The Texas Animal Health Commission has opened a public comment period on four rule proposals that would reshape how the state handles veterinary inspection certificates, New World screwworm inspectors, sheep and goat entry requirements, and exhibition poultry moving across state lines. Comments are open from Sept. 11 through Oct. 11, according to a Sept. 11 news release from the agency.
The proposals were authorized at the commission’s regularly scheduled meeting on Aug. 25, 2026, at its Austin headquarters, the agency said. Commission rules move through a proposal stage and an adoption stage, with proposals published in the Texas Register for at least 30 days of comment before adoption.
The broadest change would repeal Chapter 33, Fees, in its entirety and replace it with a new Chapter 33 titled Certificates of Veterinary Inspection. According to the agency, the new chapter reflects the state’s transition to electronic certificates of veterinary inspection, and it would carry the associated fees assessed by the commission along with new enforcement and penalty rules.
A second proposal would add a new subchapter to Chapter 47, Authorized Personnel, titled New World Screwworm. The agency said the subchapter would set standards for people authorized to work as a New World screwworm certified inspector, establishing application, training and recordkeeping requirements and spelling out grounds for suspension and revocation of that status.
Under the Chapter 51 proposal, the commission would repeal Section 51.11, which covers goats, and fold those requirements into Section 51.12, which covers sheep. The combined section would be renamed Sheep and Goats, merging scrapie and tuberculosis restricted zone entry requirements for the two species and updating language to reflect the move to electronic certificates. The agency said the change is intended to reduce unnecessary and unused rules.
The Chapter 57 poultry proposal would require Texas exhibition birds to leave the state on a certificate of veterinary inspection, supported by a negative pullorum-typhoid test and a negative avian influenza test issued within 30 days before movement. Birds could return on the same certificate within its validity period if they were not exhibited in a state affected by highly pathogenic avian influenza, showed no signs of illness and were not quarantined at the event. Birds that traveled to a state already designated as affected at the time of movement could not reenter under those provisions, the agency said.
Comments may be submitted to Amanda Bernhard at the Texas Animal Health Commission, 2105 Kramer Lane, Austin, Texas 78758, by fax at 512-719-0719 or by email to comments@tahc.texas.gov, the agency said. Complete details of each proposal are posted on the commission’s website.