Assembly Bill 380 would expand price‑gouging protections to businesses and clarify rent rules after disasters

Assemblymember Mark Gonzales told the Senate Public Safety Committee on July 8 that AB 380 was written after the Los Angeles wildfires that destroyed thousands of structures and that the measure would strengthen state law to protect people and community‑serving businesses from opportunistic price hikes during declared emergencies.

The bill, as amended, narrows the duration of several emergency price‑gouging protections: caps on goods and services, hotels and motels, rental housing, and commercial real estate would generally run 60 days after a proclaimed emergency; reconstructive services (medical) would be protected for 180 days. The author also said the bill would restore the ability to increase rent when the increase is necessary for maintenance and repairs, a change added in negotiations with opposition groups.

Supporters said the measure is aimed at small, low‑income business owners who often lease month‑to‑month and lack resources or bargaining power. Jasmine Poyawan of the Lawyers’ Committee for Civil Rights of the San Francisco Bay Area testified AB 380 would help “community‑serving small businesses…stay afloat” after disasters by limiting sudden, large rent increases and other opportunistic price spikes.

Opposition witnesses including the California Business Properties Association and the California Association of Realtors urged caution on the commercial real estate language. Skyler Wanakott (California Business Properties Association) said commercial property differs from residential markets and urged stripping commercial property from the bill or narrowing it to month‑to‑month leases and to exclude tenant improvement costs from caps. Bernie Simenas Krieger (California Association of Realtors) warned expanding the enforcement period from 30 to 60 days and broadening the definition of covered rental housing could “discourage rebuilding and future investments” and argued the exceptions for documented repair costs may be hard to apply after a disaster.

Committee members asked detailed questions about how the commercial provisions would work in practice. One senator said commercial owners have little incentive to raise rents on existing tenants because doing so can leave units vacant; the author responded that bad actors do exist and the bill seeks to protect businesses that would otherwise be pushed out during a crisis. Gonzales and witnesses said they were continuing to negotiate language with opponents and that several trade groups had moved from opposed to neutral after recent amendments.

The committee did not take a final vote during the hearing; when the record closed the committee’s rollcall later showed AB 380 passed the committee on a 4–1 vote to send the bill to appropriations.

Ending: The author asked the committee to move the measure forward so negotiations could continue in the next house. If enacted, AB 380 would extend and clarify emergency price‑gouging restrictions and add targeted protections for short‑term commercial leases and small businesses; several opposition groups signaled willingness to keep negotiating narrower language to address their concerns.