Texas -

In spite of one of the slowest starts in history of a legislative session, due primarily to late appointments of House committee members by a newly-elected House Speaker, and the legislature having passed only one bill by mid-session, TDA’s legislative platform fared well with losing only two initiates we actively pursued this session.  (Several bills were identified as needing further study and were withdrawn or canceled.)  In the current session, 7,419 substantive House and Senate bills were filed along with 190 proposed constitutional amendments.  Of those, only 1, 459 bills and 9 proposed constitutional amendments were actually passed (and TDA had four of those 1,459 successful bills).  Not bad for a relatively small organization among so many competing bills.  Following is a summary of TDA-supported legislation that passed as well as initiatives that were withdrawn or canceled by the TDA Legislative Team in recognition of various, unforeseen, complexities of the issue that emerged and were determined in need of further study in order to develop satisfactory, comprehensive resolution.   

(The bill’s outcome is referenced by its lead bill number)

 SB 948 by Estes/HB 1444 by Aycock:  Includes deer breeders in loan program at Texas Department of Agriculture.  Directs the Texas Department of Agriculture to include deer breeders under the definitions of ‘agriculture businesses eligible for loans’ (as are currently available for various types of agriculture-related businesses) under the Texas Dept. of Agriculture/Texas Agriculture Finance Authority. 

Outcome:  PASSED.  SIGNED BY THE GOVERNOR. SB 948 was passed unanimously throughout all phases of the legislative process and was one of the first five bills signed by the Governor. 

 SB 1586 by Harris/HB 3560 by Phillips (Co-authored by Senator Eddie Lucio):  Eliminates duplicate deer breeder reporting requirements from Texas Animal Health Commission (TAHC) and Texas Parks and Wildlife Department (TPWD).  Requires TAHC and TPWD to identify and eliminate duplicate deer breeder reporting requirements by developing a universal database; and creates a program which rewards users by reduced permit fees & extended permit intervals to achieve cost-savings and efficiency. 

Outcome:  PASSED.  SENT TO GOVERNOR.  SB 1586 was passed unanimously throughout all phases of the legislative process.

SB 1667 by Estes/HB 1684 by Brown (Co-authored by Representatives Drew Darby, Pete Gallego, Ryan Guillen, Tim Kleinschmidt, David Leibowitz, Sid Miller, Charles “Doc” Anderson, Jimmie Don Aycock, Yvonne Gonzales-Toureilles and Warren Chisum): Provides tuition reimbursement incentives to attract veterinarians willing to locate in rural areas and specialize in care for large animals and deer.

Outcome:  PASSED.  SIGNED BY THE GOVERNOR.  HB 1684 was passed unanimously throughout all phases of the legislative process. 

Funding request to support HB 1684.  (Veterinarian Tuition Reimbursement)

Outcome:  PASSED. 

HB 3113 by Kuempel/SB 1999 by Lucio (Co-authored by Senators Leticia Van de Putte, Jeff Wentworth and Chris Harris): Extends ability to conduct two raffles per year to local chapters/units/affiliates of non-profit fish, fowl and wildlife conservation organizations as long as proceeds from such raffles are not used to influence or intervene in a political campaign or to influence legislation.  

Outcome:  PASSED.  SENT TO GOVERNOR.  HB 3113 was passed unanimously throughout all phases of the legislative process.

Funding request for research for disease, genetics, pharmacology and nutritional studies on free-ranging and farm-raised whitetails at Texas A&M University, College of Veterinary Medicine.

Outcome:  FAILED.  NADeFA continues to pursue similar funding at the national level in support of their successful inclusion of this project in the current U.S. Farm Bill.

SB 923 by Harris/HB 1786 by Kuempel:  Requires TPWD to notify by mail all potentially impacted permit-holders if a proposed increase of DMP, TTT, TTP or DB permit exceeds 300% and/or the number of individuals holding such a permit is less than 200. 

