(a)
This entire article is and shall be deemed an exercise of the police power of the State of Texas, and the City of Pineland, for the public safety, comfort, convenience, and protection of the city and citizens of said city, and all of the provisions hereof shall be construed for the accomplishment of that purpose.
(b)
It shall hereafter be unlawful for any person to peddle any kind of merchandise, patent medicine, nostrum, or other manufactured articles upon the public square and upon the streets, alleys, and public thoroughfares of Pineland, Texas.
(c)
It shall hereafter be unlawful for any person to go from house to house or from place to place in the City of Pineland, Texas, soliciting, selling, or taking orders for or offering to sell or take orders for any goods, wares, merchandise, services, photographs, newspapers, magazines, or subscriptions to newspapers or magazines, without having first applied for and obtained a license to so do from the city secretary of said city. It shall also hereafter be unlawful to sell or solicit in said city as aforesaid without carrying such license while engaged in such soliciting or selling.
(d)
Any person desiring to go from house to house or from place to place in the City of Pineland, Texas, to sell or solicit orders for goods, wares, merchandise, services, photographs, newspapers, magazines, or subscriptions to newspapers or magazines, shall make written application to the city secretary of said city for a license to do so, which application shall show the name and address of applicant; the name and address of the person, firm, or corporation, if any, that he or she represents; and the kind of goods offered for sale and whether such applicant upon any such sale or order shall demand, accept, or receive payment, or deposit of money in advance of final delivery; and the period of time such applicant wishes to sell or solicit in said city.
(e)
The application mentioned in subsection (d) hereof shall be accompanied by a bond in the penal sum of one thousand dollars ($1,000.00), signed by applicant and signed, as surety, by some surety company authorized to do business in the State of Texas, conditioned for the final delivery of goods, wares, merchandise, services, photographs, magazines, and newspapers in accordance with the terms of any order obtained prior to deliver and also conditioned to indemnify any and all purchasers or customers for any and all defects in material or workmanship that may exist in the article sold by the principal of said bond, at the time of delivery, and that may be discovered by such purchaser or customer within thirty (30) days after delivery, and which bond shall be for the use and benefit of all persons, firms, or corporations that may make any purchase or give any order to the principal on said bond, or to an agent or employee of the principal. Provided that in case applicant is a person, firm, company, partnership, corporation, or association engaging in any activity mentioned in subsection (c) hereof, through one (1) or more agents or employees, such persons, firm, company, partnership, corporation, or association shall be required to enter into only one (1) bond, in the sum of one thousand dollars ($1,000.00) as above required, which bond shall be made to cover the activities of all its agents or employees.
(f)
An itinerant merchant or an itinerant vendor as the terms are used in this article shall be held to be any person, firm, company, partnership, corporation, or association engaged in any activity mentioned in subsection (c) hereof.
(g)
The license fee for an itinerant merchant, vendor or peddler shall be as set forth in the fee schedule in the appendix of this code.
(h)
The provisions of this article shall not apply to sales made to dealers by commercial travelers or sales agents in the usual course of business, nor to sales made under authority and by order of law, nor to vendors of farm or dairy products.
(i)
The provisions of this article shall not apply to persons engaged in interstate commerce as that term is herein defined; provided, however, that it shall be unlawful for persons engaged in interstate commerce to go from house to house or place to place in the City of Pineland without having first registered with the city secretary of said city giving the following information:
(1)
Name, home address and local address, if any, of registrant.
(2)
Name and address of the person, firm, or corporation, if any, that he or she represents or for whom or through whom orders are to be solicited or cleared.
(3)
Nature of the articles or things which are to be sold or for which orders are to be solicited.
(4)
Whether registrant, upon any sale or order shall demand or receive or accept payment or deposit of money in advance of final delivery.
(5)
Period of time which registrant wishes to solicit to sell in said city.
The registrant, at the time of the registration, as herein provided for, shall submit for inspection of the city secretary written proof of his identity which shall be in the form of an automobile operator’s license and identification letter or card issued to registrant by the person, firm, or corporation for whom or through whom orders are to be solicited or cleared. The term “interstate commerce” means soliciting, selling, or taking orders for or offering to take orders for any goods, wares, merchandise, photographs, newspapers, or magazines, or subscriptions to newspapers or magazines which, at the time the order is taken, are in another state or will be produced in another state and shipped or introduced into this city in the fulfillment of such orders. |
(j)
Any person, firm, or corporation violating any provisions of this article or failing to observe any provisions hereof shall be deemed guilty of a misdemeanor and upon conviction, shall be fined in accordance with the general penalty provision found in Section 1.109 of this code, and each and every day or fraction of a day during which this article, or any part thereof, shall be violated shall be deemed a separate offense and punishable as such.
(1981 Code of Ordinances Chapter 4, Section 1)