By Driver, Pitts                                      H.B. No. 2420
                                A BILL TO BE ENTITLED
 1-1                                   AN ACT
 1-2     relating to an advertisement sent to a facsimile machine.
 1-3           BE IT ENACTED BY THE LEGISLATURE OF THE STATE OF TEXAS:
 1-4           SECTION 1.  Chapter 37, Business & Commerce Code, is amended
 1-5     by adding Section 37.031 to read as follows:
 1-6           Sec. 37.031.  ADVERTISEMENT SENT TO FACSIMILE MACHINE.  (a)
 1-7     In this section:
 1-8                 (1)  "Advertisement" means any material advertising
 1-9     commercial availability or quality of any property, goods, or
1-10     services.
1-11                 (2)  "Unsolicited advertisement" means an advertisement
1-12     transmitted to any person without that person's prior express
1-13     invitation or permission.
1-14           (b)  A person may not use any telephone facsimile machine,
1-15     computer, or other device to send to a telephone facsimile machine:
1-16                 (1)  an unsolicited advertisement; or
1-17                 (2)  an advertisement that does not contain, in at
1-18     least 12-point type, a toll-free telephone number that the
1-19     recipient may call and address to which the recipient may write to
1-20     request that the sender of the advertisement not send any
1-21     additional advertisements to the facsimile machine.
1-22           (c)  On receipt of a request from a recipient under
1-23     Subsection (b)(2), the person:
1-24                 (1)  shall send the recipient a written acknowledgment
 2-1     of the recipient's request; and
 2-2                 (2)  may not make or cause to be made a transmission to
 2-3     the recipient's facsimile machine, except for a single transmission
 2-4     to comply with Subdivision (1).
 2-5           (d)  A person may not send an advertisement to a telephone
 2-6     facsimile machine before 12 noon or after 9 p.m. on a Sunday or
 2-7     before 9 a.m. or after 9 p.m. on a weekday or Saturday.
 2-8           (e)  This section does not apply to:
 2-9                 (1)  an advertisement that the recipient has given
2-10     express written or oral consent to receive;
2-11                 (2)  an advertisement sent by a trade association to
2-12     its members;
2-13                 (3)  an advertisement for the sale or lease of real
2-14     estate or other real estate brokerage services sent by a licensed
2-15     real estate broker or salesperson to:
2-16                       (A)  another real estate broker or salesperson;
2-17                       (B)  a previous client or customer of the broker
2-18     or salesperson; or
2-19                       (C)  a prospective buyer, tenant, or lessor of
2-20     real estate who has asked to receive advertisements from the real
2-21     estate broker or salesperson.
2-22           SECTION 2.  This Act takes effect September 1, 1999.
2-23           SECTION 3.  The importance of this legislation and the
2-24     crowded condition of the calendars in both houses create an
2-25     emergency and an imperative public necessity that the
2-26     constitutional rule requiring bills to be read on three several
2-27     days in each house be suspended, and this rule is hereby suspended.