Bill Text: TX SB1996 | 2021-2022 | 87th Legislature | Introduced

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Bill Title: Relating to animal disease control by the Texas Animal Health Commission; providing an administrative penalty.

Spectrum: Partisan Bill (Republican 1-0)

Status: (Introduced - Dead) 2021-04-01 - Referred to Water, Agriculture, & Rural Affairs [SB1996 Detail]

Download: Texas-2021-SB1996-Introduced.html

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87R8770 MP-F
By: Springer S.B. No. 1996

A BILL TO BE ENTITLED
AN ACT
relating to animal disease control by the Texas Animal Health
Commission; providing an administrative penalty.
BE IT ENACTED BY THE LEGISLATURE OF THE STATE OF TEXAS:
SECTION 1. Section 161.041(a), Agriculture Code, is amended
to read as follows:
(a) The commission shall protect all livestock, exotic
livestock, domestic fowl, and exotic fowl from the following:
(1) tuberculosis;
(2) anthrax;
(3) glanders;
(4) brucellosis [infectious abortion];
(5) hemorrhagic septicemia;
(6) classical swine fever [hog cholera];
(7) [Malta fever;
[(8)] foot-and-mouth disease;
(8) [(9)] rabies among animals other than canines;
(9) pullorum disease [(10) bacillary white diarrhea
among fowl];
(10) [(11)] equine infectious anemia; [and]
(11) fowl typhoid;
(12) scabies; and
(13) [(12)] other diseases recognized as communicable
by the veterinary profession.
SECTION 2. Section 161.0415(a), Agriculture Code, is
amended to read as follows:
(a) The commission by order may require the slaughter of
livestock, domestic fowl, or exotic fowl, under the direction of
the commission, or the sale of livestock, domestic fowl, or exotic
fowl for immediate slaughter at a public slaughtering establishment
maintaining federal or state inspection if the livestock, domestic
fowl, or exotic fowl is exposed to or infected with a disease other
than bluetongue or vesicular stomatitis that:
(1) is recognized by the United States Department of
Agriculture as:
(A) a foreign animal disease; or
(B) a reportable animal disease;
(2) is the subject of a cooperative eradication
program with the United States Department of Agriculture;
(3) is an animal disease reportable to the World
Organisation for Animal Health [named on "List A" of the Office
International Des Epizooties]; or
(4) is the subject of a state of emergency, as declared
by the governor.
SECTION 3. Section 161.061, Agriculture Code, is amended by
amending Subsection (a) and adding Subsection (d) to read as
follows:
(a) If the commission determines or is informed that a
disease listed in Section 161.041 [of this code] exists in another
state, territory, or country, the commission may [shall] establish
a quarantine against all or the portion of the state, territory, or
country in which the disease exists.
(d) The commission by rule may delegate its authority to
establish a quarantine under this section to the executive
director, who shall promptly notify the members of the commission
when a quarantine is established.
SECTION 4. Sections 161.101(a) and (b), Agriculture Code,
are amended to read as follows:
(a) A veterinarian, a veterinary diagnostic laboratory, or
a person having care, custody, or control of an animal shall report
the existence of the following diseases among livestock, exotic
livestock, bison, domestic fowl, or exotic fowl to the commission
within 24 hours after diagnosis of the disease:
(1) anthrax;
(2) avian chlamydiosis;
(3) avian infectious laryngotracheitis;
(4) [(3)] avian influenza;
[(4) avian tuberculosis;]
(5) bovine trichomoniasis;
(6) chronic wasting disease;
(7) duck virus enteritis;
(8) duck virus hepatitis;
(9) equine encephalomyelitis;
(10) equine herpesvirus-1 [herpes virus-1];
(11) equine infectious anemia;
(12) equine viral arteritis;
(13) infectious encephalomyelitis in poultry or other
fowl;
(14) [ornithosis;
[(15)] paramyxovirus infection in poultry or other
fowl; [or]
(15) [(16)] scabies in sheep or cattle;
(16) Schmallenberg virus; or
(17) tuberculosis.
(b) In addition to reporting required by Subsection (a), the
commission may adopt rules that require a veterinarian, a
veterinary diagnostic laboratory, or a person having care, custody,
or control of an animal to report the existence of a disease other
than bluetongue in an animal to the commission within 24 hours after
diagnosis if the disease:
(1) is recognized by the United States Department of
Agriculture as:
(A) a foreign animal disease; or
(B) a reportable animal disease;
(2) is the subject of a cooperative eradication
program with the United States Department of Agriculture;
(3) is an animal [a] disease reportable to the World
Organisation for Animal Health [Office International Des
Epizooties]; or
(4) is the subject of a state of emergency, as declared
by the governor.
SECTION 5. Sections 161.148(a) and (d), Agriculture Code,
are amended to read as follows:
(a) The commission may impose an administrative penalty on
[against] a person who violates this subtitle or a rule or order
adopted under this subtitle.
(d) If the [An] executive director [who] determines that a
violation has occurred, the director may issue to the commission a
report that states the facts on which the determination is based and
the director's recommendation on the imposition of a penalty,
including a recommendation on the amount of the penalty.
SECTION 6. This Act takes effect September 1, 2021.