Sen. Elizabeth Warren, D-Mass., and Sen. Kamala Harris, D-Calif., introduced a bill Friday that would prohibit price gouging during national emergencies, including the Covid-19 pandemic.
Under the Price Gouging Prevention Act, the FTC would be empowered to enforce a ban on excessive price increases of consumer goods during national emergencies. It would have to consider any price increase above 10% to be price gouging during such a declaration. The House bill was crafted based on a similar California law for statewide emergencies.
It would allow states to enforce the ban alongside the FTC but would not prevent states from enacting their own laws around price gouging.
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