Texas 2021 - 87th Regular

Texas House Bill HB3568 Compare Versions

Version 1 (Old)

Version 2 (New)

Old	New		Differences
1		-	By: Kacal (Senate Sponsor - Kolkhorst) H.B. No. 3568
2		-	(In the Senate - Received from the House April 26, 2021;
3		-	May 10, 2021, read first time and referred to Committee on Water,
4		-	Agriculture & Rural Affairs; May 21, 2021, reported favorably by
5		-	the following vote: Yeas 8, Nays 0; May 21, 2021, sent to printer.)
6		-	Click here to see the committee vote
	1	+	87R17500 MP-D
	2	+	By: Kacal H.B. No. 3568
7	3
8	4
9	5		A BILL TO BE ENTITLED
10	6		AN ACT
11	7		relating to the sale and purchase of certain fish.
12	8		BE IT ENACTED BY THE LEGISLATURE OF THE STATE OF TEXAS:
13	9		SECTION 1. Sections 66.020(b) and (c), Parks and Wildlife
14	10		Code, are amended to read as follows:
15	11		(b) This section applies to the possession, transportation,
16	12		sale, or purchase of any fish described by Subsection (a) [of this
17	13		section] without regard to where the fish was taken, caught, or
18	14		raised, but does not apply to:
19	15		(1) the transportation or possession of fish taken,
20	16		caught, or raised outside this state and transported by common
21	17		carrier without being unloaded from outside this state to a point of
22	18		delivery outside this state;
23	19		(2) fish raised by being continuously fed a prepared
24	20		feed and sold by a licensed Texas fish farmer if marked and
25	21		identified as required under Chapter 134, Agriculture Code; [or]
26	22		(3) the sale of fish described by Subdivision (2) by:
27	23		(A) a licensed wholesale fish dealer;
28	24		(B) a licensed retail fish dealer; or
29	25		(C) a restaurant;
30	26		(4) bass of the genus Micropterus and crappie if the
31	27		fish are:
32	28		(A) reared in private water; and
33	29		(B) sold by the holder of an aquaculture license
34	30		for the purpose of stocking:
35	31		(i) water of the state under a permit
36	32		required under Section 66.015(b); or
37	33		(ii) private water with the documentation
38	34		required under Section 134.018, Agriculture Code; or
39	35		(5) the lawful importation by the holder of a Texas
40	36		finfish import license into this state from another state or
41	37		foreign country or the exclusive economic zone of farm-raised red
42	38		drum, bass of the genus Micropterus, crappie, flathead catfish,
43	39		striped bass, white bass, or a hybrid of any of those fish that have
44	40		been continuously fed a prepared feed as a primary food source or
45	41		lawfully taken, caught, or raised blue marlin, jewfish, longbill
46	42		spearfish, muskellunge, northern pike, sailfish, sauger, snook,
47	43		spotted sea trout, tarpon, walleye, white marlin, yellow bass, or a
48	44		hybrid of any of those fish, if the fish are [transported or sold
49	45		when not alive and are] tagged, invoiced, packaged, and labeled
50	46		under regulations of the commission and if the license holder
51	47		complies with any requirements the commission may establish by
52	48		proclamation that the fish enter the stream of commerce for sale in
53	49		this state in a condition allowing ready identification of the
54	50		species, including a requirement that the fish come into the state
55	51		with the head and tail intact and tagged and a requirement that an
56	52		invoice accompany all imported fish regulated by this section
57	53		through each sales transaction, including transactions at the place
58	54		of the final sale to the consumer.
59	55		(c) Notwithstanding Subsection (b)(5) [(b)(3) of this
60	56		section], the commission may allow subsequent sale of lawfully
61	57		imported fish without the head and tail intact and without a tag if
62	58		the fish are labeled in a manner prescribed by the commission and
63	59		the tag when removed is destroyed. A tag, if required, must be of a
64	60		type prescribed by the commission and shall be sold to an applicant
65	61		at a cost as determined by the commission that is reasonable to
66	62		defray the administrative costs incurred in connection with the tag
67	63		requirement.
68	64		SECTION 2. Sections 66.111(a) and (b), Parks and Wildlife
69	65		Code, are amended to read as follows:
70	66		(a) Except as provided by Subsection (b) no person may buy
71	67		or offer to buy, sell or offer to sell, possess for the purpose of
72	68		sale, transport or ship for the purpose of sale, or barter or
73	69		exchange[:
74	70		[(1) freshwater crappie, bass of the genus Micropterus,
75	71		striped bass and hybrids of striped bass, white bass, walleye,
76	72		sauger, northern pike, muskellunge, trout of the family Salmonidae,
77	73		flathead catfish; or
78	74		[(2)] any [other] fish taken from the public fresh water
79	75		of this state.
80	76		(b) Subsection (a) [of this section] does not apply to:
81	77		(1) [a fish, other than a bass of the genus
82	78		Micropterus, reared in private water under a fish farmer's license;
83	79		[(2) a fish possessed legally outside this state and
84	80		transported into this state;
85	81		[(3) bass of the genus Micropterus reared in private
86	82		water under a fish farmer's license and marketed for the purpose of
87	83		stocking the water of this state;
88	84		[(4)] nongame fish regulated under Chapter 67 [of this
89	85		code]; or
90	86		(2) [(5)] channel catfish of more than 14 inches in
91	87		length or blue catfish of more than 14 inches in length taken from
92	88		the public fresh water of Angelina, Bowie, Camp, Cass, Chambers,
93	89		Franklin, Freestone, Gregg, Hardin, Harris, Harrison, Jasper,
94	90		Jefferson, Lamar, Leon, Liberty, Madison, Marion, Montgomery,
95	91		Morris, Nacogdoches, Navarro, Newton, Orange, Panola, Polk, Red
96	92		River, Sabine, San Augustine, San Jacinto, Shelby, Titus, Trinity,
97	93		Tyler, Upshur, or Walker County, the public fresh water of the
98	94		Neches or Trinity River in Houston County, the public fresh water of
99	95		the Colorado River in Bastrop, Colorado, Fayette, Matagorda, or
100	96		Wharton County, or the public fresh water of Falcon Lake in Starr or
101	97		Zapata County.
102	98		SECTION 3. Section 66.2012(e), Parks and Wildlife Code, is
103	99		amended to read as follows:
104	100		(e) This section does not apply to activities that are
105	101		regulated under the exceptions provided by Subdivisions (1), (2),
106	102		and (5) [(3)] of Section 66.020(b) or under Subsections (f) and (g)
107	103		of that section.
108	104		SECTION 4. Section 66.111(c), Parks and Wildlife Code, is
109	105		repealed.
110	106		SECTION 5. This Act takes effect September 1, 2021.
111		-	* * * * *