| |
| |
|
|
A BILL TO BE ENTITLED
|
|
|
AN ACT
|
|
|
relating to a prohibition on the sale, production, or distribution |
|
|
of lab-grown meat; authorizing a civil penalty. |
|
|
BE IT ENACTED BY THE LEGISLATURE OF THE STATE OF TEXAS: |
|
|
SECTION 1. Subtitle C, Title 5, Business & Commerce Code, is |
|
|
amended by adding Chapter 121 to read as follows: |
|
|
CHAPTER 121. SALE, PRODUCTION, OR DISTRIBUTION OF LAB-GROWN MEAT |
|
|
Sec. 121.0001. DEFINITION. In this chapter, "lab-grown |
|
|
meat" means a food product derived in a laboratory by harvesting |
|
|
animal cells and artificially replicating those cells in a growth |
|
|
medium separate from a parent animal to produce tissue for the |
|
|
product. |
|
|
Sec. 121.0002. PROHIBITED SALE, PRODUCTION, OR |
|
|
DISTRIBUTION OF LAB-GROWN MEAT. A person may not sell, produce, or |
|
|
distribute lab-grown meat in this state. |
|
|
Sec. 121.0003. CIVIL PENALTY; INJUNCTIVE RELIEF. (a) A |
|
|
person who violates Section 121.0002 is liable to this state for a |
|
|
civil penalty in the amount of $1,000 for each violation. |
|
|
(b) The attorney general may bring an action in the name of |
|
|
the state: |
|
|
(1) for injunctive relief to require compliance with |
|
|
Section 121.0002; |
|
|
(2) to recover a civil penalty under this section; or |
|
|
(3) for both injunctive relief and to recover the |
|
|
civil penalty. |
|
|
(c) The action may be brought in a district court in: |
|
|
(1) Travis County; or |
|
|
(2) a county in which any part of the violation or |
|
|
threatened violation occurs. |
|
|
(d) A civil penalty collected under this section shall be |
|
|
deposited in the state treasury to the credit of the general revenue |
|
|
fund. |
|
|
(e) The attorney general may recover costs incurred in |
|
|
bringing the action, including reasonable attorney's fees and |
|
|
reasonable investigative costs. |
|
|
SECTION 2. If any provision of this Act or its application |
|
|
to any person or circumstance is held invalid, the invalidity does |
|
|
not affect other provisions or applications of this Act that can be |
|
|
given effect without the invalid provision or application, and to |
|
|
this end the provisions of this Act are declared severable. |
|
|
SECTION 3. Chapter 121, Business & Commerce Code, as added |
|
|
by this Act, applies only to a cause of action that accrues on or |
|
|
after the effective date of this Act. |
|
|
SECTION 4. This Act takes effect on the 91st day after the |
|
|
last day of the legislative session. |