Utah Senate committee gives nod to bill that would revise state's price-gouging law

The Utah Senate Business and Labor Committee unanimously voted on Thursday to give a favorable recommendation to a bill that would drastically revise Utah’s price gouging law, including increasing the evidentiary standard required to prove a violation.

Senate Bill 85, sponsored by Sen. Lincoln Fillmore, R-South Jordan, seeks to amend the Price Controls During Emergencies Act, a chapter of state code approved by the Utah State Legislature in 2005.

“And from that time, for 15 years, it had never once been used. But in 2020, we got our first experience of having legislation drafted in anticipation of an emergency come up against an actual emergency,” Fillmore said on Thursday. “And based on that reality, this section of code could use some amendments to make sure that we are striking the right balance between making sure that consumers are not gouged by unsavory retailers or individuals during emergency, but also we’re protecting the innocent from false claims.”

One of the four “targeted changes” the bill would make to Utah’s price gouging law would be setting “a higher evidentiary standard” and changing “the standard for what you might call a conviction under this law from just ‘substantial evidence’ to ‘clear and convincing evidence,’” Lincoln told his colleagues.

Read more: https://www.heraldextra.com/news/local/govt-and-politics/utah-senate-committee-gives-nod-to-bill-that-would-revise-state-s-price-gouging-law/article_b3deab57-00ff-53be-b8ab-b746a408e7a6.html
(Provo Daily Herald)