Emergency Sections An agency may adopt a new or amended section or repeal an existing section on an emergency basis if it determines that such action is necessary for the public health, safety, or welfare of this state. The section may become effective immediately upon filing with the Texas Register, or on a stated date less than 20 days after filing, for no more than 120 days. The emergency action is renewable once for no more than 60 days. Symbology in amended emergency sections. New language added to an existing section is indicated by the use of bold text. [Brackets] indicate deletion of existing material within a section. TITLE 1. ADMINISTRATION Part X. Department of Information Resources Chapter 201. Planning and Management of Information Resources Technologies 1 TAC sec.201.5 The Department of Information Resources adopts on an emergency basis an amendment to sec.201.5, concerning review of state agency analyses of project acquisition alternatives. An identical proposed action is filed for simultaneous publication. The amendment is adopted on an emergency basis in order to be in compliance with the provisions of "DIR Review Required" rider in the General Appropriations Act of the 72nd Legislative Session. The amendment is adopted on an emergency basis under the provisions of "DIR Review Required" rider in the General Appropriations Act of the 72nd Legislative Session, which instructs the department to adopt rules and procedures as necessary to govern implementation of that provision. The authorizing legislation prohibits acquisitions of information resources technologies by affected agencies absent approval by the department. The amendment establishes the administrative procedure to enable statutory compliance by the department and affected agencies. sec.201.5. Agency Planning. (a)-(d) (No change.) (e) Appeal procedures. (1) Submittal procedures. A state agency that disagrees with the department's disapproval of a plan, plan amendment, analysis of project acquisition alternatives,
    or procurement may submit a written request to the department for special review no later than 30 working days after notification of department disapproval. (2) (No change.) (f) (No change.) (g) Review of state agency analyses of project acquisition alternatives. (1) Applicability. (A) Departmental review of analyses of project acquisition alternatives is required for: (i) state agency information resources projects over the agency threshold as described in an agency's initial or final operating plan; or (ii) any state agency information resources project or other activity as stipulated by the department in its approval of an initial or final operation plan; except (iii) through August 31, 1993, these provisions shall not apply for any agency projects to expand or enhance existing information resources capacity with no significant change in technical environment. (B) Through August 31, 1993, the provisions of this subsection shall only apply to any state agency with the general appropriation rider entitled "DIR Review Required." (2) Waivers. (A) A waiver shall be granted to any state agency on an emergency basis without first complying with the procedures prescribed by this section for any projects which may become necessary as a result of a natural or human disaster; any order of a court of competent jurisdiction when the ordered period of compliance is less than 90 days; any act of exemption by the Texas Legislature; or other documented emergency conditions. The agency must report and explain to the department any emergency action within 30 days after the action is taken. (B) Through August 31, 1993, a waiver shall automatically apply to any agency whose final operating plan projects are classified only as current operations, normal growth, baseline operations, or growth and expansion, or telecommunications and where the agency's total direct costs for all of those projects are less than $750,000. (C) Through August 31, 1993, a waiver shall apply for any agency projects in progress beyond the planning or feasibility study stage on or before May 1, 1992. Such waivers must be requested in writing by the Information Resources manager. The department will grant or deny waiver requests within 10 working days of receipt of the request, based on evidence of project status. (3) Compliance; adoption by reference. Each analysis of project acquisition alternatives prepared by an agency and submitted to the department must include information in the format specified by the department in the Guide for the Analysis of Project Acquisition Alternatives (hereafter referred to as Guide). Information concerning the Guide adopted by reference may be obtained from the Department of Information Resources. P.O. Box 13564, Austin, Texas 78711. (4) Submittal procedures. (A) Before project initiation beyond the planning or feasibility stage, each state agency shall prepare and submit to the department an analysis of project acquisition alternatives for projects which meet the applicability requirements stated in paragraph (1) of this subsection and which do not qualify for a waiver under paragraph (2) of this subsection. Agency submissions of information for departmental review shall occur within the timeframes specified in the Guide. (B) The Information Resources manager shall sign the transmittal document for the analysis of alternatives. (5) Review procedures. The department may not approve an agency's analysis unless the agency has submitted, and the department has approved, a current agency strategic and operating plan. (A) The department will evaluate alternative analyses: (i) for completeness with respect to published instructions