By Yarbrough H.B. No. 3545
Line and page numbers may not match official copy.
Bill not drafted by TLC or Senate E&E.
A BILL TO BE ENTITLED
1-1 AN ACT
1-2 relating to business competition, economic development and
1-3 prohibiting the sale or purchase of toner cartridges with
1-4 restrictions on the recycling or remanufacturing.
1-5 BE IT ENACTED BY THE LEGISLATURE OF THE STATE OF TEXAS:
1-6 SECTION 1. Subchapter A, Chapter 15, Section 15.05, Business
1-7 and Commerce Code, is amended to read as follows:
1-8 Sec. 15.05. Unlawful Practices
1-9 (a) Every contract, combination, or conspiracy in restraint
1-10 of trade or commerce is unlawful.
1-11 (b) It is unlawful for any person to monopolize, attempt to
1-12 monopolize, or conspire to monopolize any part of trade or
1-13 commerce.
1-14 (c) It is unlawful for any person to sell, lease, or
1-15 contract for the sale or lease of any goods, whether patented or
1-16 unpatented, for use, consumption, or resale or to fix a price for
1-17 such use, consumption, or resale or to discount from or rebate upon
1-18 such price, on the condition, agreement, or understanding that the
1-19 purchaser or lessee shall not use or deal in the goods of a
1-20 competitor or competitors of the seller or lessor, where the effect
1-21 of the condition, agreement, or understanding may be to lessen
2-1 competition substantially in any line of trade or commerce.
2-2 (d) It is unlawful for any person to acquire, directly or
2-3 indirectly, the whole or any part of the stock or other share
2-4 capital or the assets of any other person or persons, where the
2-5 effect of such acquisition may be to lessen competition
2-6 substantially in any line of trade or commerce. This subsection
2-7 shall not be construed:
2-8 (1) to prohibit the purchase of stock or other share
2-9 capital of another person where the purchase is made solely for
2-10 investment and does not confer control of that person in a manner
2-11 that could substantially lessen competition;
2-12 (2) to prevent a corporation from forming subsidiary
2-13 or parent corporations for the purpose of conducting its
2-14 immediately lawful business, or any natural and legitimate branch
2-15 extensions of such business, or from owning and holding all or a
2-16 part of the stock or other share capital of a subsidiary, or
2-17 transferring all or part of its stock or other share capital to be
2-18 owned and held by a parent, where the effect of such a transaction
2-19 is not to lessen competition substantially;
2-20 (3) to affect or impair any right previously legally
2-21 acquired; or
2-22 (4) to apply to transactions duly consummated pursuant
2-23 to authority given by any statute of this state or of the United
2-24 States or pursuant to authority or approval given by any regulatory
2-25 agency of this state or of the United States under any
3-1 constitutional or statutory provisions vesting the agency with such
3-2 power.
3-3 (e) It is unlawful to purchase or sell a toner cartridge
3-4 with restrictions on its resale, reuse or remanufacture.
3-5 [(e)] (f) It is unlawful for an employer and a labor union
3-6 or other organization to agree or combine so that:
3-7 (1) a person is denied the right to work for an
3-8 employer because of membership or nonmembership in the labor union
3-9 or other organization; or
3-10 (2) membership or nonmembership in the labor union or
3-11 other organization is made a condition of obtaining or keeping a
3-12 job with the employer.
3-13 [(f)] (g) It is not unlawful for:
3-14 (1) employees to agree to quit their employment or to
3-15 refuse to deal with tangible personal property of their immediate
3-16 employer, unless their refusal to deal with tangible personal
3-17 property of their immediate employer is intended to induce or has
3-18 the effect of inducing that employer to refrain from buying or
3-19 otherwise acquiring tangible personal property from a person; or
3-20 (2) persons to agree to refer for employment a
3-21 migratory worker who works on seasonal crops if the referral is
3-22 made irrespective of whether or not the worker belongs to a labor
3-23 union or organization.
3-24 [(g)] (h) Nothing in this section shall be construed to
3-25 prohibit activities that are exempt from the operation of the
4-1 federal antitrust laws, 15 U.S.C. Section 1 et seq., except that
4-2 an exemption otherwise available under the McCarran-Ferguson Act
4-3 (15 U.S.C. Sections 1011-1015) does not serve to exempt activities
4-4 under this Act. Nothing in this section shall apply to actions
4-5 required or affirmatively approved by any statute of this state or
4-6 of the United States or by a regulatory agency of this state or of
4-7 the United States duly acting under any constitutional or statutory
4-8 authority vesting the agency with such power.
4-9 [(h)] (i) In any lawsuit alleging a contract, combination,
4-10 or conspiracy to fix prices, evidence of uniform prices alone shall
4-11 not be sufficient to establish a violation of Subsection (a) of
4-12 Section 15.05.
4-13 [(i)] (j) In determining whether a restraint related to the
4-14 sale or delivery of professional services is reasonable, except in
4-15 cases involving price fixing, or other per se violations, the court
4-16 may consider, but shall not reach its decision solely on the basis
4-17 of, criteria which include:
4-18 (1) whether the activities involved maintain or
4-19 improve the quality of such services to benefit the public
4-20 interest;
4-21 (2) whether the activities involved limit or reduce
4-22 the cost of such services to benefit the public interest. For
4-23 purposes of this subsection, the term "professional services" means
4-24 services performed by any licensed accountant, physician, or
4-25 professional engineer in connection with his or her professional
5-1 employment or practice.
5-2 SECTION 3. This Act takes effect September 1, 1999.
5-3 SECTION 4. The importance of this legislation and the
5-4 crowded condition of the calendars in both houses create an
5-5 emergency and an imperative public necessity that the
5-6 constitutional rule requiring bills to be read on three several
5-7 days in each house be suspended, and this rule is hereby suspended.