H.B. No. 1580
AN ACT
relating to the continuation and functions of the board of
directors of the official cotton growers' boll weevil eradication
foundation and the management of certain cotton in pest management
zones.
BE IT ENACTED BY THE LEGISLATURE OF THE STATE OF TEXAS:
SECTION 1. Section 74.001, Agriculture Code, is amended to
read as follows:
Sec. 74.001. PUBLIC NUISANCE. (a) The legislature finds
that cotton pests are a menace to the cotton industry, and that
control of those pests is a public necessity. Any portion of the
state that is susceptible to infestation by cotton pests must be
protected from this public nuisance and threat to the continued
stability of the cotton industry.
(b) The legislature finds that volunteer and other
noncommercial cotton is a public nuisance that threatens the cotton
growers' boll weevil eradication program by serving as a host for
cotton pests such as boll weevils and pink bollworms. To protect
the cotton industry of this state, volunteer and other
noncommercial cotton must be eliminated subject to the provisions
of this chapter.
SECTION 2. Subchapter A, Chapter 74, Agriculture Code, is
amended by adding Sections 74.0031 and 74.0032 to read as follows:
Sec. 74.0031. COTTON STALK DESTRUCTION. (a) The
department shall submit the recommendations of each administrative
committee that governs a pest management zone under Section 74.003
to the Texas Boll Weevil Eradication Foundation. On review of the
administrative committee recommendations, the foundation shall
submit to the department an estimate of the amount by which the
implementation of each recommendation would increase the cost of
administering the boll weevil eradication program.
(b) The Texas Boll Weevil Eradication Foundation shall:
(1) conduct a study of the effects of incomplete
cotton stalk destruction and volunteer cotton control on boll
weevil eradication activities; and
(2) submit annual recommendations to the department
and the board of the foundation for a cotton stalk destruction
deadline for each pest management zone.
(c) The Texas Boll Weevil Eradication Foundation may
consult with its technical advisory committee in fulfilling its
duties under Subsection (b).
(d) The department shall set a cotton stalk destruction
deadline for each pest management zone, with consideration given to
the recommendations of the foundation and the applicable
administrative committee submitted under Subsection (b).
Sec. 74.0032. HOSTABLE COTTON FEE. (a) The department
shall establish and collect a hostable cotton fee for fields in
which hostable cotton stalks, hostable volunteer cotton, or other
hostable noncommercial cotton remains past the stalk destruction
deadline set for the applicable pest management zone under Section
74.0031. A fee under this section shall be expressed in terms of
dollars per acre, per week in which the stalks, volunteer cotton, or
other noncommercial cotton remains in the field. The department
shall establish a procedure to notify a cotton grower that a fee is
due the department under this section.
(b) If adverse weather conditions or other good cause
exists, the administrative committee that governs the applicable
pest management zone may request that the department grant an
extension of the cotton stalk destruction deadline for any
specified part of the pest management zone or for the entire pest
management zone. A request under this subsection must be made not
later than 10 business days before the applicable cotton stalk
destruction deadline. A field is not subject to a hostable cotton
fee if the department grants an extension of the deadline. The
Texas Boll Weevil Eradication Foundation shall submit to the
department an estimate of the amount by which an extension under
this subsection will increase the cost of administering the boll
weevil eradication program.
(c) If the applicable administrative committee does not
request an extension, or if the department denies a request for an
extension of the cotton stalk destruction deadline for a specified
part of a pest management zone, a cotton grower may apply for an
individual extension of the deadline. A request under this
subsection must be made not later than 10 business days before the
applicable pest management zone's stalk destruction deadline.
(d) The Texas Boll Weevil Eradication Foundation shall
submit to the department an estimate of the amount by which any
extension of a stalk destruction deadline that is granted under
Subsection (c) will increase the cost of administering the boll
weevil eradication program.
(e) Any hostable cotton or hostable cotton stalks that
remain in a field after the cotton stalk destruction deadline or any
extension of the stalk destruction deadline has passed are subject
to the hostable cotton fee established under Subsection (a). Any
hostable cotton or hostable cotton stalks that remain in a field for
more than 30 days after the stalk destruction deadline or any
extension of the deadline are subject to 150 percent of the hostable
cotton fee established under Subsection (a).
(f) A hostable cotton fee shall be sent to the comptroller
and may be appropriated only for the purpose of treating hostable
cotton or for other expenses related to boll weevil eradication.
The department may contract with the Texas Boll Weevil Eradication
Foundation or its successor entity for the treatment, control, or
monitoring activities funded from the account.
(g) Unless the fee is paid on or before the 45th day after
the date the department gives notice to a cotton grower that a
hostable cotton fee is due, the department may destroy any cotton or
cotton stalks that remain in the field, as provided by Section
74.004.
(h) The department shall adopt rules to administer this
section.
SECTION 3. Section 74.102(5), Agriculture Code, is amended
to read as follows:
(5) "Cotton grower" means a person who grows cotton
intended to be commercial [and receives income from the sale of]
cotton. The term includes an individual who as owner, landlord,
tenant, or sharecropper is entitled to share in the cotton grown and
available for marketing from a farm or to share in the proceeds from
the sale of the cotton from the farm or from an indemnity or other
payment received from or related to the planting, growing, or
failure of the cotton.
