Created in General Revenue to receive all fees and penalties collected from certified shellfish dealers who harvest, purchase, handle, store, pack, label, unload at dockside or hold oysters taken from waters of this state. Also receives related penalties.

Uses include:

• collecting baywater and shellfish meat samples;
• contracting for water sample analysis;
• marking boundaries designated as open or closed;
• studying oyster diseases and other concerns;
• studying organisms associated with human illness; and 
• promotion and advertising the Texas oyster industry.

Money in the account shall first be allocated to fund baywater and shellfish meat sample collection and analysis and wholesale, retail, and consumer education. The comptroller may use 2% of collected fees for administration and enforcement. Each fiscal year, $100,000 of the unencumbered balance is to be transferred to Texas A&M University at Galveston for studying organisms associated with human illness.

Exempt from loss of dedication (§ 403.094, Government Code) by H.B. 3050, 74th Leg., R.S.

Amended by S.B. 1685, 76th Leg., R.S.

Transferred from the Department of Health (501) to Department of State Health Services (537) by H.B. 2292, 78th Leg., R.S.

Transfer to A&M at Galveston added by H.B. 1903 and exempted by H.B. 6, 83rd Leg., R.S.