By: Burrows H.B. No. 3702
A BILL TO BE ENTITLED
AN ACT
relating to the amount of 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 to an
action filed by the consumer protection division under Section
17.47, Business and Commerce Code, on or after the effective date o
f
this Act. A action filed 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.