Bill Text: TX HB1616 | 2013-2014 | 83rd Legislature | Introduced

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Bill Title: Relating to allowing a deer breeder to transfer and sell for processing as venison certain breeder deer.

Spectrum: Partisan Bill (Republican 2-0)

Status: (Introduced - Dead) 2013-04-03 - Left pending in committee [HB1616 Detail]

Download: Texas-2013-HB1616-Introduced.html

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83R1094 SLB-D
By: Phillips H.B. No. 1616

A BILL TO BE ENTITLED
AN ACT
relating to allowing a deer breeder to transfer and sell for
processing as venison certain breeder deer.
BE IT ENACTED BY THE LEGISLATURE OF THE STATE OF TEXAS:
SECTION 1. Sections 43.357(a) and (b), Parks and Wildlife
Code, are amended to read as follows:
(a) The holder of a valid deer breeder's permit may:
(1) engage in the business of breeding breeder deer in
the immediate locality for which the permit was issued; [and]
(2) sell, transfer to another person, or hold in
captivity live breeder deer for the purpose of propagation or sale;
and
(3) transfer and sell live breeder deer not needed for
propagation for the purpose of processing and sale as venison.
(b) The commission may make regulations governing:
(1) the possession of breeder deer held under the
authority of this subchapter;
(2) the recapture of lawfully possessed breeder deer
that have escaped from the facility of a deer breeder;
(3) permit applications and fees;
(4) reporting requirements;
(5) procedures and requirements for the purchase,
transfer, sale, or shipment of breeder deer;
(6) the endorsement of a deer breeder facility by a
certified wildlife biologist;
(7) the number of breeder deer that a deer breeder may
possess; [and]
(8) the dates for which a deer breeder permit is valid;
and
(9) procedures for the identification, transfer, and
sale of live breeder deer not needed for propagation for the purpose
of processing and sale as venison.
SECTION 2. Section 43.364, Parks and Wildlife Code, is
amended to read as follows:
Sec. 43.364. USE OF BREEDER DEER. (a) Except as provided by
Subsection (b), breeder [Breeder] deer may be purchased, sold,
transferred, or received in this state only for the purposes of
liberation or holding for propagation. All breeder deer and
increase from breeder deer are under the full force of the laws of
this state pertaining to deer, and those breeder deer may be held in
captivity for propagation in this state only after a deer breeder's
permit is issued by the department under this subchapter.
(b) Live breeder deer not needed for propagation may be
transferred, processed, and sold as venison only in accordance with
Section 43.357 and either:
(1) Chapter 433, Health and Safety Code, and rules
adopted under that chapter; or
(2) 9 C.F.R. Part 352, as authorized by the federal
Agricultural Marketing Act of 1946 (7 U.S.C. Section 1621 et seq.).
SECTION 3. Subchapter A, Chapter 433, Health and Safety
Code, is amended by adding Section 433.010 to read as follows:
Sec. 433.010. APPLICABILITY OF CHAPTER TO BREEDER DEER.
(a) In this section, "breeder deer" has the meaning assigned by
Section 43.351, Parks and Wildlife Code.
(b) This chapter applies to breeder deer, identified by the
Parks and Wildlife Department for the purpose of processing and
sale as venison, in the same manner that the chapter applies to an
exotic animal.
SECTION 4. This Act takes effect September 1, 2013.