COLUMBIA, S.C. -- A bill that would increase law enforcement's ability to criminally prosecute cases of price gouging in South Carolina gained approval last Thursday in a state Senate subcommittee, reported the Associated Press.
The legislation, which cleared the state House in February, allows the attorney general to use the state's price-gouging laws when the president issues a disaster declaration somewhere in the United States. Current law says criminal charges cannot be brought unless the governor declares a state of emergency in South Carolina.[image-nocss]
Someone convicted of criminal price gouging, a misdemeanor, could be fined up to $1,000 or imprisoned for up to 30 days, per transaction.
The lack of a criminal penalty hobbled AG Henry McMaster's efforts last August to prosecute gasoline price-gouging claims made when some gas stations raised prices to almost $5 a gallon in the wake of Hurricane Katrina, which struck the Gulf Coast.
McMaster's office investigated more than 100 stations after receiving complaints from more than 1,500 residents.
Most stations could justify the prices due to supply and demand and the increase in gasoline wholesale prices, McMaster spokesperson Trey Walker told the Senate panel. Seven could not.
As reported in CSP Daily News last week, their four corporate owners agreed, without admitting wrongdoing, to donate $500 per station to the American Red Cross for Katrina relief.
Pursuing price gouging cases through the civil courts is ineffective, Walker told the panel. The Senate bill now heads to the full Judiciary Committee.
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