15 attorneys general call for national ban on price gouging

Source: The Hill

10/30/24 3:41 PM ET


Fifteen attorneys general called on congressional leaders to support a national ban on price gouging, in a letter sent Wednesday. The letter — addressed to Senate Majority Leader Chuck Schumer (D-N.Y.), Senate Minority Leader Mitch McConnell (R-Ky.), Speaker Mike Johnson (R-La.) and House Minority Leader Hakeem Jeffries (D-N.Y.) — expressed concern about the lack of federal legislation preventing companies from increasing prices on essential companies during emergencies.

More than 40 states ban price gouging, according to the letter, but a national ban, they argued, would give the federal government the power to address price gouging issues “that cannot be stopped by a single state,” and to address issues that have to do with national supply chains.”

“Individual states face heightened challenges when protecting consumers from price gouging when so many product supply chains are nationwide. A federal price gouging prohibition would provide critical partnership to state enforcement and protect consumers and small businesses alike,” read the letter, led by New York Attorney General Letitia James’s office.

James and her fellow attorneys general noted that price gouging was especially prevalent at the onset of the Ukraine war and during the COVID-19 pandemic, both of which were issues that affected the national supply chain. “Businesses should never be able to hike prices during an emergency just to increase their profits,” James wrote in a press release.

Read more: https://thehill.com/homenews/state-watch/4962366-ags-call-for-national-ban-price-gouging/

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Link to LETTER (PDF) - https://ag.ny.gov/sites/default/files/letters/multistate-letter-re-federal-price-gouging-legislation-final.pdf

(signatory states CA, CT, D.C., DE, HI, IL, MA, MD, ME, MI, NJ, NM, NY, OR, PA, VT)