[Congressional Bills 108th Congress]
[From the U.S. Government Publishing Office]
[H.R. 3236 Introduced in House (IH)]






108th CONGRESS
  1st Session
                                H. R. 3236

  To prohibit price gouging of products and services that are widely 
                  needed during a designated disaster.


_______________________________________________________________________


                    IN THE HOUSE OF REPRESENTATIVES

                            October 2, 2003

 Mr. Kleczka (for himself and Mr. Etheridge) introduced the following 
    bill; which was referred to the Committee on Energy and Commerce

_______________________________________________________________________

                                 A BILL


 
  To prohibit price gouging of products and services that are widely 
                  needed during a designated disaster.

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

SECTION 1. SHORT TITLE.

    This Act may be cited as the ``Permanently Inhibit Gougers Act''.

SEC. 2. CONDUCT PROHIBITED.

    (a) In General.--It shall be unlawful for any commercial vendor in 
an area and during a period described in subsection (b) to raise the 
price of products or services that are widely needed in such an area 
during such period, by more than 10 percent above the average retail 
price of such goods or services charged by that vendor during the 
preceding 90 days.
    (b) Applicable Area and Period.--The prohibition in subsection (a) 
shall apply to commercial vendors in areas in the United States which 
have been designated disaster areas by the President or by the Governor 
of a State, and shall apply--
            (1) for 90 days after such designation is made; and
            (2) for a period of 7 days before a disaster that results 
        in an area being designated a disaster area, if the disaster is 
        reasonably foreseeable by commercial vendors in such an area 
        during such a 7 day period.

SEC. 3. REGULATIONS.

    Not later than 180 days after the date of enactment of this Act, 
the Federal Trade Commission shall prescribe regulations pursuant to 
section 18(a) of the Federal Trade Commission Act (15 U.S.C. 57a(a)) 
providing that the conduct described in section 2 shall be an unfair or 
deceptive act or practice under section 5 of such Act (15 U.S.C. 45), 
and implementing the requirements of this Act. Such regulations--
            (1) shall include a list of products and services that are 
        likely to be widely needed in a designated disaster area which 
        shall be subject to the prohibition in section 2;
            (2) may establish a means for determining the average 
        retail price of such products and services charged by a 
        particular vendor during the 90 day period preceding the 
        designation of the area as a disaster area;
            (3) shall include guidelines for determining whether, 
        during the period described in section 2(b)(2), the disaster 
        was reasonably foreseeable to commercial vendors in the area; 
        and
            (4) shall include an exemption for commercial vendors 
        subject to the prohibition in section 2--
                    (A) when there is an increase in the wholesale 
                costs to such vendors of products subject to such 
                prohibition; or
                    (B) when there is a legitimate increase in the 
                operational costs to such vendors in providing services 
                subject to such prohibition,
        and such vendors raise the price of such products and services 
        no more than the increased wholesale or operational cost to the 
        vendor, plus 10 percent.

SEC. 4. SPECIAL PENALTY PROVISION.

    Notwithstanding subsections (l) and (m) of section 5 of the Federal 
Trade Commission Act (15 U.S.C. 45(l) and (m)), the maximum amount of 
civil penalty for each violation of this Act and the regulations 
prescribed under this Act shall be $250,000.

SEC. 5. PRIVATE RIGHT OF ACTION.

    A person, class of persons, or entity may, if otherwise permitted 
by the laws or rules of a court of a State, bring in an appropriate 
court of that State--
            (1) an action based on a violation of this Act or the 
        regulations prescribed under this Act to enjoin such violation;
            (2) an action to recover up to 3 times the actual monetary 
        loss to such person, class of persons, or entity from such a 
        violation; or
            (3) both such actions.

SEC. 6. EFFECTIVE DATE.

    This Act shall take effect on the date on which the regulations 
required by section 3 shall take effect.
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