TITLE: Relating to a prohibition on the sale, production, or distribution of lab-grown meat; authorizing a civil penalty.

SUMMARY: Relating to a prohibition on the sale, production, or distribution of lab-grown meat; authorizing a civil penalty.

FULL TEXT:
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.