1-1     By:  Ellis                                            S.B. No. 1007

 1-2           (In the Senate - Filed March 6, 1997; March 11, 1997, read

 1-3     first time and referred to Committee on Jurisprudence;

 1-4     April 9, 1997, reported favorably by the following vote:  Yeas 7,

 1-5     Nays 0; April 9, 1997, sent to printer.)

 1-6                            A BILL TO BE ENTITLED

 1-7                                   AN ACT

 1-8     relating to increased civil penalties for deceptive trade practices

 1-9     against elderly consumers.

1-10           BE IT ENACTED BY THE LEGISLATURE OF THE STATE OF TEXAS:

1-11           SECTION 1.  Subsection (c), Section 17.47, Business &

1-12     Commerce Code, is amended to read as follows:

1-13           (c)  In addition to the request for a temporary restraining

1-14     order, or permanent injunction in a proceeding brought under

1-15     Subsection (a) of this section, the consumer protection division

1-16     may request a civil penalty to be paid to the state in an amount

1-17     of:

1-18                 (1)  not more than $2,000 per violation, not to exceed

1-19     a total of $10,000; or

1-20                 (2)  not more than $10,000 per violation, not to exceed

1-21     a total of $100,000, if the consumer protection division determines

1-22     that the act or practice that is the subject of the proceeding was

1-23     calculated to acquire or deprive money or other property from a

1-24     consumer who was 60 years of age or older when the act or practice

1-25     occurred[, to be paid to the state].

1-26           SECTION 2.  This Act applies only to a proceeding brought

1-27     under Section 17.47, Business & Commerce Code, on or after the

1-28     effective date of this Act.

1-29           SECTION 3.  The importance of this legislation and the

1-30     crowded condition of the calendars in both houses create an

1-31     emergency and an imperative public necessity that the

1-32     constitutional rule requiring bills to be read on three several

1-33     days in each house be suspended, and this rule is hereby suspended,

1-34     and that this Act take effect and be in force from and after its

1-35     passage, and it is so enacted.

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