	Introduction

"Price gouging" is a term commonly used to refer to sellers inflating prices to "unfair" levels in order to take advantage of certain circumstances causing a decrease in supply, including emergencies. Currently, no federal law specifically addresses price gouging. However, bills have been introduced in the 112 th Congress that would prohibit price gouging of gasoline and other fuels. State Price-Gouging Laws

Many states have enacted some type of prohibition or limitation on price increases during declared emergencies. Many statutes of both kinds include an exemption if price increases are the result of increased costs incurred for procuring the goods or services in question. A Sampling of State Statutes

			Prohibitions on "Excessive" or "Unconscionable" Pricing

One common format found in state statutes that attempt to address price gouging is a ban on prices that are considered to be "excessive" or "unconscionable" or another term, as defined in the statute or left to the discretion of the courts. Prohibitions of Price Increases Beyond a Certain Percentage

While some state statutes attempt to address price gouging by banning "excessive" or "unconscionable" pricing during emergencies and leaving it to the courts to determine whether such pricing has occurred in accordance with the statute's guidance, other state statutes leave less to the courts' discretion and instead place hard caps on pricing of certain goods during emergencies. For example, in Georgia, it is considered an "unlawful, unfair and deceptive trade practice" for anyone doing business in an areas where a state of emergency has been declared to
sell or offer for sale at retail any goods or services identified by the Governor in the declaration of the state of emergency necessary to preserve, protect, or sustain the life, health, or safety of persons or their property at a price higher than the price at which such goods were sold or offered for sale immediately prior to the declaration of a state of emergency. Federal Price-Gouging Legislation Introduced in the 112th Congress

As mentioned above, currently there is no federal law that deals specifically with price gouging. However, federal antitrust laws may apply to behavior generally regarded as price gouging. At least three bills introduced in the 112 th Congress would create a federal law that specifically addresses price gouging in response to emergencies. H.R. 1899 and H.R. 964 . In addition to this, H.R. Section 1 prohibits contracts or conspiracies in restraint of trade. Recently, the First Circuit Court of Appeals affirmed a grant of summary judgment for the defendants in a case in which a group of gasoline station owners on Martha's Vineyard were accused of violating Section 1 of the Sherman Act in the aftermath of Hurricane Katrina.
Fluctuations in gasoline prices in recent years have renewed focus on the role of the government in discouraging "price gouging," a term commonly used to refer to sellers inflating prices to "unfair" levels in order to take advantage of certain circumstances causing a decrease in supply, including emergencies. There have been legislative efforts to create a federal law addressing gasoline price gouging, including bills that would bar certain commercial practices as well as legislation that mandated the study of pricing of gasoline in the wake of Hurricane Katrina.
While the federal government has not enacted legislation aimed specifically at addressing price gouging for gasoline, a majority of states have enacted statutes to curtail price gouging for certain critical goods and services, including fuel, during emergencies. Some of these statutes attempt to address price gouging by barring pricing during emergencies that is considered to be "unconscionable" or "excessive" or otherwise is in violation of a subjective standard. Other statutes place a hard cap on prices during periods of emergency based on percentage increases from prices charged for the good or service in question prior to the emergency. All of these state statutes provide leeway if it can be shown that the price increases are the result of increased costs rather than simply a change in the marketplace.
At least three bills introduced in the 112th Congress would create a federal law that specifically addresses price gouging in response to emergencies. H.R. 964, H.R. 1748, and H.R. 1899 all contain language similar to the language found in the state statutes that attempt to curtail price gouging through limits or controls on pricing during declared periods of emergency. As of the date of this report, all three bills had been referred to House subcommittees, but no further action on them had been taken.
Although there is no federal law aimed specifically at price gouging, federal antitrust laws do forbid various types of anticompetitive business practices. For example, Section 1 of the Sherman Act prohibits unreasonable restraints of trade. It is possible that if a group of gasoline retailers or other retailers collaborated to set prices unreasonably high during an emergency, this "price gouging" could be a violation of Section 1 of the Sherman Act. In addition, while not necessarily tied to retail price gouging, federal statutes addressing monopolies and vertical integration may play a role in evaluating retail gasoline price changes.