Category: News

Senate Bill 677 is Amended in Committee

SB 677 is amended in Committee;  LSBA changes from Support to Neutral

Senate Bill 677 was amended during Senate Agriculture Committee hearing on March 11th.  As a result Lone Star Beekeepers has changed its position from support of SB 677 to neutral on the bill and made its neutral position known during the hearing.

Senator Bob Hall of District 2 introduced SB 677 at the request of the  Lone Star Beekeepers Association.  As introduced the bill’s scope was the elimination of the permit that beekeepers are required to have in order to cross county lines with bees or beekeeping equipment.  The introduced bill can be read at https://capitol.texas.gov/tlodocs/86R/billtext/html/SB00677I.htm

The scheduling of the Texas Senate Agriculture Committee hearing on Senate Bill 677 spurred other Texas beekeeping associations to propose additional language be added to SB 677.

Other associations were concerned that because of the elimination of $11k per year in permit fees, the Texas Apiary Inspection Service (TAIS) would discontinue maintaining a publicly available list of those offering hive removal services on the Texas Apiary Inspection Service’s website.  So, other associations proposed the creation of an optional beekeeper registration program with associated fees in order to make up for the loss of county to county permit fees.  Leading the effort to add the fee based beekeeper registration was the Texas Beekeepers Association.  In addition to the beekeeper registration, TBA  proposed that Senator Hall add 3 other provision detailed below.  Senator Hall’s office contacted Lone Star Beekeepers Association about the proposed language changes.

While the language change to SB 677 still repeals the county to county bee transport permit, the substitute bill makes 4 other changes unrelated to the county to county bee transport permit.  Those additional changes are: Continue reading “Senate Bill 677 is Amended in Committee”

Texas Legislature Update – 2019 Session

There are no fewer than 10 proposed law changes currently under consideration by the 2019 Texas Legislature that if passed will effect beekeepers.

Lone Star Beekeepers Associations urges beekeepers to study these bills and their potential impact and further urges beekeepers then contact their State Representative and Senator to let them know your opinion.

 

BEEKEEPING REGULATIONS

  • SB 677, as amended:
    1. Repeals the county to county bee transport permit requirement
    2. Refines the legal definition of the terms “Beekeeper”, “Colony” and “Director” while creating a legal definition for the term “Package Bees”
    3. Combines the two separate state import permit and export permits that migratory beekeepers have to apply for annually into a single annual permit.
    4. It allows migratory beekeepers to bring bees into the Texas that have been inspected within the past 12 months by the Texas Apiary Inspection Service.
    5. It changes the name of the existing optional registration from Apiary Registration to Beekeeper Registration and allows the Texas Apiary Inspection Service to charge fees for the beekeeper registration that a beekeeper has the option not to do.

 

  • HB 2670: Same as the amended SB 677, except that beehive removers are not explicitly exempt from paying the registration fee.
  • HB 1723: A narrow scope bill that only repeals the county to county bee transport permit requirement.

Continue reading “Texas Legislature Update – 2019 Session”