H.B. No. 1333

	AN ACT
	relating to the sale and purchase of certain fish.
	BE IT ENACTED BY THE LEGISLATURE OF THE STATE OF TEXAS:
	SECTION 1.  Sections 66.020(b) and (c), Parks and Wildlife
	Code, are amended to read as follows:
	(b)  This section applies to the possession, transportation,
	sale, or purchase of any fish described by Subsection (a) without
	regard to where the fish was taken, caught, or raised, but does not
	apply to:
	(1)  the transportation or possession of fish taken,
	caught, or raised outside this state and transported by common
	carrier without being unloaded from outside this state to a point of
	delivery outside this state;
	(2)  fish raised by being continuously fed a prepared
	feed and sold by an operator of a Texas commercial aquaculture
	facility, as defined by Section 134.001, Agriculture Code; [or]
	(3)  the sale of fish described by Subdivision (2) by:
	(A)  a licensed wholesale fish dealer;
	(B)  a licensed retail fish dealer; or
	(C)  a restaurant;
	(4)  bass of the genus Micropterus and crappie if the
	fish are:
	(A)  reared in private water; and
	(B)  sold by an operator of a Texas commercial
	aquaculture facility for the purpose of stocking:
	(i)  water of the state under a permit
	required under Section 66.015(b); or
	(ii)  private water with the documentation
	required under Section 134.018, Agriculture Code; or
	(5)  the lawful importation by the holder of a Texas
	finfish import license into this state from another state or
	foreign country or the exclusive economic zone of farm-raised red
	drum, bass of the genus Micropterus, crappie, flathead catfish,
	striped bass, white bass, or a hybrid of any of those fish that have
	been continuously fed a prepared feed as a primary food source or
	lawfully taken, caught, or raised blue marlin, jewfish, longbill
	spearfish, muskellunge, northern pike, sailfish, sauger, snook,
	spotted sea trout, tarpon, walleye, white marlin, yellow bass, or a
	hybrid of any of those fish, if the fish are [transported or sold
	when not alive and are] tagged, invoiced, packaged, and labeled
	under regulations of the commission and if the license holder
	complies with any requirements the commission may establish by
	proclamation that the fish enter the stream of commerce for sale in
	this state in a condition allowing ready identification of the
	species, including a requirement that the fish come into the state
	with the head and tail intact and tagged and a requirement that an
	invoice accompany all imported fish regulated by this section
	through each sales transaction, including transactions at the place
	of the final sale to the consumer.
	(c)  Notwithstanding Subsection (b)(5) [(b)(3) of this
	section], the commission may allow subsequent sale of lawfully
	imported fish without the head and tail intact and without a tag if
	the fish are labeled in a manner prescribed by the commission and
	the tag when removed is destroyed. A tag, if required, must be of a
	type prescribed by the commission and shall be sold to an applicant
	at a cost as determined by the commission that is reasonable to
	defray the administrative costs incurred in connection with the tag
	requirement.
	SECTION 2.  Sections 66.111(a) and (b), Parks and Wildlife
	Code, are amended to read as follows:
	(a)  Except as provided by Subsection (b), no person may buy
	or offer to buy, sell or offer to sell, possess for the purpose of
	sale, transport or ship for the purpose of sale, or barter or
	exchange[:
	[(1)  freshwater crappie, bass of the genus
	Micropterus, striped bass and hybrids of striped bass, white bass,
	walleye, sauger, northern pike, muskellunge, trout of the family
	Salmonidae, flathead catfish; or
	[(2)]  any [other] fish taken from the public fresh
	water of this state.
	(b)  Subsection (a) does not apply to:
	(1)  [a fish, other than a bass of the genus
	Micropterus, reared in private water by an operator of a commercial
	aquaculture facility, as defined by Section 134.001, Agriculture
	Code;
	[(2)  a fish possessed legally outside this state and
	transported into this state;
	[(3)  bass of the genus Micropterus reared in private
	water by an operator of a commercial aquaculture facility, as
	defined by Section 134.001, Agriculture Code, and marketed for the
	purpose of stocking the water of this state;
	[(4)]  nongame fish regulated under Chapter 67 [of this
	code]; or
	(2) [(5)]  channel catfish of more than 14 inches in
	length or blue catfish of more than 14 inches in length taken from
	the public fresh water of Angelina, Bowie, Camp, Cass, Chambers,
	Franklin, Freestone, Gregg, Hardin, Harris, Harrison, Jasper,
	Jefferson, Lamar, Leon, Liberty, Madison, Marion, Montgomery,
	Morris, Nacogdoches, Navarro, Newton, Orange, Panola, Polk, Red
	River, Sabine, San Augustine, San Jacinto, Shelby, Titus, Trinity,
	Tyler, Upshur, or Walker County, the public fresh water of the
	Neches or Trinity River in Houston County, the public fresh water of
	the Colorado River in Bastrop, Colorado, Fayette, Matagorda, or
	Wharton County, or the public fresh water of Falcon Lake in Starr or
	Zapata County.
	SECTION 3.  Section 66.2012(e), Parks and Wildlife Code, is
	amended to read as follows:
	(e)  This section does not apply to activities that are
	regulated under the exceptions provided by Subdivisions (1), (2),
	and (5) [(3)] of Section 66.020(b) or under Subsections (f) and (g)
	of that section.
	SECTION 4.  Section 66.111(c), Parks and Wildlife Code, is
	repealed.
	SECTION 5.  This Act takes effect September 1, 2023.
	______________________________	______________________________
	President of the Senate	Speaker of the House
	I certify that H.B. No. 1333 was passed by the House on April
	14, 2023, by the following vote:  Yeas 125, Nays 18, 2 present, not
	voting.
	______________________________
	Chief Clerk of the House
	I certify that H.B. No. 1333 was passed by the Senate on May
	10, 2023, by the following vote:  Yeas 30, Nays 0.
	______________________________
	Secretary of the Senate
	APPROVED:  _____________________
	Date
	_____________________
	Governor