in the Guide. The analysis shall address, but not be limited to, the following factors: (I) start-up costs associated with the acquisition, including, but not limited to, the purchase price of the acquisition, site preparation costs, freight charges, and staff costs; (II) estimated cost of maintenance; (III) estimated cost of supplies; (IV) estimated cost of employee training; (V) estimated cost of additional long-term staff needed; (VI) estimated increase in employee productivity; (VII) consistency with agency plans approved by DIR; (VIII) consistency with statewide standards and policies established in the statewide strategic plan; (ii) for cost-effectiveness in accordance with published instructions in the Guide or other rule of the department; and (iii) for any other information the department deems necessary and appropriate. (B) The department will review and approve or disapprove each analysis of project acquisition alternatives in writing no later than 30 days after receipt of the documents. If the department does not act within the time allowed, the agency may proceed with its project; however, departmental inaction does not exempt the agency, its projects, or its activities from other procedural requirements of the department under this chapter. (i) First review. If the department disapproves an agency's initial analysis, the agency may perform a recertification of the analysis by an independent reviewer and request a second review as specified in the Guide. (ii) Second review. If the department disapproves an agency's second analysis, the agency may appeal the decision to the board, under the provisions of subsection (e) of this section, provided the request for appeal is accompanied by the department's disapproval notices and the independent certification of the analysis. Issued in Austin, Texas, on June 19, 1992. TRD-9208591 Ann S. Fuelberg Executive Director Department of Information Resources Effective date: June 22, 1992 Expiration date: October 20, 1992 For further information, please call: (512) 475-4714 TITLE 4. AGRICULTURE Part IV. State Entomologist Chapter 71. Bees General Provisions 4 TAC sec.71.7 The State Entomologist adopts on an emergency basis sec.71.7, concerning implementation of a European Honey Bee Certification Program for Texas which would allow movement of honey bees from regulated to nonregulated areas, once they are found to be free of Africanization. The plan is patterned after a national plan modified to fit Texas conditions and needs. It was developed after closely reviewing migratory data on Africanized honey bee (AHB), discussions with leaders in the bee industry in Texas and additional interactions nationally with the USDA Interagency Work Group on AHB. Recognizing that AHB cannot be totally stopped, leadership in the bee industry and regulatory programs in Texas has proposed a certification plan that would be acceptable to other states and still allow for the safe movement of commercial honey bees (found to be free of Africanization) from regulated to nonregulated areas. This plan is known as the European Honey Bee Certification Program for Texas. This program was drafted by the Texas Africanized Honey Bee Advisory Committee, a group appointed by the director of Texas Agriculture Experiment Station (TAES), representing beekeepers, agricultural, urban, and other interests and concerns. The new section is adopted on an emergency basis under the Texas Agriculture Code, Chapter 131, sec.131.021, which provides chief apiary inspector with the authority to adopt rules and act as necessary to control eradicate, or prevent the introduction, spread, or dissemination of contagious diseases of bees. sec.71.7. European Honeybee Certification. (a) Definitions. The following words and terms, when used in this section, shall have the following meanings, unless the context clearly indicates otherwise. (1) Beekeeper-A person who owns, leases, or manages one or more colonies of bees for pollination or the production of honey, beeswax, or other by-products, either for personal or commercial use. (2) Certified breeder queen-Any queen in which the progeny can be certified as being of European genetic origin, by using one of the following honey bee identification methods: Fast Africanized Bee Identification System (FABIS); the official Universal System for the Detection of Africanized honey bees (USDA-ID); or any other APHIS-approved identification technique. Certified breeder queens must be clipped or marked, in such a way that they are readily identifiable by inspectors of the Texas Apiary Service. Certified breeder queens can be used to produce other certified breeder queens and can be used for drone source colonies. Any queen produced and mated in areas known to be free of Africanized honey bees will not require certification other than that presently required by Texas Bee Laws. (3) Certified production queen-Any queen produced with larvae obtained from a certified breeder queen and mated under prescribed mating procedures. Certified production queens shall not be used to produce other queens or queen cells, but can be used for European drone source colonies. (4) Certified queen cell-A queen cell containing the immature queen produced from a certified breeder queen. The resulting queen emerging from a certified queen cell will be a certified production queen but shall not be used to produce other queens or queen cells. (5) European drone source colony-A colony of honey bees headed by a certified breeder queen, certified production queen, or queen raised from a certified queen cell, that contains at least five Langstroth deep combs of brood and bees and contains at least 250 