By:  Armbrister                                        S.B. No. 169
                                A BILL TO BE ENTITLED
                                       AN ACT
 1-1     relating to the listing of a business location of certain
 1-2     businesses in a telephone directory or database.
 1-3           BE IT ENACTED BY THE LEGISLATURE OF THE STATE OF TEXAS:
 1-4           SECTION 1.  Subchapter E, Chapter 17, Business & Commerce
 1-5     Code, is amended by adding Section 17.462 to read as follows:
 1-6           Sec. 17.462.  LISTING OF BUSINESS LOCATION IN DIRECTORY OR
 1-7     DATABASE.  (a)  A person may not misrepresent the geographical
 1-8     location of a business that derives 50 percent or more of its gross
 1-9     income from the sale or arranging for the sale of flowers or floral
1-10     arrangements in the listing of the business in a telephone
1-11     directory or other directory assistance database.
1-12           (b)  A person is considered to misrepresent the geographical
1-13     location of a business for purposes of Subsection (a) if the name
1-14     of the business indicates that the business is located in a
1-15     geographical area and:
1-16                 (1)  the business is not located within the
1-17     geographical area indicated;
1-18                 (2)  the listing fails to identify the municipality and
1-19     state of the business's geographical location; and
1-20                 (3)  a telephone call to the local telephone number
1-21     listed in the directory or database routinely is forwarded or
1-22     transferred to a location that is outside the calling area covered
1-23     by the directory or database in which the number is listed.
1-24           (c)  A person may place a directory listing for a business
 2-1     described by Subsection (a) the name of which indicates that it is
 2-2     located in a geographical area that is different from the
 2-3     geographical area in which the business is located if a conspicuous
 2-4     notice in the listing states the municipality and state in which
 2-5     the business is located.
 2-6           (d)  This section does not apply to a publisher of a
 2-7     telephone directory or provider of a directory assistance service
 2-8     publishing or providing information about another business.
 2-9           (e)  A violation of this section is a false, misleading, or
2-10     deceptive act or practice under this subchapter, and any public or
2-11     private right or remedy prescribed by this subchapter may be used
2-12     to enforce this section.
2-13           SECTION 2.  This Act takes effect September 1, 1999, and
2-14     applies only to a telephone directory published or directory
2-15     assistance provided on or after that date.  A telephone directory
2-16     published or directory assistance provided before September 1,
2-17     1999, is governed by the law as it existed immediately before the
2-18     effective date of this Act, and that law is continued in effect for
2-19     that purpose.
2-20           SECTION 3.  The importance of this legislation and the
2-21     crowded condition of the calendars in both houses create an
2-22     emergency and an imperative public necessity that the
2-23     constitutional rule requiring bills to be read on three several
2-24     days in each house be suspended, and this rule is hereby suspended.