bill making it deceptive to sell a sick animal knowingly

The text as introduced · 1,765 words

89R789 ATP-D

By: Patterson
H.B. No. 495

A BILL TO BE ENTITLED

AN ACT

relating to the deceptive trade practice of providing false or

misleading information regarding the health of an animal being sold

or offered for sale.

BE IT ENACTED BY THE LEGISLATURE OF THE STATE OF TEXAS:

SECTION 1. Section 17.46(b), Business & Commerce Code, is

amended to read as follows:

(b) Except as provided in Subsection (d) of this section,

the term "false, misleading, or deceptive acts or practices"

includes, but is not limited to, the following acts:

(1) passing off goods or services as those of another;

(2) causing confusion or misunderstanding as to the

source, sponsorship, approval, or certification of goods or

services;

(3) causing confusion or misunderstanding as to

affiliation, connection, or association with, or certification by,

another;

(4) using deceptive representations or designations

of geographic origin in connection with goods or services;

(5) representing that goods or services have

sponsorship, approval, characteristics, ingredients, uses,

benefits, or quantities which they do not have or that a person has

a sponsorship, approval, status, affiliation, or connection which

the person does not;

(6) representing that goods are original or new if

they are deteriorated, reconditioned, reclaimed, used, or

secondhand;

(7) representing that goods or services are of a

particular standard, quality, or grade, or that goods are of a

particular style or model, if they are of another;

(8) disparaging the goods, services, or business of

another by false or misleading representation of facts;

(9) advertising goods or services with intent not to

sell them as advertised;

(10) advertising goods or services with intent not to

supply a reasonable expectable public demand, unless the

advertisements disclosed a limitation of quantity;

(11) making false or misleading statements of fact

concerning the reasons for, existence of, or amount of price

reductions;

(12) representing that an agreement confers or

involves rights, remedies, or obligations which it does not have or

involve, or which are prohibited by law;

(13) knowingly making false or misleading statements

of fact concerning the need for parts, replacement, or repair

service;

(14) misrepresenting the authority of a salesman,

representative or agent to negotiate the final terms of a consumer

transaction;

(15) basing a charge for the repair of any item in

whole or in part on a guaranty or warranty instead of on the value of

the actual repairs made or work to be performed on the item without

stating separately the charges for the work and the charge for the

warranty or guaranty, if any;

(16) disconnecting, turning back, or resetting the

odometer of any motor vehicle so as to reduce the number of miles

indicated on the odometer gauge;

(17) advertising of any sale by fraudulently

representing that a person is going out of business;

(18) advertising, selling, or distributing a card

which purports to be a prescription drug identification card issued

under Section 4151.152, Insurance Code, in accordance with rules

adopted by the commissioner of insurance, which offers a discount

on the purchase of health care goods or services from a third party

provider, and which is not evidence of insurance coverage, unless:

(A) the discount is authorized under an agreement

between the seller of the card and the provider of those goods and

services or the discount or card is offered to members of the

seller;

(B) the seller does not represent that the card

provides insurance coverage of any kind; and

(C) the discount is not false, misleading, or

deceptive;

(19) using or employing a chain referral sales plan in

connection with the sale or offer to sell of goods, merchandise, or

anything of value, which uses the sales technique, plan,

arrangement, or agreement in which the buyer or prospective buyer

is offered the opportunity to purchase merchandise or goods and in

connection with the purchase receives the seller's promise or

representation that the buyer shall have the right to receive

compensation or consideration in any form for furnishing to the

seller the names of other prospective buyers if receipt of the

compensation or consideration is contingent upon the occurrence of

an event subsequent to the time the buyer purchases the merchandise

or goods;

(20) representing that a guaranty or warranty confers

or involves rights or remedies which it does not have or involve,

provided, however, that nothing in this subchapter shall be

construed to expand the implied warranty of merchantability as

defined in Sections 2.314 through 2.318 and Sections 2A.212 through

2A.216 to involve obligations in excess of those which are

appropriate to the goods;

(21) promoting a pyramid promotional scheme, as

defined by Section 17.461;

(22) representing that work or services have been

performed on, or parts replaced in, goods when the work or services

were not performed or the parts replaced;

(23) filing suit founded upon a written contractual

obligation of and signed by the defendant to pay money arising out

of or based on a consumer transaction for goods, services, loans, or

extensions of credit intended primarily for personal, family,

household, or agricultural use in any county other than in the

county in which the defendant resides at the time of the

commencement of the action or in the county in which the defendant

in fact signed the contract; provided, however, that a violation of

this subsection shall not occur where it is shown by the person

filing such suit that the person neither knew or had reason to know

that the county in which such suit was filed was neither the county

in which the defendant resides at the commencement of the suit nor

the county in which the defendant in fact signed the contract;

