2003S0351-1 02/21/03

By:  Kolkhorst                                                    H.B. No. 2392


A BILL TO BE ENTITLED

AN ACT

relating to actions brought under the Deceptive Trade 
Practices-Consumer Protection Act; providing penalties.
	BE IT ENACTED BY THE LEGISLATURE OF THE STATE OF TEXAS:                        
	SECTION 1.  Section 17.47, Business & Commerce Code, is 
amended by amending Subsection (c) and (d) and adding Subsection 
(g) to read as follows:
	(c)  In addition to the request for a temporary restraining 
order, or permanent injunction in a proceeding brought under 
Subsection (a) [of this section], the consumer protection division 
may request, and the trier of fact may award:
		(1)  a civil penalty to be paid to the state in an 
amount of[:
		[(1)]  not less than $1,000 or more than $20,000 
[$2,000] per violation[, not to exceed a total of $10,000]; and [or]
		(2)  [not more than $10,000 per violation, not to 
exceed a total of $100,000,] if [the consumer protection division 
determines that] the act or practice that is the subject of the 
proceeding was calculated to acquire or deprive money or other 
property from a consumer who was 65 years of age or older when the 
act or practice occurred, an additional civil penalty to be paid to 
the state in an amount of not more than $100,000 per violation.
	(d)  The attorney general, acting in the public interest, may 
request or the court may make such additional orders or judgments as 
are necessary to compensate identifiable persons for actual damages 
or to restore money or property, real or personal, which may have 
been acquired by means of any unlawful act or practice.  Damages may 
not include any damages incurred beyond a point two years prior to 
the institution of the action by the consumer protection division.  
Orders of the court may also include the appointment of a receiver 
or a sequestration of assets if a person who has been ordered by a 
court to make restitution under this section has failed to do so 
within three months after the order to make restitution has become 
final and nonappealable.
	(g)  The attorney general, by bringing an action under this 
chapter, acts in the name of the state and does not establish an 
attorney-client relationship with any person or persons, including 
any person to whom the attorney general asks the court to award 
relief.
	SECTION 2.  Section 17.505, Business & Commerce Code, is 
amended by adding Subsections (f) and (g) to read as follows:
	(f)  A person filing a class action suit under Section 17.50 
shall give notice of the suit to the attorney general by sending the 
attorney general, by registered or certified mail:
		(1)  a copy of any notice required by Subsection (a), at 
the same time notice is given to the person against whom the suit is 
filed; and
		(2)  a true copy of the petition not later than the 30th 
day after the date the petition is filed and not later than the 10th 
day before a hearing on class certification or proposed settlement 
in the action.
	(g)  The attorney general, as a representative of the public, 
may intervene in a class action suit filed under Section 17.50 by 
filing a notice of intervention with the court before which the 
action is pending and serving copies of the notice on all parties to 
the action.  The court shall abate the suit for 60 days if the court 
finds that notice was not provided to the attorney general as 
required by Subsection (f).
	SECTION 3.  The change in law made by this Act to Subsection 
(c), Section 17.47, Business & Commerce Code, applies only to a 
cause of action that accrues on or after the effective date of this 
Act.  A cause of action that accrues before the effective date of 
this Act is governed by the law as it existed immediately before the 
effective date of this Act, and that law is continued in effect for 
that purpose.
	SECTION 4.  The change in law made by this Act to Section 
17.505, Business & Commerce Code, applies only to a class action 
suit filed under Section 17.50, Business & Commerce Code, on or 
after the effective date of this Act.  A class action suit filed 
before the effective date of this Act is governed by the law as it 
existed immediately before the effective date of this Act, and that 
law is continued in effect for that purpose.
	SECTION 5.  This Act takes effect September 1, 2003.