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79S30398 CLG-F

By:  Leibowitz                                                    H.B. No. 51 



A BILL TO BE ENTITLED

AN ACT

relating to restrictions on the prices of certain consumer goods 
and services during an abnormal disruption of the market.
	BE IT ENACTED BY THE LEGISLATURE OF THE STATE OF TEXAS:                        
	SECTION 1.  Title 4, Business & Commerce Code, is amended by 
adding Chapter 51 to read as follows:

CHAPTER 51.  RESTRICTED PRICING DURING ABNORMAL DISRUPTION OF 
MARKET
	Sec. 51.001.  DEFINITIONS.  In this chapter:                            
		(1)  "Essential consumer good or service" means a good 
or service that is purchased or provided primarily for personal, 
family, or household purposes and that is necessary for the health, 
safety, or welfare of a consumer.  The term includes residential 
construction.
		(2)  "Merchant" or "wholesaler" does not include a 
governmental entity.
	Sec. 51.002.  UNCONSCIONABLE PRICES PROHIBITED; 
DETERMINATION OF UNCONSCIONABLE PRICE.  (a)  If an abnormal 
disruption of the market for any consumer good or service occurs in 
an area, a merchant or wholesaler may not sell or offer for sale an 
essential consumer good or service in the area for a price that is 
unconscionably excessive.
	(b)  Except as otherwise provided by this subsection, a price 
charged by a merchant or wholesaler for an essential consumer good 
or service is unconscionably excessive as a matter of law if the 
price exceeds by 20 percent or more the price at which the good or 
service was sold or offered for sale by the merchant or wholesaler 
in the usual course of business, or was readily obtainable by 
consumers in the trade area, immediately before the abnormal 
disruption of the market that prevents essential consumer goods or 
services from being readily available.  The price for a room in a 
hotel, as defined by Section 156.001, Tax Code, is unconscionably 
excessive as a matter of law if the price exceeds the daily room 
rate posted as provided under Section 2155.001, Occupations Code.
	(c)  A violation of this section is considered a false, 
misleading, or deceptive act or practice for purposes of Section 
17.46(a), and is subject to action only by the consumer protection 
division of the attorney general's office as provided by Section 
17.46(a).
	(d)  It is an affirmative defense to liability under this 
section that the price charged by the merchant or wholesaler is:
		(1)  attributable to additional costs imposed by the 
merchant's or wholesaler's suppliers or otherwise necessarily 
incurred in procuring the goods or providing the services during 
the abnormal disruption of the market; or
		(2)  the result of increased costs unrelated to the 
abnormal disruption of the market.
	SECTION 2.  This Act takes effect immediately if it receives 
a vote of two-thirds of all the members elected to each house, as 
provided by Section 39, Article III, Texas Constitution.  If this 
Act does not receive the vote necessary for immediate effect, this 
Act takes effect September 1, 2006.