Bill Text: TX HB158 | 2023 | 88th Legislature 3rd Special Session | Introduced
Bill Title: Relating to a prohibition on the sale, production, or distribution of lab-grown meat; authorizing a civil penalty.
Spectrum: Partisan Bill (Republican 1-0)
Status: (Introduced - Dead) 2023-10-16 - Filed [HB158 Detail]
Download: Texas-2023-HB158-Introduced.html
| 88S30143 SRA-D | ||
| By: Toth | H.B. No. 158 | |
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| relating to a prohibition on the sale, production, or distribution | ||
| of lab-grown meat; authorizing a civil penalty. | ||
| BE IT ENACTED BY THE LEGISLATURE OF THE STATE OF TEXAS: | ||
| SECTION 1. Subtitle C, Title 5, Business & Commerce Code, is | ||
| amended by adding Chapter 121 to read as follows: | ||
| CHAPTER 121. SALE, PRODUCTION, OR DISTRIBUTION OF LAB-GROWN MEAT | ||
| Sec. 121.0001. DEFINITION. In this chapter, "lab-grown | ||
| meat" means a food product derived in a laboratory by harvesting | ||
| animal cells and artificially replicating those cells in a growth | ||
| medium separate from a parent animal to produce tissue for the | ||
| product. | ||
| Sec. 121.0002. PROHIBITED SALE, PRODUCTION, OR | ||
| DISTRIBUTION OF LAB-GROWN MEAT. A person may not sell, produce, or | ||
| distribute lab-grown meat in this state. | ||
| Sec. 121.0003. CIVIL PENALTY; INJUNCTIVE RELIEF. (a) A | ||
| person who violates Section 121.0002 is liable to this state for a | ||
| civil penalty in the amount of $1,000 for each violation. | ||
| (b) The attorney general may bring an action in the name of | ||
| the state: | ||
| (1) for injunctive relief to require compliance with | ||
| Section 121.0002; | ||
| (2) to recover a civil penalty under this section; or | ||
| (3) for both injunctive relief and to recover the | ||
| civil penalty. | ||
| (c) The action may be brought in a district court in: | ||
| (1) Travis County; or | ||
| (2) a county in which any part of the violation or | ||
| threatened violation occurs. | ||
| (d) A civil penalty collected under this section shall be | ||
| deposited in the state treasury to the credit of the general revenue | ||
| fund. | ||
| (e) The attorney general may recover costs incurred in | ||
| bringing the action, including reasonable attorney's fees and | ||
| reasonable investigative costs. | ||
| SECTION 2. If any provision of this Act or its application | ||
| to any person or circumstance is held invalid, the invalidity does | ||
| not affect other provisions or applications of this Act that can be | ||
| given effect without the invalid provision or application, and to | ||
| this end the provisions of this Act are declared severable. | ||
| SECTION 3. Chapter 121, Business & Commerce Code, as added | ||
| by this Act, applies only to a cause of action that accrues on or | ||
| after the effective date of this Act. | ||
| SECTION 4. This Act takes effect on the 91st day after the | ||
| last day of the legislative session. | ||
