States Scramble to Enact Laws Against COVID-19 Price-Gouging
States are scrambling to enact price gouging laws in response to online sellers taking advantage of COVID-19 demands. Maryland passed an emergency measure Wednesday, and plans are evolving in Minnesota. Arkansas passed an emergency measure earlier this month.
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Ohio Attorney General Dave Yost (R) is pushing for a price gouging law in his state. Yost is “considering all possible options to eliminate the harmful practice, both in stores and online,” a spokesperson emailed Friday. AG Eric Schmitt (R) announced a partnership Friday with Amazon for monitoring and combating COVID-19-related price gouging in Missouri, where there’s an existing law.
AGs in New York and California sent letters to tech companies asking them to address price gouging and other illicit activity.
Maryland’s measure allows the governor to designate products and services for which price gouging is illegal and set rates for those products. Price gougers are now in violation of the Consumer Protection Act with penalties up to $10,000 per violation, said AG Brian Frosh (D) Friday during a livestream.
Minnesota, Montana, Washington, Arizona and North Dakota are among about a dozen states that don’t have price-gouging laws. Such legislation was introduced earlier this month in Minnesota, a spokesperson for AG Keith Ellison (D) noted. “Depending on the details of case, we still have the ability to go after price-gouging under our consumer fraud, deceptive trade practices, false advertising, and antitrust statutes, but it would be easier and faster to do so with an explicit statute against it,” the official said, noting Ellison’s support for a new measure.
Price gouging is an unfair or deceptive practice in violation of Washington’s Consumer Protection Act, a spokesperson for AG Bob Ferguson (D) emailed. Ferguson noted recently his office is investigating price gouging in the wake of COVID-19. Arizona has seen a spike in consumer complaints related to COVID-19 within the past two weeks, a spokesperson for AG Mark Brnovich (R) emailed.
A spokesperson for Montana AG Tim Fox (R) noted state law prohibits unfair or deceptive trade practices and price fixing, which carry civil fines up to $20,000 per violation. Idaho AG Lawrence Wasden (R) is accepting complaints about excessive pricing for goods sold online and deceptive advertising involving COVID-19, a spokesperson said. Michigan AG Dana Nessel (D) is coordinating efforts to combat price-gouging with partners across the country to address price-gouging practices, a spokesperson said.
New York AG Letitia James (D) urged Craigslist Friday to “immediately remove posts that attempt to unlawfully and fraudulently profit off consumers’ fears.” She also asked that GoDaddy.com, Dynadot.com, Name.com, Namecheap.com, Registrar.com and Endurance International Group de-list domain names used for COVID-19 scams and fake remedies. Frosh detailed various fraud schemes about fake cures and self-testing at home.
California AG Xavier Becerra (D) wrote Amazon, Alibaba, Craigslist, eBay, Facebook, Walmart, Shopify, Overstock and OfferUp Thursday. “Price gouging during a time of national emergency is not only disgraceful, it is illegal,” he wrote, asking the companies to “intensify their effort to combat price gouging.”
The Internet Association didn’t comment.