84R9919 AJZ-D
By: King of Uvalde H.B. No. 2120
A BILL TO BE ENTITLED
AN ACT
relating to changing the name of the Department of Agriculture.
BE IT ENACTED BY THE LEGISLATURE OF THE STATE OF TEXAS:
SECTION 1. Effective January 1, 2016, Sections 1.003(1) and
(2), Agriculture Code, are amended to read as follows:
(1) "Commissioner" means the commissioner of
agriculture and consumer protection.
(2) "Department" means the Department of Agriculture
and Consumer Protection.
SECTION 2. Effective January 1, 2016, Chapter 1,
Agriculture Code, is amended by adding Section 1.004 to read as
follows:
Sec. 1.004. COMMISSIONER OF AGRICULTURE AND CONSUMER
PROTECTION; DEPARTMENT OF AGRICULTURE AND CONSUMER PROTECTION. (a)
The commissioner of agriculture is renamed the commissioner of
agriculture and consumer protection. The Department of Agriculture
is renamed the Department of Agriculture and Consumer Protection.
(b) A reference in law to the commissioner of agriculture
means the commissioner of agriculture and consumer protection.
(c) A reference in law to the Department of Agriculture
means the Department of Agriculture and Consumer Protection.
SECTION 3. (a) Effective January 1, 2016:
(1) all powers, duties, rights, and obligations of the
commissioner of agriculture and the Department of Agriculture are
the powers, duties, rights, and obligations of the commissioner of
agriculture and consumer protection or the Department of
Agriculture and Consumer Protection, as applicable; and
(2) any appropriation to the Department of Agriculture
is an appropriation to the Department of Agriculture and Consumer
Protection.
(b) The Department of Agriculture and Consumer Protection
is the successor to the Department of Agriculture in all respects.
All personnel, equipment, data, documents, facilities, contracts,
items, other property, rules, decisions, and proceedings of or
involving the Department of Agriculture are unaffected by the
change in the name of the agency.
(c) The Department of Agriculture shall adopt a timetable
for phasing in the change of the agency's name so as to minimize the
fiscal impact of the name change. Until January 1, 2016, to allow
for phasing in the change of the agency's name and in accordance
with the timetable established as required by this section, the
commissioner of agriculture or the Department of Agriculture may
perform any act authorized by law for the commissioner or the
department as the commissioner of agriculture or the Department of
Agriculture or as the commissioner of agriculture and consumer
protection or the Department of Agriculture and Consumer
Protection, as appropriate. Any act of the commissioner of
agriculture or the Department of Agriculture acting as the
commissioner of agriculture and consumer protection or the
Department of Agriculture and Consumer Protection on or after the
effective date of this section and before January 1, 2016, is an act
of the commissioner of agriculture or the Department of
Agriculture, as appropriate.
SECTION 4. Except as otherwise provided by this Act, 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, 2015, except as otherwise provided by this Act.