“ A potential Harris administration would have no shortage of state anti-price-gouging statues on which to model a federal one, though most have different goals and parameters. Thirty-seven states and Washington, D.C., prevent companies from quickly raising prices on certain goods and services under specified circumstances, according to a 2022 tally by the National Conference of State Legislatures.
The regulations, spanning liberal states like California and New York and conservative ones like Idaho and Alabama, typically kick in during emergency declarations, but some, like Michigan’s, are always in force. Most ban excessive price increases for “essentials” like fuel, medicine, water or other products. Some cover a wider range of goods — or even all consumer purchases — to restrict sellers from taking undue advantage of shortages or unusual spikes in demand.
Many of these rules were enforced heavily during the pandemic, Witte said. Authorities in Texas, which has long had some of the strictest penalties on the books, warned businesses during the early days of Covid that they could face up to $250,000 in fines if the victims of any price gouging were seniors.
In March 2020, Trump himself issued an executive order to head off corporate price gouging and the hoarding of “necessary health and medical resources,” like personal protective equipment and sanitizing products. That move, under the Defense Production Act, ordered the departments of Justice and Health and Human Services to police any pandemic-related corporate malfeasance, including stockpiling “unnecessary quantities of items for the purpose of selling them above the fair market value.”
https://www.nbcnews.com/politics/2024-election/trump-slams-harris-call-ban-price-gouging-37-states-already-rcna167158
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