SECTION 4. Section 74.113, Agriculture Code, is amended by
amending Subsection (f) and adding Subsection (l) to read as
follows:
(f) An assessment levied on cotton growers in an eradication
zone may be applied only to:
(1) eradication [in that zone];
(2) the foundation's operating costs, including
payments on debt incurred for a foundation activity[, except that
the funds of one zone may not be used to pay another zone's bank
loans or debts]; and
(3) the conducting of other programs consistent with
the declaration of policy stated in Section 74.101.
(l) With the approval of the board and the commissioner, the
foundation may transfer the proceeds from the collection of
assessments in one eradication zone to another eradication zone.
The board shall consult with affected cotton grower steering
committees before recommending that the commissioner approve the
transfer of proceeds under this subsection. The transferred
proceeds may be applied only as provided by Subsection (f).
SECTION 5. Subchapter D, Chapter 74, Agriculture Code, is
amended by adding Section 74.1135 to read as follows:
Sec. 74.1135. ALTERNATIVE METHOD OF ASSESSMENTS. (a) The
commissioner may adopt rules that provide for an alternative
method, manner, and mechanism by which assessments are imposed and
collected under this subchapter. The commissioner may adopt the
rules only after receiving a recommendation from the board. The
board shall consult with cotton grower steering committees and the
technical advisory committee in formulating a recommendation to the
commissioner under this subsection. The commissioner may accept,
reject, or modify a board recommendation. The rules apply
notwithstanding Section 74.113. The rules must require any person
collecting an assessment to forward the assessment to the
foundation.
(b) The maximum amount of an assessment under this section
may not exceed the maximum amount of an assessment approved in an
assessment referendum under this subchapter.
SECTION 6. Sections 74.118(a) and (b), Agriculture Code,
are amended to read as follows:
(a) The commissioner may adopt reasonable rules regarding
areas where cotton may not be planted in an eradication zone if
there is reason to believe planting will jeopardize the success of
the program by making treatment impracticable or present a hazard
to public health or safety.
(b) The commissioner may adopt rules relating to
[prohibiting the planting of] noncommercial cotton located in
eradication zones and requiring that all growers of commercial
cotton in an eradication zone participate in a boll weevil or pink
bollworm eradication program that includes cost sharing as required
by the rules.
SECTION 7. Section 74.119, Agriculture Code, is amended to
read as follows:
Sec. 74.119. AUTHORITY FOR DESTRUCTION OR TREATMENT OF
COTTON IN ERADICATION ZONES; COMPENSATION PAYABLE. (a) The
department shall [may] destroy or treat hostable volunteer or other
hostable noncommercial cotton and establish procedures for the
purchase and destruction of commercial cotton in eradication zones
if the department determines the action is necessary to carry out
the purposes of this subchapter. The department is not liable to
the owner or lessee for the destruction of or injury to any cotton
that was planted in an eradication zone after publication of notice
as provided by this subchapter. The foundation is liable for the
destruction of cotton if the cotton was planted in an eradication
zone before publication of the notice.
(b) Not later than January 1, 2010, the department shall
adopt rules providing for the regulation and control of volunteer
and other noncommercial cotton in pest management zones. At a
minimum, the rules must:
(1) provide a grower or landowner with a period of time
in which the grower or owner is required to destroy hostable
volunteer or other hostable noncommercial cotton on receipt of a
notice from the department; and
(2) allow the department or a person designated by the
department:
(A) to monitor and treat hostable volunteer or
other hostable noncommercial cotton that is located in a crop field
for boll weevil infestation if the grower or landowner does not
destroy the cotton in compliance with the notice from the
department; and
(B) to destroy hostable volunteer or other
hostable noncommercial cotton that is not in a crop field, as
provided by Section 74.004.
(c) If a grower or landowner does not destroy hostable
volunteer or other hostable noncommercial cotton as required by
Subsection (b)(1), the grower or owner shall pay to the department a
volunteer cotton fee in an amount determined by the department. A
fee under this subsection:
(1) may be assessed only on acreage where hostable
volunteer or other hostable noncommercial cotton is located;
(2) may not be less than one-half the amount the grower
or owner would owe if the entire acreage were planted with cotton;
and
(3) shall be deposited to the credit of the hostable
cotton fee account established by Section 74.0032.
SECTION 8. Section 74.127(a), Agriculture Code, is amended
to read as follows:
(a) The board of directors of the official cotton growers'
boll weevil eradication foundation is subject to Chapter 325,
Government Code (Texas Sunset Act). Unless continued in existence
as provided by that chapter, the board is abolished and this
subchapter expires September 1, 2021 [2009].
SECTION 9. This Act takes effect immediately if it receives
a vote of two-thirds of all the members elected to each house, as
provided by Section 39, Article III, Texas Constitution. If this
Act does not receive the vote necessary for immediate effect, this
Act takes effect September 1, 2009.
______________________________ ______________________________
President of the Senate Speaker of the House
I certify that H.B. No. 1580 was passed by the House on April
7, 2009, by the following vote: Yeas 144, Nays 0, 1 present, not
voting; and that the House concurred in Senate amendments to H.B.
No. 1580 on May 14, 2009, by the following vote: Yeas 143, Nays 0,
1 present, not voting.
______________________________
Chief Clerk of the House
I certify that H.B. No. 1580 was passed by the Senate, with
amendments, on May 7, 2009, by the following vote: Yeas 31, Nays 0.
______________________________
Secretary of the Senate
APPROVED: __________________
Date
__________________
Governor