Bill Text: NY A10159 | 2019-2020 | General Assembly | Introduced

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Bill Title: Prohibits price gouging with respect to medical supplies during a public health emergency.

Spectrum: Partisan Bill (Democrat 3-0)

Status: (Introduced - Dead) 2020-03-24 - referred to consumer affairs and protection [A10159 Detail]

Download: New_York-2019-A10159-Introduced.html

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                STATE OF NEW YORK
        ________________________________________________________________________

                                          10159

                   IN ASSEMBLY

                                     March 24, 2020
                                       ___________

        Introduced  by M. of A. ROZIC -- read once and referred to the Committee
          on Consumer Affairs and Protection

        AN ACT to amend the general business law,  in  relation  to  prohibiting
          price  gouging with respect to medical supplies during a public health
          emergency

          The People of the State of New York, represented in Senate and  Assem-
        bly, do enact as follows:

     1    Section 1. The general business law is amended by adding a new section
     2  396-rrr to read as follows:
     3    §  396-rrr.  Price  gouging;  medical  supplies during a public health
     4  emergency. 1. For the purposes of  this  section,  the  following  terms
     5  shall have the following meanings:
     6    (a) "public health emergency" shall mean a period of time during which
     7  the governor has made a state declaration of disaster emergency pursuant
     8  to section twenty-eight of the executive law; and
     9    (b)  "consumer  medical  supplies" shall mean goods and products used,
    10  bought or rendered primarily for personal, family, or household purposes
    11  used for  the  care,  cure,  mitigation,  treatment,  or  prevention  of
    12  illnesses  or  diseases; such term shall include, but not be limited to:
    13  bandages, gauze, or  dressings;  hand  sanitizer,  antibiotic  ointment,
    14  rubbing alcohol, hydrogen peroxide, saline solution; medical or surgical
    15  masks;  medical  or  surgical  gloves; tissues; over-the-counter medica-
    16  tions; and any other goods or products  identified  in  emergency  regu-
    17  lations  promulgated  by  the  commissioner  of the department of health
    18  during a public health emergency.
    19    2. No manufacturer, supplier, wholesaler, distributor or retail seller
    20  of consumer medical supplies shall sell  or  offer  for  sale  any  such
    21  consumer  medical supplies for an amount which represents an unconscion-
    22  ably excessive price during a public health emergency.
    23    3. (a) A price is not an "unconscionably excessive price" if it is ten
    24  percent or less above the price charged by that seller for such consumer
    25  medical supplies immediately prior to the public health emergency.
    26    (b) A defendant may rebut a prima  facie  case  based  on  an  alleged
    27  violation of this section with evidence that additional costs not within

         EXPLANATION--Matter in italics (underscored) is new; matter in brackets
                              [ ] is old law to be omitted.
                                                                   LBD15648-02-0
        A. 10159                            2

     1  the  control  of  the  defendant  were  imposed on the defendant for the
     2  consumer medical supplies.
     3    4.  Where a violation of this section is alleged to have occurred, the
     4  attorney general may apply in the name of the people of the state of New
     5  York to the supreme court of the state of New York within  the  judicial
     6  district  in  which  such  violations  are  alleged to have occurred, on
     7  notice of five days, for an order enjoining or restraining commission or
     8  continuance of the alleged unlawful acts. In any  such  proceeding,  the
     9  court  shall  impose  a civil penalty in an amount not to exceed twenty-
    10  five thousand dollars  and,  where  appropriate,  order  restitution  to
    11  aggrieved consumers.
    12    § 2. This act shall take effect immediately.