includes a provision prohibiting the TDA from increasing the amount of a pesticide registration fee for purposes of pesticide waste and pesticide container collection activities.