By: Miller of Erath, Gonzalez Toureilles, H.B. No. 1881
      Leibowitz, Guillen, et al.
 
 
A BILL TO BE ENTITLED
 
AN ACT
  relating to the creation of the Texas Equine Incentive Program.
         BE IT ENACTED BY THE LEGISLATURE OF THE STATE OF TEXAS:
         SECTION 1.  Chapter 12, Agriculture Code, is amended by
  adding Section 12.044 to read as follows:
         Sec. 12.044.  EQUINE INCENTIVE PROGRAM. (a)  The department
  shall create and administer an equine incentive program to provide
  an incentive for the owners of certain Texas-based horses to enter
  the horses as participants in horse events in this state. The
  program may apply only to the following breeds of horses:
               (1)  Appaloosa horses;
               (2)  paint horses; and
               (3)  quarter horses.
         (b)  On the filing of an annual report with the applicable
  breeders' association, the owner of a stallion that has bred more
  than five mares during the 12-month period preceding the report
  shall submit a duplicate of the report to the department for the
  sixth and any subsequent mare bred by the stallion. An owner
  required to submit a duplicate breeding report by this subsection
  shall pay the department an equine incentive program fee in an
  amount of not less than $30 per mare bred, as determined by the
  department, in connection with each report submitted to the
  department.
         (c)  An owner required by Subsection (b) to submit a
  duplicate breeding report and equine incentive program fee may
  elect not to participate in the program by giving written notice to
  the department not later than the 30th day before the owner's annual
  breeding report is due to the applicable breeders' association.
         (d)  Notwithstanding Subsection (b), the owner of a stallion
  that has bred fewer than six mares may elect to participate in the
  program by submitting a duplicate breeding report and paying the
  equine incentive program fee required by Subsection (b) for each
  mare bred by the stallion.
         (e)  The department by rule shall provide for the use of fees
  collected under Subsection (b) to grant equine incentive awards to
  the owners of eligible foals that participate in horse events in
  this state. A foal is eligible for an incentive award under this
  section only if an equine incentive program fee has been paid on
  behalf of the foal's dam.
         (f)  The department by rule shall establish a point system by
  which the owner of an eligible foal may receive an equine incentive
  award based on the foal's participation in horse events held in this
  state that are sanctioned by the applicable horse breeders'
  association.
         (g)  The department may use not more than five percent of the
  fees collected under Subsection (b) to administer the program.
         SECTION 2.  This Act takes effect September 1, 2009.