By Davila                                       H.B. No. 2966

      75R7352 CLG-D                           

                                A BILL TO BE ENTITLED

 1-1                                   AN ACT

 1-2     relating to prohibiting telemarketers from making telephone calls

 1-3     during certain hours; providing a civil penalty.

 1-4           BE IT ENACTED BY THE LEGISLATURE OF THE STATE OF TEXAS:

 1-5           SECTION 1.  Chapter 20, Title 132, Revised Statutes, is

 1-6     amended by adding Article 9001 to read as follows:

 1-7           Art. 9001.  TELEMARKETING PRACTICES

 1-8           Sec. 1.  DEFINITIONS.  In this article:

 1-9                 (1)  "Person" means an individual, corporation,

1-10     organization, business trust, estate, trust, partnership,

1-11     association, or other private legal entity.

1-12                 (2)  "Telemarketing" means soliciting the sale or lease

1-13     of a good or service by making a telephone call to a potential

1-14     buyer, including a call made by an automated dialing or recorded

1-15     message device.  The term includes:

1-16                       (A)  making a telephone call to generate an

1-17     appointment for a later face-to-face sales visit by either the

1-18     caller or the potential buyer;

1-19                       (B)  soliciting permission from a potential buyer

1-20     to receive sales literature from the caller; and

1-21                       (C)  receiving inbound telephone calls for the

1-22     sale or lease of a good or service as a result of any form of

1-23     advertising that induces a potential buyer to make an inbound

1-24     telephone call.

 2-1           Sec. 2.  PROHIBITION OF TELEMARKETING CALLS DURING CERTAIN

 2-2     HOURS; PENALTY.  (a)  A person may not engage in or conduct

 2-3     telemarketing in this state after 9 p.m. or before 10 a.m. on any

 2-4     day, including Saturday, Sunday, or a holiday.

 2-5           (b)  A person who violates this section is liable to the

 2-6     state for a civil penalty not to exceed $1,000 for each violation.

 2-7     The attorney general, at the request of the consumer credit

 2-8     commissioner or on the attorney general's  own initiative, may sue

 2-9     to recover the penalty.

2-10           SECTION 2.  The importance of this legislation and the

2-11     crowded condition of the calendars in both houses create an

2-12     emergency and an imperative public necessity that the

2-13     constitutional rule requiring bills to be read on three several

2-14     days in each house be suspended, and this rule is hereby suspended,

2-15     and that this Act take effect and be in force from and after its

2-16     passage, and it is so enacted.