TITLE: Relating to creation of the Screwworm Abatement Trust (SWAT) Fund.

SUMMARY: Relating to creation of the Screwworm Abatement Trust (SWAT) Fund.

FULL TEXT:
AN ACT relating to creation of the Screwworm Abatement Trust (SWAT) Fund. BE IT ENACTED BY THE LEGISLATURE OF THE STATE OF TEXAS: SECTION 1. Subchapter G, Chapter 403, Government Code, is amended by adding Section 403.111 to read as follows: Sec. 403.111. SCREWWORM ABATEMENT TRUST FUND. (a) The Screwworm Abatement Trust Fund is established as a trust fund outside the state treasury with the comptroller as trustee. (b) The trust fund is established to provide a fund from which the comptroller as trustee may support activities related to the prevention, control, and eradication of the New World Screwworm. (c) The trust fund consists of money gifted, granted, donated, or appropriated for deposit to the credit of the trust fund and any interest or other earnings attributable to the trust fund. The comptroller shall hold money credited to the trust fund for use only for screwworm prevention, control, or eradication efforts and expenses incurred in administering the trust fund. The balance of the trust fund may not exceed $50 million at any time. The comptroller may establish in the trust fund one or more accounts to administer money designated for a particular screwworm-related purpose for which money has been credited to the trust fund. (d) The comptroller may distribute money from the trust fund to support screwworm-related programs, research, surveillance, and emergency response activities carried out by public agencies, institutions of higher education, or other governmental entities. (e) The comptroller may coordinate with local, state, federal, and interstate agencies or institutions to ensure the effective use of trust fund resources for intergovernmental screwworm abatement efforts. SECTION 2. This Act takes effect immediately if it receives a vote of two-thirds of all the members elected to each house, as provided by Section 39, Article III, Texas Constitution.