Author: Katherine D. Brodie

On October 30, 2024, sixteen (16) Attorneys General wrote to House and Senate Republican and Democrat leadership in support of Congress taking action to establish a federal penalty for price gouging during times of economic crisis. Despite varying types of anti-price gouging laws in 40 states, the AGs note that the national scope of product supply chains requires a federal-state partnership to adequately protect consumers and small business from price hikes, hoarding and supply restrictions that can result from profiteering. The letter seeks to distinguish its support for temporary, targeted price gouging prohibitions from price caps or ceilings of the past that were not narrowly targeted and harmed businesses responding to market conditions to maintain profit margins. The type of federal prohibition the group supports would be directed toward excess profit making in times of crisis, as states across the nation experienced during the COVID-19 pandemic and after global oil and gas market disruptions.

The letter notes that states have “successfully held up-chain distributors and manufacturers accountable for the harm they caused both to consumers and small businesses,” but that “without a national prohibition in place, states face resource challenges and additional litigation uncertainty when pursuing upstream, out-of-state producers and sellers” and “those gaps incentivize businesses to push price gouging activity up the supply chain in order to complicate price gouging enforcement by individual states.” A federal price gouging ban would assist in eliminating such incentive, according to the AGs.

In short, the AGs believe that a federal price gouging prohibition that complements current state prohibitions would “allow federal enforcement agencies, such as the Federal Trade Commission, to identify and restrain unjustified and irrational price increases throughout the entire supply chain, unconstrained by the complications of State-by-State enforcement”.

The letter was signed by the attorneys general of New York, California, Connecticut, Delaware, the District of Columbia, Hawaii, Illinois, Maine, Maryland, Massachusetts, Michigan, Oregon, New Jersey, New Mexico, Pennsylvania and Vermont.

On September 9, 42 state attorneys general joined a National Association of Attorneys General Letter to House and Senate leadership supporting legislation to establish a surgeon general’s warning label on algorithm-driven social medial platforms, stating that social media is associated with significant mental health harms for adolescents. According to the state AGs, such platforms represent a serious public mental health threat, closely linked to youth depression, anxiety and suicidal ideation.

The Letter follows previous efforts taken by state attorneys general— including Arkansas, Indiana, Iowa, Kansas, Nebraska, New Hampshire, and Utah—but  advocates for federal intervention. 

According to the AGs’ letter, a federally mandated surgeon general’s warning “would be a consequential step toward mitigating the risk of harm to youth.” The authors urge Congress to seriously consider this and other steps to protect youth in the face of emerging technologies, citing the Senate’s passage of the Kids Online Safety Act and Children and Teens’ Online Privacy Protection Act as evidencing bipartisan commitment to protecting youth online.

The following state attorneys general signed the Letter: Alabama, Arkansas,  American Samoa, California, Colorado, Connecticut, Delaware, District of Columbia, Florida, Georgia, Hawaii, Idaho, Illinois, Indiana, Kentucky, Maine, Maryland, Massachusetts, Michigan, Minnesota, Mississippi, Nevada, New Hampshire, New Jersey, New Mexico, New York, North Carolina, North Dakota, Oklahoma, Oregon, Pennsylvania, Rhode Island, South Carolina, South Dakota, Tennessee, U.S. Virgin Islands, Utah, Vermont, Virginia, Washington, Wisconsin and Wyoming.