“GOP state attorneys general, as well as many of their Democratic counterparts, have moved to stop companies from charging what they view as exorbitant increases in the cost of some goods in certain circumstances.<\/p>\n\n\n\n
In Texas, Attorney General Ken Paxton, a Republican, sued a large egg supplier<\/a> for raising prices by about 300 percent at the height of the pandemic lockdowns in 2020.<\/p>\n\n\n\n Kris Kobach, the Republican attorney general of Kansas, is suing a large natural gas supplier<\/a> over allegations that it gouged consumers in the aftermath of a 2021 winter storm. And in storm-prone Florida, state officials widely publicize a law<\/a> that prohibits sharp price increases in essential items during emergencies.<\/p>\n\n\n\n \u201cNobody likes to be gouged when they\u2019ve lost their roof,\u201d said Trish Conners, a former chief deputy attorney general of Florida now in private practice at the firm Stearns Weaver Miller. The state laws address the \u201cfundamental public safety role that state AGs have, and it\u2019s largely bipartisan. You don\u2019t see too much difference between AGs in that regard.\u201d<\/p>\n\n\n\n The state laws underscore some of the benefits and challenges that Harris may face in selling her plan. It is broadly popular for politicians to shield consumers from excessive prices \u2014 even if many economists disagree with the approach. But at the same time, most states have limited their intervention in the market to a far narrower set of circumstances, and Harris\u2019 plan for a national approach would likely represent a major expansion of the role of government in prices.<\/p>\n\n\n\n Some 37 states have laws to address price gouging, according to the National Conference of State Legislatures<\/a>. Most of the laws have specific triggers \u2014 such as a state of emergency or disaster \u2014 and prohibit sellers of certain essential goods from jacking up prices beyond a certain threshold. Some states have a numerical threshold of, say, 15 or 25 percent, while others have vaguer prohibitions on \u201cexcessive\u201d or \u201cunconscionable\u201d increases.<\/p>\n\n\n\n Florida Republican Attorney General Ashley Moody vowed to vigorously enforce<\/a> the price gouging law as hurricane season began earlier this year. Her office has a dedicated hotline, app<\/a> and website for consumers<\/a> to report instances of gouging during emergencies.”<\/p>\n\n\n\n