[Congressional Bills 105th Congress]
[From the U.S. Government Publishing Office]
[H.R. 3847 Introduced in House (IH)]







105th CONGRESS
  2d Session
                                H. R. 3847

  To prohibit certain transfers or assignments of franchises, and to 
prohibit certain fixing or maintaining of motor fuel prices, under the 
                   Petroleum Marketing Practices Act.


_______________________________________________________________________


                    IN THE HOUSE OF REPRESENTATIVES

                              May 12, 1998

   Mr. Wynn introduced the following bill; which was referred to the 
                         Committee on Commerce

_______________________________________________________________________

                                 A BILL


 
  To prohibit certain transfers or assignments of franchises, and to 
prohibit certain fixing or maintaining of motor fuel prices, under the 
                   Petroleum Marketing Practices Act.

    Be it enacted by the Senate and House of Representatives of the 
United States of America in Congress assembled,

SECTION 1. TRANSFER OR ASSIGNMENT OF FRANCHISE.

    Section 102 of the Petroleum Marketing Practices Act (15 U.S.C. 
2802) is amended by adding at the end the following new subsection:
    ``(e) A franchisor of leased marketing premises shall not transfer 
or assign its interests in the franchise during the term of the 
franchise unless the franchisor, at least 45 days before the proposed 
transfer or assignment, has--
            ``(1) made a bona fide offer to sell, transfer, or assign 
        to the franchisee the franchisor's interests in the leased 
        marketing premises; or
            ``(2) if applicable, offered the franchisee a right of 
        first refusal of at least 45 days duration of an offer, made by 
        another, to purchase or acquire the franchisor's interests in 
        the leased marketing premises.''.

SEC. 2. RETAIL PRICE SETTING.

    (a) Amendment.--Title I of the Petroleum Marketing Practices Act 
(15 U.S.C. 2801 et seq.) is amended by adding at the end the following 
new section:

                            ``retail prices

    ``Sec. 107. It shall be a violation of this title for a refiner or 
distributor to fix or maintain the retail price of motor fuel at a 
retail outlet supplied by that refiner or distributor. This section 
shall not apply to retail outlets operated by the refiner or 
distributor.''.
    (b) Conforming Amendments.--Subsections (a), (b), and (d) of 
section 105 of the Petroleum Marketing Practices Act (15 U.S.C. 
2805(a), (b), and (d)) are amended by striking ``102 or 103'' each 
place it appears and inserting ``102, 103, or 107''.
    (c) Table of Contents Amendment.--The table of contents of the 
Petroleum Marketing Practices Act is amended by inserting after the 
item relating to section 106 the following new item:

``Sec. 107. Retail prices.''.
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