LEGISLATIVE BUDGET BOARD
Austin, Texas
 
FISCAL NOTE, 86TH LEGISLATIVE REGULAR SESSION
 
March 14, 2019

TO:
Honorable Bob Hall, Chair, Senate Committee on Agriculture
 
FROM:
John McGeady, Assistant Director     Sarah Keyton, Assistant Director
Legislative Budget Board
 
IN RE:
SB677 by Hall (Relating to the regulation of beekeeping; imposing fees and authorizing other fees; expanding the applicability of an occupational permit.), Committee Report 1st House, Substituted

No significant fiscal implication to the State is anticipated.

The bill would amend the Agriculture Code to create a permit for interstate transit of bees in place of the current permit required to import bees into the state and to move bees within the state. The bill would repeal the requirement for a permit for intrastate shipment of bees. The chief apiary inspector at Texas A&M AgriLife Research would be required to charge a fee for each permit, and the fee would be set at an amount sufficient to cover the cost of administering the permit process. The permit would expire on August 31 after the date the permit was issued. Texas A&M AgriLife Research has indicated it could accomplish the provisions of the bill with existing resources. The Comptroller has indicated that the revenue implications of the bill are indeterminate because the permit fee would be set by Texas A&M AgriLife Research and the amount of that fee is unknown at this time.

Local Government Impact

No significant fiscal implication to units of local government is anticipated.


Source Agencies:
304 Comptroller of Public Accounts, 551 Department of Agriculture, 555 Texas A&M AgriLife Extension Service, 556 Texas A&M AgriLife Research
LBB Staff:
WP, SZ, MW, PBO