By Sims                                                S.B. No. 214
       74R2494 DWS-F
                                 A BILL TO BE ENTITLED
    1-1                                AN ACT
    1-2  relating to increased civil penalties for deceptive trade practices
    1-3  against elderly consumers.
    1-4        BE IT ENACTED BY THE LEGISLATURE OF THE STATE OF TEXAS:
    1-5        SECTION 1.  Section 17.47(c), Business & Commerce Code, is
    1-6  amended to read as follows:
    1-7        (c)  In addition to the request for a temporary restraining
    1-8  order, or permanent injunction in a proceeding brought under
    1-9  Subsection (a) of this section, the consumer protection division
   1-10  may request a civil penalty of not more than $2,000 per violation,
   1-11  not to exceed a total of $10,000, to be paid to the state.
   1-12  However, if the act or practice that the proceeding brought under
   1-13  this section seeks to enjoin or restrain is also the subject of a
   1-14  court proceeding brought by an individual who is 65 years of age or
   1-15  older, the consumer protection division may request a civil penalty
   1-16  of not more than $5,000 per violation, not to exceed a total of
   1-17  $25,000, to be paid to the state.
   1-18        SECTION 2.  This Act applies only to a proceeding brought
   1-19  under Section 17.47, Business & Commerce Code, on or after the
   1-20  effective date of this Act.
   1-21        SECTION 3.  The importance of this legislation and the
   1-22  crowded condition of the calendars in both houses create an
   1-23  emergency and an imperative public necessity that the
   1-24  constitutional rule requiring bills to be read on three several
    2-1  days in each house be suspended, and this rule is hereby suspended,
    2-2  and that this Act take effect and be in force from and after its
    2-3  passage, and it is so enacted.