square inches of drone comb (the equivalent of one deep comb) in the brood nest. (6) European drone source colony equivalent-Any source of drone (male) bees that is equivalent to the drones produced by a European drone source colony (e.g. the drones contained in the various parts of a divided colony would constitute one European drone source colony equivalent if the colony before division met the definition of a Drone Source Colony). (7) European honey bee certification-A certificate issued to a beekeeper based upon the procedures outlined in this regulation. (8) Honey bee queen and package bee producer-Any beekeeper that produces queens, queen cells, drone semen, package bees, brood or colony nuclei (nuc) for sale or transfer for use by other beekeepers. (9) Managed colonies-Colonies of European honey bees actively managed for production of honey and/or pollination. (10) Mating nuclei-Any colony in which virgin queens emerge from queen cells or into which virgin queens or queen cells are introduced for the purpose of achieving mated queens. (11) Quarantined area-A county or counties in which it has been determined that Africanized honey bees have been established through natural migration, based on trapping or random sampling and subsequent identification procedure at a recognized bee diagnostic laboratory. (b) General procedures. (1) Newly africanized areas. (A) A county is considered as Africanized after the first AHB swarm is captured by established traplines or by random swarm captures, is identified a recognized bee diagnostic lab as being AHB, and its presence is determined not to be man-assisted. The Texas Apiary Inspection Service will then designate it as quarantined county, and may include the area as part of an existing quarantine area. (B) All managed colonies within a newly impacted quarantine area will be allowed to move out of the newly impacted area without European honey bee (EHB) certification for a period of up to 90 days following the official notice to expand the quarantine provided that the proper permits are obtained from the Texas Apiary Inspection Service which comply with existing regulations. (C) If a beekeeper chooses to remain in the quarantined area, the beekeeper must mark or clip queens within the 90-day period following the declaration of the quarantine to ensure that those colonies in the quarantined area will be allowed to move to a nonquarantined area without additional EHB certification. (D) After the initial 90-day period, colonies may be moved out of the quarantined area only if certification procedures, as outlined in this regulation, are followed and currently existing bee law requirements are satisfied. (2) European honey bee certifications. (A) Colonies in the quarantined area with queens that are not marked or clipped will only be certified and permitted to move to a nonquarantined area after the colonies are requeened with queens produced from certified breeder queens. (B) A colony may also receive EHB certification by the Fast Africanized Bee Identification System (FABIS) and/or the current official computer-assisted morphometric procedure, i.e. Universal System for the Detection of Africanized honey bees (USDA-ID). Apiaries may be certified for a calendar year but subject to additional review if requesting to leave a quarantined area for a second time within the calendar year. (C) Honey bee queens may be EHB certified at any time of the year. However, certification requests should be submitted to the inspection service in the fall when the queens are selected as potential breeder queens. Queen producers in nonquarantined areas in Texas may request EHB certification according to procedures outlined previously. (3) Movement of colonies or honey bees. All other Texas bee law pertaining to movement must be satisfied. In addition, the following provisions shall be met. (A) Movement within a quarantined area. Beekeepers, who have managed colonies located in a quarantined area need not be certified to relocate such colonies within that quarantined area unless they provide other beekeepers with honey bee queens, package bees, brood, nucleus colonies (nucs), full sized colonies, or drone semen. (B) Honey bee queen and package bee producers. Honey bee queen and package bee producers located in quarantined areas must use certified breeder queens for the production of certified production queens, certified queen cells, or drone semen. Package bees or nucs originating in quarantined areas shall be produced only from colonies headed by certified production queens. (C) Producers of certified breeder queens. A queen producer may qualify as a producer of certified breeder queens in Texas. EHB queen certification shall be based on laboratory examination of emerging worker honey bee progeny or examination of worker bees collected at least six weeks after successful queen introduction. (D) Colony divisions. Bee colony divisions or splits destined for movement out of a quarantined area should be queened with certified production queens or queen cells from certified breeder queens to facilitate compliance with this regulation. (4) Mating and mating yards. (A) Drones. A minimum of 60 European drone source colony equivalents must be established for each 1,000 or fewer mating nuclei. If colonies are divided, the European drone source equivalent of 60 European drone source colonies will still be required for each 1,000 or fewer mating nuclei. Seventy-five percent of European drone source colony equivalents shall be located within 1/4 mile radius of the mating nuclei yard and the remaining 25% shall be located within one mile of the mating yard. No drones or drone brood may be