Texas 2021 - 87th Regular

Texas House Bill HB3854 Latest Draft

Bill / Introduced Version Filed 03/11/2021

                            87R8770 MP-F
 By: Rogers H.B. No. 3854


 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.