By: Hegar  S.B. No. 1166
         (In the Senate - Filed March 5, 2013; March 12, 2013, read
  first time and referred to Committee on State Affairs;
  April 24, 2013, reported adversely, with favorable Committee
  Substitute by the following vote:  Yeas 6, Nays 3; April 24, 2013,
  sent to printer.)
 
  COMMITTEE SUBSTITUTE FOR S.B. No. 1166 By:  Deuell
 
 
A BILL TO BE ENTITLED
 
AN ACT
 
  relating to civil penalties under the Deceptive Trade
  Practices-Consumer Protection Act.
         BE IT ENACTED BY THE LEGISLATURE OF THE STATE OF TEXAS:
         SECTION 1.  Subsection (c), Section 17.47, Business &
  Commerce Code, is amended 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, a civil penalty to be
  paid to the state.  The amount of the civil penalty under this
  subsection shall be determined by the trier of fact and may be [in
  an amount of]:
               (1)  not more than:
                     (A)  $10,000 [$20,000] per violation; or
                     (B)  $20,000 per violation, if the trier of fact
  finds that the person intentionally committed the violation; and
               (2)  if 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 amount of not more than
  $250,000.
         SECTION 2.  The changes in law made by this Act apply only to
  a violation of the Deceptive Trade Practices-Consumer Protection
  Act that occurs on or after the effective date of this Act. A
  violation of the Deceptive Trade Practices-Consumer Protection Act
  that occurs before the effective date of this Act is governed by the
  law in effect on the date the violation occurred, and the former law
  is continued in effect for that purpose.  For purposes of this
  section, a violation occurs before the effective date of this Act if
  any element of the violation occurs before that date.
         SECTION 3.  This Act takes effect September 1, 2013.
 
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