introduced into colonies or mating nuclei unless they originate from colonies with certified breeder queens or certified production queens. (B) Queens and Requeening. Producers of certified breeder queens and certified production queens are required to requeen drone producing colonies with certified production queens on an annual basis. Queens used in drone colonies may also be certified as queens produced in areas outside of a quarantined area or by progeny tests of worker bees using FABIS, the USDA-ID, or any other APHIS- approved identification technique. Certified breeder queens and European drone source colonies headed by certified production queens must be used if a beekeeper wishes to sell queens, queen cells, or drone semen produced in a quarantined area. (C) Semen and certification. Honey bee drone semen collected within a quarantined area shall originate from only drones produced by certified queens. No certification will be required from semen obtained from drone sources located in nonquarantined domestic areas. (5) Swarms and abandonments. (A) It shall be illegal to retain AHB swarms and/or colonies except for specifically approved research purposes as outlined in subsection (c) of this section, within the quarantine area. (B) All swarms observed or captured in quarantined areas should be destroyed. After a swarm has been destroyed, by using a soap solution, or other acceptable methods, the submission of approximately 50 worker bees for identification by the Texas Apiary Inspection Service is encouraged but optional. There will be no charge to Texas residents for this service. Beekeepers retaining AHB swarms are subject to action by the chief apiary inspector under the Texas Agriculture Code, sec.131.021(a)(3). (C) Research exemptions may be granted to recognized researchers upon written request to the Texas Apiary Inspection Service such requests must outline the research needs, objectives, security precautions, and exact location of the research site(s). Such programs will be subject to periodic inspections and reviews by TAIS and these special research permits are subject to cancellation for due cause. (D) Abandoned apiaries. All abandoned honey bee colonies should be reported to the Texas Apiary Inspection Service and will be dealt with in the manner prescribed under the Texas Agricultural Code, Chapter 131, sec.131.021. (c) Administration and implementation. (1) Management. The EHB Certification Program will be administered by the Texas Apiary Inspection Service as a part of the overall Texas Africanized Honey Bee Management Plan with the cooperation and advice of the beekeeping industry and the Texas AHB Advisory Committee. (2) Review. This European Honey Bee Certification Program will be reviewed periodically, but not less than annually, to determine if there is a continuing need for the program and to incorporate any changes. The review panel will consist of the Texas Africanized Honey Bee Advisory Committee and selected members of the Texas Beekeepers Association as deemed appropriate. (3) Appeals and reviews. Any appeal of a regulatory decision concerning the European Honey Bee Certification Plan must be filed in a written statement to the director of TAES. The head of the Department of Entomology, an associate director of TAES, a representative of the Texas Bee Industry, and/or others designated by the director of the TAES will constitute an appeal committee to resolve issues of dispute between the Texas Apiary Inspection Service and beekeepers or the public. (4) Sampling procedures, fees, and certificates. (A) Sampling and procedures. Beekeepers should contact the Texas Apiary Inspection Service to request a special inspection, and additional information on procedures for EHB certification. The number of samples required for certification review will depend upon two primary factors: prevalence of Africanized honey bees and captured swarms found in the area, and size and diversity of the commercial honey bee operation. Samples will be processed through the honey bee identification laboratory at College Station on a fee basis. Sampling will generally be based on examination of approximately 10% of the total number of colonies to be moved or certified. (B) Fees. Certification fees for the apiary yard inspection and the sampling and lab identification are in addition to other fees that may be assessed by the Texas Apiary Inspection Service and shall consist of: (i) a special EHB certification inspection fee of $75 for apiary yard sampling; (ii) lab identification fees of $25 per sample for the FABIS procedure or $75 per sample when the USDA-ID procedure is required or requested. The following maximum identification fees are anticipated, based on the FABIS procedures at $25/sample for apiaries containing: one to 99 colonies-up to a maximum of $200 for samples, 100 to 1,999 colonies-up to a maximum of $400 for samples, 2,000 or more-up to a maximum of $600 for samples. Lab fee maximums will be increased accordingly, when the USDA-ID procedure is requested or required. (C) Certificates. Two copies of a special European honey bee certification certificate will be issued for apiaries successfully meeting all procedures and sampling reviews. The official certificate will be printed on an 81/2 by 11 inch sheet of white paper displaying a nonduplicative blue background the Texas A&M University seal. Extra official copies will be available at $10 each. Issued in Austin, Texas, on June 19, 1992. TRD-9208595 Dudley T. Smith Associate Director Texas Agriculture Experiment Station Effective date: June 22, 1992 Expiration date: October 20, 1992 For further information, please call: (512) 845-4757