Bill Text: TX HB5214 | 2023-2024 | 88th Legislature | Comm Sub
Bill Title: Relating to actions brought by the attorney general on behalf of certain persons under the Texas Free Enterprise and Antitrust Act of 1983.
Spectrum: Partisan Bill (Republican 2-0)
Status: (Engrossed - Dead) 2023-05-18 - Senate Amendments Analysis distributed [HB5214 Detail]
Download: Texas-2023-HB5214-Comm_Sub.html
| By: Spiller (Senate Sponsor - Hughes) | H.B. No. 5214 | |
| (In the Senate - Received from the House May 4, 2023; | ||
| May 5, 2023, read first time and referred to Committee on State | ||
| Affairs; May 10, 2023, reported favorably by the following vote: | ||
| Yeas 11, Nays 0; May 10, 2023, sent to printer.) | ||
| COMMITTEE VOTE | ||
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| BettencourtX | ||
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| LaMantiaX | ||
| MenéndezX | ||
| MiddletonX | ||
| ParkerX | ||
| PerryX | ||
| SchwertnerX | ||
| ZaffiriniX | ||
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| relating to actions brought by the attorney general on behalf of | ||
| certain persons under the Texas Free Enterprise and Antitrust Act | ||
| of 1983. | ||
| BE IT ENACTED BY THE LEGISLATURE OF THE STATE OF TEXAS: | ||
| SECTION 1. Section 15.21, Business & Commerce Code, is | ||
| amended by adding Subsections (d) and (e) to read as follows: | ||
| (d) The attorney general may bring a civil action against a | ||
| person on behalf of an individual or governmental entity for injury | ||
| to that individual's or entity's business or property caused, | ||
| directly or indirectly, by the person's violation of Section | ||
| 15.05(a), (b), or (c). An action under this subsection may be | ||
| brought in district court in Travis County, or in any county in this | ||
| state in which a named defendant resides, does business, or | ||
| maintains a principal office, or in which the individual or | ||
| governmental entity on whose behalf the action is brought resides | ||
| at the time of the cause of action or any part of the cause of action | ||
| accrues. If the attorney general prevails in an action under this | ||
| subsection, the attorney general shall recover actual damages | ||
| sustained by the individual or governmental entity, interest on | ||
| actual damages for the period beginning on the date of service of | ||
| the attorney general's pleading setting forth a claim under the | ||
| antitrust laws and ending on the date of judgment (the rate of such | ||
| interest to be in accordance with Texas law regarding postjudgment | ||
| interest rates and the amount of interest to be adjusted by the | ||
| court if it finds that the award of all or part of such interest is | ||
| unjust in the circumstances), and the cost of suit, including a | ||
| reasonable attorney's fee, and if applicable, expert witness fees; | ||
| provided, however, that if the trier of fact finds that the unlawful | ||
| conduct was willful or flagrant, the court shall increase the | ||
| recovery to threefold the damages sustained and the cost of suit, | ||
| including a reasonable attorney's fee and, if applicable, expert | ||
| witness fees; provided that interest on actual damages as | ||
| specified above may not be recovered when recovered damages are | ||
| increased threefold. In an action under this subsection in which a | ||
| claim is asserted against a defendant relating to injury to both | ||
| direct and indirect purchasers, the court shall take all steps | ||
| necessary to avoid duplicative recovery from that defendant. | ||
| (e) For purposes of this section, "governmental entity" | ||
| means: | ||
| (1) this state, including each department, board, | ||
| agency, instrumentality, authority, or commission of this state; | ||
| (2) a political subdivision of this state, including a | ||
| county, city, municipality, school district, local improvement | ||
| district, law enforcement authority, or special district, | ||
| including a water, sanitation, fire protection, metropolitan, | ||
| irrigation, drainage, or other special district; | ||
| (3) a municipal, quasi-municipal, or public | ||
| corporation organized under the Texas Constitution or other law; | ||
| and | ||
| (4) a department, board, agency, instrumentality, | ||
| authority, or commission of an entity described by Subdivision (2) | ||
| or (3). | ||
| SECTION 2. Sections 15.21(d) and (e), Business & Commerce | ||
| Code, as added by this Act, apply only to a cause of action that | ||
| accrues on or after the effective date of this Act. | ||
| SECTION 3. This Act takes effect September 1, 2023. | ||
| * * * * * | ||
