Bill Text: TX HB4620 | 2019-2020 | 86th Legislature | Introduced

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Bill Title: Relating to civil penalties the attorney general may seek to recover under the Deceptive Trade Practices-Consumer Protection Act.

Spectrum: Partisan Bill (Republican 1-0)

Status: (Introduced - Dead) 2019-03-26 - Referred to Business & Industry [HB4620 Detail]

Download: Texas-2019-HB4620-Introduced.html

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By: Toth H.B. No. 4620

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.