Prohibiting Price Gouging in Sales of Necessities

Added additional Senate sponsors (Coleman, Cutter, Danielson, Exum, Jodeh, Kipp, Kolker, Michaelson Jenet, Rodriguez, Sullivan, Wallace, Winter F.) and House sponsors (Bacon, Boesenecker, Duran, English, Froelich, Jackson, Joseph, Lindsay, Sirota, Story, Titone, Willford).

Changed committee assignments to include Business, Labor, & Technology in the Senate and updated reading status indicators.

Updated bill status from 'PREAMENDED' to 'REREVISED' and changed the summary date from March 10, 2025 to March 31, 2025 for Senate reading.

Revised the bill summary section to reflect that the version includes all amendments adopted in the Second House rather than noting that it does not reflect subsequent amendments.

Added a presumption that price increases of 10% or more for necessities during abnormal market disruptions constitute price gouging

Expanded the definition of 'abnormal market disruption' to include market failures, shortages, civil disorder, war, terrorist attacks, and other causes of atypical market disruption

Added definitions for 'building materials', 'seasonal pricing', and 'short-term rental' to clarify scope of the law

Added specific exemptions for short-term rentals, public utilities regulated under Title 40, and sales of real property

Added requirements for sellers to prove that price increases are attributable to additional supplier costs or seasonal pricing to avoid price gouging charges

Added seven new sponsors to the House sponsorship list: Bacon, Boesenecker, Duran, English, Froelich, Jackson, Joseph, Lindsay, Sirota, Story, Titone, and Willford.

Updated document header from 'CORRECTED ENGROSSED' to 'REENGROSSED' and changed the date to March 10, 2025.

Added a '3rd Reading Unamended' note to the bill summary section.

The definition of 'disaster' was expanded to include market disruptions, trade disruptions, and atypical market conditions that affect production, distribution, or consumption of products or services.

Price gouging now only applies when the Governor declares a disaster emergency pursuant to existing state law, rather than during any declared disaster.

The 10% price increase threshold is now calculated against the price at which a similarly situated seller sold similar goods or services before the disaster began, rather than the average price during the 90 days preceding the increase.

Removed the provision allowing sellers to prove that price increases were due to additional costs imposed by suppliers or direct costs of providing goods or services.

The bill was reorganized to add a new section to the disaster provisions statute (24-33.5-703) rather than amending the general unfair trade practices statute (6-1-730).