Outcome:  DIED IN FINAL COMMITTEE.  HB 1786 was passed unanimously in the House and scheduled for its final vote in the Senate Committee on Natural Resources on May 27, but the committee failed to get a quorum at that hearing, and the bill fell victim to end-of-session deadlines for further action.   TDA will continue to work on this issue with TPWD during the interim, or for passage in the 82nd Legislative Session, so that permit-holders will be better prepared for the consequences of such exponential fee increases.  

SB 1582 by Harris/HB 4284 by Gonzales-Toureilles:  Enhance penalties for capturing white-tailed or mule deer without proper authorization from TPWD.

Outcome:  CANCELED.  HB 4284 was passed unanimously out of the House Committee; however, cautious of unintended consequences pending additional study, efforts to pursue it further were canceled by the TDA Legislative Team.  TDA will work with stakeholders during the interim to develop acceptable deterrents.   

SB 1583 by Harris/HB 3977 by Hunter: Allow TPWD to directly issue permits to individual landowners for the purpose of Trapping, Transporting and Processing (TTP) Surplus White-tailed Deer.  

Outcome:  DIED ON FINAL CALENDAR.  Both SB 1583 and HB 3977 received unanimous support in the House and the Senate and could have easily been sent on to the Governor at one point, but due to some confusion in the process as well as unrelated stalling tactics in the House during the last days of the session, SB 1583 met the same fate as many other bills that died on the final  calendar.  TDA will likely pursue this issue again in the next session. 

SB 1584 by Harris/HB 3836 by Hilderbran:  Direct TPWD to review Deer Breeder regulation violation penalties and assure appropriate penalties per violation.

Outcome:  WITHDRAWN.  Due to lack of clarity on the complexities of the problem and needed language to address it, TDA leadership determined further work is needed during the interim to comprehensively resolve this issue.  

SB 1585 by Harris/HB 3617 by Thibaut:  Directs TPWD to review and streamline the Trap, Transport and Transplant (TTT) permit program in order to identify and eliminate duplication and achieve greater efficiencies that will result in time and cost-savings for permittees as well as TPWD.

Outcome:  WITHDRAWN.  Due to lack of clarity on the complexities of the problem and needed language to address it, TDA leadership determined further work is needed during the interim to comprehensively resolve this issue.   However, TPWD assures TDA they are interested in addressing this issue through procedures, so TDA will work with the agency during the interim to resolve this problem.

SB 2172 by Harris/HB 4196 by Kuempel:  Creates protections to minimize risk, loss and/or investment for holders of Deer Breeder Permits. 

Outcome:  WITHDRAWN.  TDA leadership determined further work is needed to clarify interpretation of ownership issues and supporting statutory language.

THANK ALL OF YOU for the many, many calls you made in response to our emailed Legislative Alert requests to secure your legislators’ votes at the many stages of the legislative process—all needed in order to get a bill passed.  Thank you especially to our Legislative SWAT team who were willing to make the trip to Austin to provide oral testimony in committees and for the time, energy and sometimes sheer frustration of long, long hours waiting to provide testimony at committee hearings.  THANK YOU PAC COMMITTEE, PAC DONORS AND BUYERS! Absolutely key in all that we do and have done are your donations to the TDA Political Action Committee (PAC) that allow TDA to support our legislators who support us.  Your PAC donations help to assure needed recognition for our organization and access for us to present our issues to legislators in key positions to understand and support the reasons for proposed legislation.  Thank you to our President, Jimmy Hasslocher, and his designated Legislative Team:  Warren Bluntzer, Dr. Scott W. Bugai, Dr. Dick Cain, Karl Kinsel and John Pitts along with our Executive Committee Members: Brian Carter, Bobby Marburger and Gilbert Adams.  These individuals were instantly available by phone, email and in person, when needed, on a 24/7 basis to research, consult, study and strategize on proposed changes, compromises and quick decisions as are so often required in all legislation.  And thank you, TDA Staff, for supporting me, our “Deer Austin” event and our legislative team throughout the past six months and all that you did and do to assure that TDA work, regional meetings, elections, banquets, membership needs and board meetings go on without missing a beat during this fast-paced and demanding time!

Get some rest, everyone! We have 18 months before we have to do it all again!

Lisa Barton, Director
Governmental Relations, Texas Deer Association

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