COMMITTEE SUBSTITUTE
FOR
H. B. 2945
(By Delegates Tabb, Wysong, Doyle, Amores,
Webster, Duke and Trump)
(
Originating in the Committee on the Judiciary)
[January 18, 2006]
A BILL to amend the Code of West Virginia, 1931, as amended, by
adding thereto a new section, designated §46A-6-111, relating
to establishing requirements for home solicitation sales of
water improvement products and services to consumers via water
sample requests and civil penalties for failure to comply.
Be it enacted by the Legislature of West Virginia:
That the Code of West Virginia, 1931, as amended, be amended
by adding thereto a new section, designated §46A-6-111,
to read as
follows:
ARTICLE 6. GENERAL CONSUMER PROTECTION.
§46A-6-111. Solicitation of water samples by persons seeking
profit.
(a) No person may solicit water samples in this state with the
purpose or design of offering for sale any product or service
represented as capable of improving water quality, without,
contemporaneously with the solicitation, providing unambiguous information in written or printed form, identifying the name of the
company making the solicitation, the address and telephone number
of its principal place of business, the geographical location of
its main theater of operations, its correct corporate name, if
applicable, the state wherein it is incorporated, if applicable, a
clear description of any product or service it seeks to solicit
for sale, the cost or costs involved to obtain the product or
service, and a clear statement that the person or persons being
solicited have no obligation to accept or purchase the product or
service.
(b) If a person has violated the provisions of subsection (a)
of this section, the person or persons being solicited have a cause
of action to recover from the person or private entity soliciting
a civil penalty of two hundred dollars for each violation.
(c) Any person violating the provisions of subsection (a)of
this section, may be considered as having engaged in an unfair
method of competition and unfair or deceptive act or practice as
defined under subdivisions (B),(C),(D) and (E), subsection (7),
section one hundred two of this article, and as such, may be
subject to any applicable penalty or remedy provided in this
chapter in addition to the civil penalty provided in subsection (b)
of this section.
NOTE: The purpose of this bill is to prohibit solicitors who
leave empty containers requesting water samples from state residents, from doing so without contemporaneously attaching or
affixing with the container unambiguous documentation identifying
the name of their company, the address and telephone number of its
principal place of business, the geographical location of its main
theater of operations, its correct corporate name, if applicable,
the state wherein it is incorporated, if applicable, a clear
description of any prospective product or service it seeks to
solicit for sale, the cost or costs involved to obtain the product
or service, and a clear statement that the person being solicited
is not obligated to accept or purchase the product or service. The
bill also provides a civil penalty while providing that persons
who violate the prohibition have engaged in an unfair method of
competition and unfair or deceptive act or practice
as defined in
the article.
This section is new; therefore, strike-throughs and
underscoring have been omitted.