Bill Text: TX HB158 | 2023 | 88th Legislature 3rd Special Session | Introduced

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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

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88S30143 SRA-D
By: Toth H.B. No. 158

A BILL TO BE ENTITLED
AN ACT
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.