Bill Text: TX HB2846 | 2011-2012 | 82nd Legislature | Comm Sub

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Bill Title: Relating to certain procedures and civil penalties under the Deceptive Trade Practices-Consumer Protection Act.

Sponsorship: Partisan Bill (Republican 9)

Status: (Introduced - Dead) 2011-04-20 - Committee report sent to Calendars [HB2846 Detail]

Download: Texas-2011-HB2846-Comm_Sub.html

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82R20300 JE-F
By: Madden H.B. No. 2846
Substitute the following for H.B. No. 2846:
By: Workman C.S.H.B. No. 2846

A BILL TO BE ENTITLED
AN ACT
relating to certain procedures and civil penalties under the
Deceptive Trade Practices-Consumer Protection Act.
BE IT ENACTED BY THE LEGISLATURE OF THE STATE OF TEXAS:
SECTION 1. Sections 17.47(c) and (d), Business & Commerce
Code, are 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 the lesser of:
(A) $10,000 [$20,000] per violation;
(B) $10,000 plus three times the amount of actual
damages caused by the violations; or
(C) 25 percent of the net worth of the person
against whom or which an action under Subsection (a) is brought; 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.
(d) The court may make such additional orders or judgments
as are necessary to compensate identified [identifiable] persons
for actual damages or to restore money or property, real or
personal, that was [which may have been] acquired from identified
persons by means of any unlawful act or practice. An award under
this subsection [Damages] may not include any damages incurred, or
money or property acquired, 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 comply
with an order under this subsection [do so] within three months
after the order [to make restitution] has become final and
nonappealable.
SECTION 2. Section 17.60, Business & Commerce Code, is
amended to read as follows:
Sec. 17.60. REPORTS AND EXAMINATIONS. (a) Whenever the
consumer protection division has reason to believe that a person is
engaging in, has engaged in, or is about to engage in any act or
practice declared to be unlawful by this subchapter, or when it
reasonably believes it to be in the public interest to conduct an
investigation to ascertain whether any person is engaging in, has
engaged in, or is about to engage in any such act or practice, an
authorized member of the division may issue a directive to:
(1) require the person to file on the prescribed forms
a statement or report in writing, under oath or otherwise, as to all
the facts and circumstances concerning the alleged violation and
such other data and information as the consumer protection division
deems necessary;
(2) examine under oath any person in connection with
this alleged violation;
(3) examine any merchandise or sample of merchandise
deemed necessary and proper; and
(4) pursuant to an order of the appropriate court,
impound any sample of merchandise that is produced in accordance
with this subchapter and retain it in the possession of the division
until the completion of all proceedings in connection with which
the merchandise is produced.
(b) The consumer protection division may not require a
person to comply with a directive for action under Subsection
(a)(1), (2), or (3) before the 31st day after the date the person is
issued the directive.
(c) Before the 31st day after the date a person is issued a
directive for action under Subsection (a)(1), (2), or (3), the
person may file a petition, stating good cause, to extend the period
in which the person must comply with the directive or to modify or
set aside the directive. The petition may be filed in the district
court in the county where the parties reside or a district court of
Travis County. The period in which a person may file the petition
may be extended by a written agreement between the person and the
consumer protection division.
(d) A person who files a petition as provided by Subsection
(c) shall comply with the directive as ordered by the court.
SECTION 3. Section 17.61(g), Business & Commerce Code, is
amended to read as follows:
(g) At any time before the return date specified in the
demand, or within 30 [20] days after the demand has been served,
whichever period is longer [shorter], a petition to extend the
return date for, or to modify or set aside the demand, stating good
cause, may be filed in the district court in the county where the
parties reside, or a district court of Travis County. The period in
which a person may file the petition may be extended by a written
agreement between the person and the consumer protection division.
A person who files a petition under this subsection shall comply
with the demand as ordered by the court.
SECTION 4. 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 5. This Act takes effect September 1, 2011.