| |
| |
|
|
A BILL TO BE ENTITLED
|
|
|
AN ACT
|
|
|
relating to civil penalties the attorney general may seek to |
|
|
recover under the Deceptive Trade Practices-Consumer Protection |
|
|
Act. |
|
|
BE IT ENACTED BY THE LEGISLATURE OF THE STATE OF TEXAS: |
|
|
SECTION 1. Section 17.47(c), 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 in an amount of: |
|
|
(1) not more than $10,000 [$20,000] per 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 |
|
|
an action filed by the consumer protection division under Section |
|
|
17.47, Business and Commerce Code, on or after the effective date of |
|
|
this Act. An action filed by the consumer protection division under |
|
|
Section 17.47, Business and Commerce Code, before the effective |
|
|
date of this Act is governed by the law in effect on the date the |
|
|
action is filed, and the former law is continued in effect for that |
|
|
purpose. |
|
|
SECTION 3. This Act takes effect September 1, 2019. |