Senate panel approves bill letting governor and AG target price gouging after market disruptions

House Bill 10‑10, which would allow the governor to declare a disaster for certain market disruptions and empower the attorney general to enforce Colorado’s price‑gouging statute for affected goods or services, advanced out of the Business, Labor and Technology Committee on a 4–3 vote.

Sponsor Senator Weisman said the bill narrows authority to situations where a declared disaster creates market disruption — such as a refinery shutdown or trade disruption — and would let the attorney general pursue enforcement where sellers’ prices are unreasonably excessive. The measure builds on Colorado’s existing price‑gouging law and retains language that permits sellers to defend price changes that result directly from higher upstream costs.

Supporters, including the ACLU of Colorado, urged passage to protect low‑income and marginalized households from being priced out of necessities during disruptions. The Colorado Fuel Marketers Association, Colorado Petroleum Association and Colorado Oil and Gas Association expressed concern about section 2’s 10% threshold over 180 days and asked for clearer language about what constitutes a seller’s “direct costs,” especially in markets with volatile wholesale benchmarks and complex supply chains.

Witnesses described scenarios such as pipeline outages, refinery shutdowns and regional locational constraints that can produce rapid price swings in isolated markets and asked sponsors and the attorney general’s office to refine the bill language to avoid unintended consequences for retailers and midstream suppliers.

After committee discussion, the motion to advance the bill carried. Committee members recorded a 4–3 vote to send the bill to the Committee of the Whole with a favorable recommendation; sponsors indicated negotiations with industry and regulatory stakeholders would continue before floor action.