Date: 02/20/2006

Final
BILL SUMMARY for HB06-1251

HOUSE COMMITTEE ON BUSINESS AFFAIRS AND LABOR

Votes: View--> Action Taken:
Moved amendment L.008 (Attachment M). The motion
Moved to refer House Bill 06-1251, as amended, to 		PASS
PASS



04:00 PM -- House Bill 06-1251

Representative Green, prime sponsor, presented House Bill 1251 and distributed a handout (Attachment L). She stated that the bill would prohibit price gouging during an emergency. The bill's definition of emergency would include a natural disaster or other circumstances or events declared by federal or state authorities to be an emergency.

04:06 PM

There was committee discussion about the relevance of the legislation to Colorado. Representative Green responded to questions from the committee about the bill's impact on oil and gas providers.

04:16 PM -- Robert Blackwell, representing the Colorado Propane Gas Association, testified in opposition of the bill. He expressed his concerns that the bill may cause Colorado to become disconnected from the commodities market in the surrounding states.

04:20 PM -- Stan Dempsey, representing the Colorado Petroleum Association, and Kris Smith and Mike Ashar, representing Suncor Energy Incorporated, testified together in opposition of the bill. Mr. Smith explained that Suncor owns the two refineries in Colorado and supplies approximately 40 percent of the state's gas and diesel. He stated that if certain changes were made to the legislation, Suncor would be able to support it, but there are some concerns with the bill as it is written now. Those concerns are: the scope of the bill, how it is triggered, its duration, and how it applies. Mr. Smith talked about the scope of the bill and that it applies through the entire chain of distribution and discussed the unintended consequences that come along with that. He stated Suncor would support the legislation at the retail level only. He spoke about Idaho and Utah that have similar legislation that is aimed solely at the retail level.

04:30 PM

He discussed how the trigger works in other states, including limiting the emergency to the state. Representative Green talked about amendment L.008 (Attachment M) that would provide this limitation. She added that she would also like to draft an amendment that would stipulate the end of the emergency and one that would address the retail issue without just making the bill apply to the retail level.

04:36 PM

There was committee discussion about the 10 percent change in price. Mr. Ashar talked about what could cause a 10 percent change in price and he stated that it is not unusual for that to occur even without an emergency.

04:43 PM -- Jan Zavislan, from the Colorado Attorney General's Office, Consumer Protection Section, testified on the bill. He stated that the Attorney General's Office supports price gouging legislation with a clear trigger and a clear definition of price gouging. The Attorney General's Office also wants the statute in the unfair practices act, in order to be able to enforce it easier.

04:47 PM

Committee discussion followed about the trigger of the legislation.
BILL:HB06-1251
TIME: 04:51:33 PM
MOVED:Marshall
MOTION:Moved amendment L.008 (Attachment M). The motion passed 12-1.
SECONDED:Carroll M.
VOTE
Balmer
Yes
Borodkin
Yes
Butcher
Yes
Carroll M.
Yes
Coleman
Yes
Knoedler
No
Liston
Yes
McCluskey
Yes
Paccione
Yes
Penry
Yes
Welker
Yes
Cerbo
Yes
Marshall
Yes
Not Final YES: 12 NO: 1 EXC: 0 ABS: 0 FINAL ACTION: PASS

BILL:HB06-1251
TIME: 04:54:56 PM
MOVED:Butcher
MOTION:Moved to refer House Bill 06-1251, as amended, to the Committee of the Whole. The motion passed 7-6.
SECONDED:Borodkin
VOTE
Balmer
No
Borodkin
Yes
Butcher
Yes
Carroll M.
Yes
Coleman
Yes
Knoedler
No
Liston
No
McCluskey
No
Paccione
Yes
Penry
No
Welker
No
Cerbo
Yes
Marshall
Yes
Final YES: 7 NO: 6 EXC: 0 ABS: 0 FINAL ACTION: PASS