Bill Text: TX HB1333 | 2023-2024 | 88th Legislature | Enrolled
Bill Title: Relating to the sale and purchase of certain fish.
Spectrum: Partisan Bill (Republican 2-0)
Status: (Passed) 2023-05-23 - Effective on 9/1/23 [HB1333 Detail]
Download: Texas-2023-HB1333-Enrolled.html
| H.B. No. 1333 | ||
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| relating to the sale and purchase of certain fish. | ||
| BE IT ENACTED BY THE LEGISLATURE OF THE STATE OF TEXAS: | ||
| SECTION 1. Sections 66.020(b) and (c), Parks and Wildlife | ||
| Code, are amended to read as follows: | ||
| (b) This section applies to the possession, transportation, | ||
| sale, or purchase of any fish described by Subsection (a) without | ||
| regard to where the fish was taken, caught, or raised, but does not | ||
| apply to: | ||
| (1) the transportation or possession of fish taken, | ||
| caught, or raised outside this state and transported by common | ||
| carrier without being unloaded from outside this state to a point of | ||
| delivery outside this state; | ||
| (2) fish raised by being continuously fed a prepared | ||
| feed and sold by an operator of a Texas commercial aquaculture | ||
| facility, as defined by Section 134.001, Agriculture Code; [ |
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| (3) the sale of fish described by Subdivision (2) by: | ||
| (A) a licensed wholesale fish dealer; | ||
| (B) a licensed retail fish dealer; or | ||
| (C) a restaurant; | ||
| (4) bass of the genus Micropterus and crappie if the | ||
| fish are: | ||
| (A) reared in private water; and | ||
| (B) sold by an operator of a Texas commercial | ||
| aquaculture facility for the purpose of stocking: | ||
| (i) water of the state under a permit | ||
| required under Section 66.015(b); or | ||
| (ii) private water with the documentation | ||
| required under Section 134.018, Agriculture Code; or | ||
| (5) the lawful importation by the holder of a Texas | ||
| finfish import license into this state from another state or | ||
| foreign country or the exclusive economic zone of farm-raised red | ||
| drum, bass of the genus Micropterus, crappie, flathead catfish, | ||
| striped bass, white bass, or a hybrid of any of those fish that have | ||
| been continuously fed a prepared feed as a primary food source or | ||
| lawfully taken, caught, or raised blue marlin, jewfish, longbill | ||
| spearfish, muskellunge, northern pike, sailfish, sauger, snook, | ||
| spotted sea trout, tarpon, walleye, white marlin, yellow bass, or a | ||
| hybrid of any of those fish, if the fish are [ |
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| under regulations of the commission and if the license holder | ||
| complies with any requirements the commission may establish by | ||
| proclamation that the fish enter the stream of commerce for sale in | ||
| this state in a condition allowing ready identification of the | ||
| species, including a requirement that the fish come into the state | ||
| with the head and tail intact and tagged and a requirement that an | ||
| invoice accompany all imported fish regulated by this section | ||
| through each sales transaction, including transactions at the place | ||
| of the final sale to the consumer. | ||
| (c) Notwithstanding Subsection (b)(5) [ |
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| imported fish without the head and tail intact and without a tag if | ||
| the fish are labeled in a manner prescribed by the commission and | ||
| the tag when removed is destroyed. A tag, if required, must be of a | ||
| type prescribed by the commission and shall be sold to an applicant | ||
| at a cost as determined by the commission that is reasonable to | ||
| defray the administrative costs incurred in connection with the tag | ||
| requirement. | ||
| SECTION 2. Sections 66.111(a) and (b), Parks and Wildlife | ||
| Code, are amended to read as follows: | ||
| (a) Except as provided by Subsection (b), no person may buy | ||
| or offer to buy, sell or offer to sell, possess for the purpose of | ||
| sale, transport or ship for the purpose of sale, or barter or | ||
| exchange[ |
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| water of this state. | ||
| (b) Subsection (a) does not apply to: | ||
| (1) [ |
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| (2) [ |
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| length or blue catfish of more than 14 inches in length taken from | ||
| the public fresh water of Angelina, Bowie, Camp, Cass, Chambers, | ||
| Franklin, Freestone, Gregg, Hardin, Harris, Harrison, Jasper, | ||
| Jefferson, Lamar, Leon, Liberty, Madison, Marion, Montgomery, | ||
| Morris, Nacogdoches, Navarro, Newton, Orange, Panola, Polk, Red | ||
| River, Sabine, San Augustine, San Jacinto, Shelby, Titus, Trinity, | ||
| Tyler, Upshur, or Walker County, the public fresh water of the | ||
| Neches or Trinity River in Houston County, the public fresh water of | ||
| the Colorado River in Bastrop, Colorado, Fayette, Matagorda, or | ||
| Wharton County, or the public fresh water of Falcon Lake in Starr or | ||
| Zapata County. | ||
| SECTION 3. Section 66.2012(e), Parks and Wildlife Code, is | ||
| amended to read as follows: | ||
| (e) This section does not apply to activities that are | ||
| regulated under the exceptions provided by Subdivisions (1), (2), | ||
| and (5) [ |
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| of that section. | ||
| SECTION 4. Section 66.111(c), Parks and Wildlife Code, is | ||
| repealed. | ||
| SECTION 5. This Act takes effect September 1, 2023. | ||
| ______________________________ | ______________________________ | |
| President of the Senate | Speaker of the House | |
| I certify that H.B. No. 1333 was passed by the House on April | ||
| 14, 2023, by the following vote: Yeas 125, Nays 18, 2 present, not | ||
| voting. | ||
| ______________________________ | ||
| Chief Clerk of the House | ||
| I certify that H.B. No. 1333 was passed by the Senate on May | ||
| 10, 2023, by the following vote: Yeas 30, Nays 0. | ||
| ______________________________ | ||
| Secretary of the Senate | ||
| APPROVED: _____________________ | ||
| Date | ||
| _____________________ | ||
| Governor | ||
