By Pitts                                              H.B. No. 2777
         76R2541 CLG-D                           
                                A BILL TO BE ENTITLED
 1-1                                   AN ACT
 1-2     relating to the listing of a business location in a telephone
 1-3     directory or database.
 1-4           BE IT ENACTED BY THE LEGISLATURE OF THE STATE OF TEXAS:
 1-5           SECTION 1.  Subchapter E, Chapter 17, Business & Commerce
 1-6     Code, is amended by adding Section 17.462 to read as follows:
 1-7           Sec. 17.462.  LISTING OF BUSINESS LOCATION IN DIRECTORY OR
 1-8     DATABASE.  (a)  A person may not misrepresent the geographical
 1-9     location of a business in the listing of the business in a
1-10     telephone directory or other directory assistance database.
1-11           (b)  A person is considered to misrepresent the geographical
1-12     location of a business for purposes of Subsection (a) if the name
1-13     of the business indicates that the business is located in a
1-14     geographical area and:
1-15                 (1)  the business is not located within the
1-16     geographical area indicated;
1-17                 (2)  the listing fails to identify the municipality and
1-18     state of the business's geographical location; and
1-19                 (3)  a telephone call to the local telephone number
1-20     listed in the directory or database routinely is forwarded or
1-21     transferred to a location that is outside the calling area covered
1-22     by the directory or database in which the number is listed.
1-23           (c)  A person may place a directory listing for a business
1-24     the name of which indicates that it is located in a geographical
 2-1     area that is different from the geographical area in which the
 2-2     business is located if a conspicuous notice in the listing states
 2-3     the municipality and state in which the business is located.
 2-4           (d)  This section does not apply to a publisher of a
 2-5     telephone directory or provider of a directory assistance service
 2-6     publishing or providing information about another business.
 2-7           (e)  A violation of this section is a false, misleading, or
 2-8     deceptive act or practice under this subchapter, and any public or
 2-9     private right or remedy prescribed by this subchapter may be used
2-10     to enforce this section.
2-11           SECTION 2.  This Act takes effect September 1, 1999, and
2-12     applies only to a telephone directory published or directory
2-13     assistance provided on or after that date.  A telephone directory
2-14     published or directory assistance provided before September 1,
2-15     1999, is governed by the law as it existed immediately before the
2-16     effective date of this Act, and that law is continued in effect for
2-17     that purpose.
2-18           SECTION 3.  The importance of this legislation and the
2-19     crowded condition of the calendars in both houses create an
2-20     emergency and an imperative public necessity that the
2-21     constitutional rule requiring bills to be read on three several
2-22     days in each house be suspended, and this rule is hereby suspended.