By:  Willis                                           H.B. No. 1899
       73R6575 SRC-D
                                 A BILL TO BE ENTITLED
    1-1                                AN ACT
    1-2  relating to the use of a solicitor by certain veterans'
    1-3  organizations; providing criminal and civil penalties.
    1-4        BE IT ENACTED BY THE LEGISLATURE OF THE STATE OF TEXAS:
    1-5        SECTION 1.  A veterans' organization may not use a solicitor
    1-6  unless the organization has filed a registration statement and a
    1-7  bond in accordance with this Act.
    1-8        SECTION 2.  A person may not act as a solicitor for a
    1-9  veterans' organization unless the person has filed a registration
   1-10  statement and bond in accordance with this Act.
   1-11        SECTION 3.  (a)  A solicitor or veterans' organization may
   1-12  not:
   1-13              (1)  solicit funds in a county in which the veterans'
   1-14  organization does not have a member;
   1-15              (2)  make a materially false statement in a
   1-16  solicitation; or
   1-17              (3)  make a material misrepresentation in a
   1-18  registration statement.
   1-19        (b)  A solicitor may not retain more than 70 percent of the
   1-20  total amount of contributions received.
   1-21        SECTION 4.  A person who knowingly violates this Act commits
   1-22  a Class B misdemeanor.  A person who violates an injunction under
   1-23  this Act is liable for a civil penalty in an amount not to exceed
   1-24  $10,000.
    2-1        SECTION 5.  The attorney general shall enforce this Act.
    2-2        SECTION 6.  This Act does not preempt local ordinances.
    2-3        SECTION 7.  The importance of this legislation and the
    2-4  crowded condition of the calendars in both houses create an
    2-5  emergency and an imperative public necessity that the
    2-6  constitutional rule requiring bills to be read on three several
    2-7  days in each house be suspended, and this rule is hereby suspended,
    2-8  and that this Act take effect and be in force from and after its
    2-9  passage, and it is so enacted.