Texas 2025 - 89th Regular

Texas House Bill HB495 Compare Versions

Only one version of the bill is available at this time.

Old	New	Differences
1	1	89R789 ATP-D
2	2	By: Patterson H.B. No. 495
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7	7	A BILL TO BE ENTITLED
8	8	AN ACT
9	9	relating to the deceptive trade practice of providing false or
10	10	misleading information regarding the health of an animal being sold
11	11	or offered for sale.
12	12	BE IT ENACTED BY THE LEGISLATURE OF THE STATE OF TEXAS:
13	13	SECTION 1. Section 17.46(b), Business & Commerce Code, is
14	14	amended to read as follows:
15	15	(b) Except as provided in Subsection (d) of this section,
16	16	the term "false, misleading, or deceptive acts or practices"
17	17	includes, but is not limited to, the following acts:
18	18	(1) passing off goods or services as those of another;
19	19	(2) causing confusion or misunderstanding as to the
20	20	source, sponsorship, approval, or certification of goods or
21	21	services;
22	22	(3) causing confusion or misunderstanding as to
23	23	affiliation, connection, or association with, or certification by,
24	24	another;
25	25	(4) using deceptive representations or designations
26	26	of geographic origin in connection with goods or services;
27	27	(5) representing that goods or services have
28	28	sponsorship, approval, characteristics, ingredients, uses,
29	29	benefits, or quantities which they do not have or that a person has
30	30	a sponsorship, approval, status, affiliation, or connection which
31	31	the person does not;
32	32	(6) representing that goods are original or new if
33	33	they are deteriorated, reconditioned, reclaimed, used, or
34	34	secondhand;
35	35	(7) representing that goods or services are of a
36	36	particular standard, quality, or grade, or that goods are of a
37	37	particular style or model, if they are of another;
38	38	(8) disparaging the goods, services, or business of
39	39	another by false or misleading representation of facts;
40	40	(9) advertising goods or services with intent not to
41	41	sell them as advertised;
42	42	(10) advertising goods or services with intent not to
43	43	supply a reasonable expectable public demand, unless the
44	44	advertisements disclosed a limitation of quantity;
45	45	(11) making false or misleading statements of fact
46	46	concerning the reasons for, existence of, or amount of price
47	47	reductions;
48	48	(12) representing that an agreement confers or
49	49	involves rights, remedies, or obligations which it does not have or
50	50	involve, or which are prohibited by law;
51	51	(13) knowingly making false or misleading statements
52	52	of fact concerning the need for parts, replacement, or repair
53	53	service;
54	54	(14) misrepresenting the authority of a salesman,
55	55	representative or agent to negotiate the final terms of a consumer
56	56	transaction;
57	57	(15) basing a charge for the repair of any item in
58	58	whole or in part on a guaranty or warranty instead of on the value of
59	59	the actual repairs made or work to be performed on the item without
60	60	stating separately the charges for the work and the charge for the
61	61	warranty or guaranty, if any;
62	62	(16) disconnecting, turning back, or resetting the
63	63	odometer of any motor vehicle so as to reduce the number of miles
64	64	indicated on the odometer gauge;
65	65	(17) advertising of any sale by fraudulently
66	66	representing that a person is going out of business;
67	67	(18) advertising, selling, or distributing a card
68	68	which purports to be a prescription drug identification card issued
69	69	under Section 4151.152, Insurance Code, in accordance with rules
70	70	adopted by the commissioner of insurance, which offers a discount
71	71	on the purchase of health care goods or services from a third party
72	72	provider, and which is not evidence of insurance coverage, unless:
73	73	(A) the discount is authorized under an agreement
74	74	between the seller of the card and the provider of those goods and
75	75	services or the discount or card is offered to members of the
76	76	seller;
77	77	(B) the seller does not represent that the card
78	78	provides insurance coverage of any kind; and
79	79	(C) the discount is not false, misleading, or
80	80	deceptive;
81	81	(19) using or employing a chain referral sales plan in
82	82	connection with the sale or offer to sell of goods, merchandise, or
83	83	anything of value, which uses the sales technique, plan,
84	84	arrangement, or agreement in which the buyer or prospective buyer
85	85	is offered the opportunity to purchase merchandise or goods and in
86	86	connection with the purchase receives the seller's promise or
87	87	representation that the buyer shall have the right to receive
88	88	compensation or consideration in any form for furnishing to the
89	89	seller the names of other prospective buyers if receipt of the
90	90	compensation or consideration is contingent upon the occurrence of
91	91	an event subsequent to the time the buyer purchases the merchandise
92	92	or goods;
93	93	(20) representing that a guaranty or warranty confers
94	94	or involves rights or remedies which it does not have or involve,
95	95	provided, however, that nothing in this subchapter shall be
96	96	construed to expand the implied warranty of merchantability as
97	97	defined in Sections 2.314 through 2.318 and Sections 2A.212 through
98	98	2A.216 to involve obligations in excess of those which are
99	99	appropriate to the goods;
100	100	(21) promoting a pyramid promotional scheme, as
101	101	defined by Section 17.461;
102	102	(22) representing that work or services have been
103	103	performed on, or parts replaced in, goods when the work or services
104	104	were not performed or the parts replaced;
105	105	(23) filing suit founded upon a written contractual
106	106	obligation of and signed by the defendant to pay money arising out
107	107	of or based on a consumer transaction for goods, services, loans, or
108	108	extensions of credit intended primarily for personal, family,
109	109	household, or agricultural use in any county other than in the
110	110	county in which the defendant resides at the time of the
111	111	commencement of the action or in the county in which the defendant
112	112	in fact signed the contract; provided, however, that a violation of