(24) failing to disclose information concerning goods

or services which was known at the time of the transaction if such

failure to disclose such information was intended to induce the

consumer into a transaction into which the consumer would not have

entered had the information been disclosed;

(25) using the term "corporation," "incorporated," or

an abbreviation of either of those terms in the name of a business

entity that is not incorporated under the laws of this state or

another jurisdiction;

(26) selling, offering to sell, or illegally promoting

an annuity contract under Chapter 22, Acts of the 57th Legislature,

3rd Called Session, 1962 (Article 6228a-5, Vernon's Texas Civil

Statutes), with the intent that the annuity contract will be the

subject of a salary reduction agreement, as defined by that Act, if

the annuity contract is not an eligible qualified investment under

that Act;

(27) subject to Section 17.4625, taking advantage of a

disaster declared by the governor under Chapter 418, Government

Code, or by the president of the United States by:

(A) selling or leasing fuel, food, medicine,

lodging, building materials, construction tools, or another

necessity at an exorbitant or excessive price; or

(B) demanding an exorbitant or excessive price in

connection with the sale or lease of fuel, food, medicine, lodging,

building materials, construction tools, or another necessity;

(28) using the translation into a foreign language of

a title or other word, including "attorney," "immigration

consultant," "immigration expert," "lawyer," "licensed," "notary,"

and "notary public," in any written or electronic material,

including an advertisement, a business card, a letterhead,

stationery, a website, or an online video, in reference to a person

who is not an attorney in order to imply that the person is

authorized to practice law in the United States;

(29) delivering or distributing a solicitation in

connection with a good or service that:

(A) represents that the solicitation is sent on

behalf of a governmental entity when it is not; or

(B) resembles a governmental notice or form that

represents or implies that a criminal penalty may be imposed if the

recipient does not remit payment for the good or service;

(30) delivering or distributing a solicitation in

connection with a good or service that resembles a check or other

negotiable instrument or invoice, unless the portion of the

solicitation that resembles a check or other negotiable instrument

or invoice includes the following notice, clearly and conspicuously

printed in at least 18-point type:

"SPECIMEN-NON-NEGOTIABLE";

(31) in the production, sale, distribution, or

promotion of a synthetic substance that produces and is intended to

produce an effect when consumed or ingested similar to, or in excess

of, the effect of a controlled substance or controlled substance

analogue, as those terms are defined by Section 481.002, Health and

Safety Code:

(A) making a deceptive representation or

designation about the synthetic substance; or

(B) causing confusion or misunderstanding as to

the effects the synthetic substance causes when consumed or

ingested;

(32) a licensed public insurance adjuster directly or

indirectly soliciting employment, as defined by Section 38.01,

Penal Code, for an attorney, or a licensed public insurance

adjuster entering into a contract with an insured for the primary

purpose of referring the insured to an attorney without the intent

to actually perform the services customarily provided by a licensed

public insurance adjuster, provided that this subdivision may not

be construed to prohibit a licensed public insurance adjuster from

recommending a particular attorney to an insured;

(33) owning, operating, maintaining, or advertising a

massage establishment, as defined by Section 455.001, Occupations

Code, that:

(A) is not appropriately licensed under Chapter

455, Occupations Code, or is not in compliance with the applicable

licensing and other requirements of that chapter; or

(B) is not in compliance with an applicable local

ordinance relating to the licensing or regulation of massage

establishments; [ or ]

(34) a warrantor of a vehicle protection product

warranty using, in connection with the product, a name that

includes "casualty," "surety," "insurance," "mutual," or any other

word descriptive of an insurance business, including property or

casualty insurance, or a surety business ; or

(35) knowingly selling or offering for sale an animal

that the seller knows is sick without disclosing the existence and

extent of the sickness, knowingly providing false or misleading

health records of an animal in connection with the sale or offer for

sale of the animal, or knowingly providing false or misleading

information regarding health screenings given to an animal being

sold or offered for sale .

SECTION 2. The change in law made by this Act applies only

to an act or practice that occurs on or after the effective date of

this Act. An act or practice that occurs before the effective date

of this Act is governed by the law in effect on the date the act or

practice occurred, and the former law is continued in effect for

that purpose.

SECTION 3. This Act takes effect September 1, 2025.