2025 · Regular session · House bill
HB3487
HB3487 allows owners of qualifying food service establishments to deduct $2 from taxable sales for each 50 pounds of oyster shells collected at the establishment and supplied to a recycling project through a Comptroller-recognize…
Official caption: Relating to a deduction from the amount of taxable sales used to calculate the amount of sales and use taxes that the owners of restaurants that participate in an oyster shell recycling program are required to remit to the comptroller of public accounts.
Official report lists House author(s): Hunter, Leo Wilson. This does not identify sponsors or amendment drafters.
Bill explanation published · Version and amendment review scope is stated below · Individual amendment records may not be separately annotated.
Bill highlights
Selected points from the published explanation. Follow each point to its source-linked context; conditions and limits may matter.
- HB3487 allows owners of qualifying food service establishments to deduct $2 from taxable sales for each 50 pounds of oyster shells collected at the establishment and supplied to a recycling project through a Comptroller-recognized oyster-shell recycling program.
- The deduction reduces the sales amount on which tax is calculated, not the tax bill dollar-for-dollar.
- The Comptroller may request supporting information, seek Texas Parks and Wildlife Department assistance in recognizing programs and administering the deduction, and adopt rules in consultation with that department and other relevant organizations.
What does it do?
HB3487 allows owners of qualifying food service establishments to deduct $2 from taxable sales for each 50 pounds of oyster shells collected at the establishment and supplied to a recycling project through a Comptroller-recognized oyster-shell recycling program. The deduction is calculated for each establishment for which the taxpayer has a sales-tax permit, for the applicable annual, quarterly or monthly reporting period. Simply discarding shells or joining an unrecognized program does not satisfy these conditions. Final law
The deduction reduces the sales amount on which tax is calculated, not the tax bill dollar-for-dollar. For example, 500 qualifying pounds produce a $20 taxable-sales deduction, not a $20 tax credit. The Comptroller’s implementation summary confirms this treatment. Comptroller guidance
The Comptroller may request supporting information, seek Texas Parks and Wildlife Department assistance in recognizing programs and administering the deduction, and adopt rules in consultation with that department and other relevant organizations. The act incorporates the food-service-establishment definition through Health and Safety Code Section 437.001; it does not cover every shell collector. Signed June 20, it took effect October 1, 2025. Tax liabilities from before that date, including collection and enforcement, remain governed by former law. Official history
What changed along the way?
The introduced, House committee and House-passed versions proposed withholding a discount directly from tax liability, for monthly or quarterly periods. The Senate committee substitute changed it to a taxable-sales deduction, added annual reporting, renumbered the provision as Section 151.434 and expanded the express consultation authority. Those changes survived in the enrolled law. Introduced text · Senate substitute · Text versions
The separate amendment index lists none, but the Senate amendments packet contains the adopted substitute. The House concurred on May 28. The packet and final law were compared; this was a substantive committee-substitute change, not a separately indexed floor amendment. Amendment index · Senate amendments packet
For the full amendment record, open the official amendment index.
Official bill versions
Compare the published text versions in the official text index. A change is not attributed to a specific amendment here without a verified record.
Who could benefit—and who could bear the costs?
Qualifying establishments receive a small tax incentive to participate in recognized shell-recycling programs. Recycling projects could receive more shells, but the law does not guarantee participation levels or environmental results. Establishments may bear collection, storage, delivery and recordkeeping costs; the bill does not promise to reimburse those expenses.
The final fiscal note anticipates no significant fiscal effect on state or local government, explaining that the revenue loss was expected to be small. It does not put a dollar value on the loss or appropriate money. Its descriptive paragraphs retain the earlier provision number and tax-liability wording; those do not override the final law’s taxable-sales deduction. Final fiscal note
Review boundary: This describes the law, not confirmation that a named recycling program is recognized or that a particular taxpayer qualifies. It supplies no return-rounding instruction and does not equate the deduction with the cost of transporting or recycling shells.
Official sources
- Bill history and latest recorded action
- Bill versions, analyses and fiscal notes
- Action history and votes
- Amendment index
Catalog report retrieved 2026-10-25. Check the official record for corrections or later changes.
