Mark Dayton: “This makes it a felony to raise oil or gas prices more than 15 percent during a natural disaster and other emergencies…”

“This makes it a felony to raise oil or gas prices more than 15 percent during a natural disaster and other emergencies, and gives the U.S. Trade Commission, U.S. Department of Justice, and State Attorneys General the authority to prosecute violators. This creates an exception for cases in which a price increase is directly attributable to additional costs incurred by the seller. Currently, no Federal laws exist to address gasoline price gouging. Only 13 States have such laws to prosecute those who raise prices arbitrarily during times of emergency. On September 1, in the immediate aftermath of Hurricane Katrina, President Bush said in response to the price gouging that was underway: There ought to be zero tolerance of people breaking the law during an emergency such as this, whether it be looting or price gouging at the gasoline pump, or taking advantage of charitable giving or insurance fraud. On September 6th of this year, I wrote a letter to the U.S. Attorney General in which I said, in part: I respectfully urge the Justice Department to follow through on the President's warning and to investigate the sudden spike in gas prices nationwide, following Hurricane Katrina. I further wrote: I am deeply concerned that oil suppliers have used Hurricane Katrina as an excuse to grossly overcharge consumers, regardless of whether fuel is in short supply.…”