113	113	this subsection shall not occur where it is shown by the person
114	114	filing such suit that the person neither knew or had reason to know
115	115	that the county in which such suit was filed was neither the county
116	116	in which the defendant resides at the commencement of the suit nor
117	117	the county in which the defendant in fact signed the contract;
118	118	(24) failing to disclose information concerning goods
119	119	or services which was known at the time of the transaction if such
120	120	failure to disclose such information was intended to induce the
121	121	consumer into a transaction into which the consumer would not have
122	122	entered had the information been disclosed;
123	123	(25) using the term "corporation," "incorporated," or
124	124	an abbreviation of either of those terms in the name of a business
125	125	entity that is not incorporated under the laws of this state or
126	126	another jurisdiction;
127	127	(26) selling, offering to sell, or illegally promoting
128	128	an annuity contract under Chapter 22, Acts of the 57th Legislature,
129	129	3rd Called Session, 1962 (Article 6228a-5, Vernon's Texas Civil
130	130	Statutes), with the intent that the annuity contract will be the
131	131	subject of a salary reduction agreement, as defined by that Act, if
132	132	the annuity contract is not an eligible qualified investment under
133	133	that Act;
134	134	(27) subject to Section 17.4625, taking advantage of a
135	135	disaster declared by the governor under Chapter 418, Government
136	136	Code, or by the president of the United States by:
137	137	(A) selling or leasing fuel, food, medicine,
138	138	lodging, building materials, construction tools, or another
139	139	necessity at an exorbitant or excessive price; or
140	140	(B) demanding an exorbitant or excessive price in
141	141	connection with the sale or lease of fuel, food, medicine, lodging,
142	142	building materials, construction tools, or another necessity;
143	143	(28) using the translation into a foreign language of
144	144	a title or other word, including "attorney," "immigration
145	145	consultant," "immigration expert," "lawyer," "licensed," "notary,"
146	146	and "notary public," in any written or electronic material,
147	147	including an advertisement, a business card, a letterhead,
148	148	stationery, a website, or an online video, in reference to a person
149	149	who is not an attorney in order to imply that the person is
150	150	authorized to practice law in the United States;
151	151	(29) delivering or distributing a solicitation in
152	152	connection with a good or service that:
153	153	(A) represents that the solicitation is sent on
154	154	behalf of a governmental entity when it is not; or
155	155	(B) resembles a governmental notice or form that
156	156	represents or implies that a criminal penalty may be imposed if the
157	157	recipient does not remit payment for the good or service;
158	158	(30) delivering or distributing a solicitation in
159	159	connection with a good or service that resembles a check or other
160	160	negotiable instrument or invoice, unless the portion of the
161	161	solicitation that resembles a check or other negotiable instrument
162	162	or invoice includes the following notice, clearly and conspicuously
163	163	printed in at least 18-point type:
164	164	"SPECIMEN-NON-NEGOTIABLE";
165	165	(31) in the production, sale, distribution, or
166	166	promotion of a synthetic substance that produces and is intended to
167	167	produce an effect when consumed or ingested similar to, or in excess
168	168	of, the effect of a controlled substance or controlled substance
169	169	analogue, as those terms are defined by Section 481.002, Health and
170	170	Safety Code:
171	171	(A) making a deceptive representation or
172	172	designation about the synthetic substance; or
173	173	(B) causing confusion or misunderstanding as to
174	174	the effects the synthetic substance causes when consumed or
175	175	ingested;
176	176	(32) a licensed public insurance adjuster directly or
177	177	indirectly soliciting employment, as defined by Section 38.01,
178	178	Penal Code, for an attorney, or a licensed public insurance
179	179	adjuster entering into a contract with an insured for the primary
180	180	purpose of referring the insured to an attorney without the intent
181	181	to actually perform the services customarily provided by a licensed
182	182	public insurance adjuster, provided that this subdivision may not
183	183	be construed to prohibit a licensed public insurance adjuster from
184	184	recommending a particular attorney to an insured;
185	185	(33) owning, operating, maintaining, or advertising a
186	186	massage establishment, as defined by Section 455.001, Occupations
187	187	Code, that:
188	188	(A) is not appropriately licensed under Chapter
189	189	455, Occupations Code, or is not in compliance with the applicable
190	190	licensing and other requirements of that chapter; or
191	191	(B) is not in compliance with an applicable local
192	192	ordinance relating to the licensing or regulation of massage
193	193	establishments; [or]
194	194	(34) a warrantor of a vehicle protection product
195	195	warranty using, in connection with the product, a name that
196	196	includes "casualty," "surety," "insurance," "mutual," or any other
197	197	word descriptive of an insurance business, including property or
198	198	casualty insurance, or a surety business; or
199	199	(35) knowingly selling or offering for sale an animal
200	200	that the seller knows is sick without disclosing the existence and
201	201	extent of the sickness, knowingly providing false or misleading
202	202	health records of an animal in connection with the sale or offer for
203	203	sale of the animal, or knowingly providing false or misleading
204	204	information regarding health screenings given to an animal being
205	205	sold or offered for sale.
206	206	SECTION 2. The change in law made by this Act applies only
207	207	to an act or practice that occurs on or after the effective date of
208	208	this Act. An act or practice that occurs before the effective date
209	209	of this Act is governed by the law in effect on the date the act or
210	210	practice occurred, and the former law is continued in effect for
211	211	that purpose.
212	212	SECTION 3. This Act takes effect September 1, 2025.