Colorado lawmakers are proposing new legislation that would prevent grocery stores and other sellers of essential goods from “unfairly or unconscionably” increasing prices. House Bill 1010, introduced as part of a broader effort to tackle the state’s high cost of living, aims to expand existing laws against price gouging during disasters. Under the bill, raising prices on certain products by 10% or more within a 90-day period could be considered a deceptive trade practice. This would allow the Colorado Attorney General’s Office or local district attorneys to investigate the reasons behind the price increase. The bill follows the economic impact of the COVID-19 pandemic, which saw significant price hikes, especially in food.
“There’s a lot of reasons why prices go up, but greed is clearly one of those reasons,” said Rep. Yara Zokaie, a Fort Collins Democrat and the bill’s primary sponsor. “What we do see is market conditions cause prices to go up, and then you have greedy corporations that take advantage of that, and they hide behind those market conditions.”
In 2020, the legislature passed an anti-price gouging law in response to the early days of the pandemic. That law applied to building materials, food, fuel, emergency supplies, and other essential goods, but it was limited to officially declared disaster periods, such as the pandemic. Zokaie’s new bill seeks to remove this time-specific limitation, making it illegal to raise prices by 10% or more within any three-month period. The bill would also allow sellers to raise prices if they can prove the increase was due to higher costs from suppliers or other “direct costs” they had to absorb. Zokaie is joined by co-sponsors, fellow Democrats Rep. Kyle Brown from Louisville and Sen. Mike Weissman from Aurora.
Although Zokaie initially intended to focus on grocery store items, the bill would still apply to the same range of products covered under the 2020 law. It also expands the definition of necessities to include “goods and services that are necessary for the health, safety, and welfare” of the public.
A May report from the Federal Trade Commission on food prices during the pandemic revealed that “food and beverage retailer revenues increased to more than 6% over total costs in 2021,” surpassing their previous peak in 2015. This trend continued through the first three quarters of 2023. The commission suggested that these findings raised doubts about claims that rising grocery prices were simply a reflection of increased costs for retailers.
While price hikes have slowed in Colorado and across the country, a December report from state economists indicated that food inflation still outpaced general inflation. The increase was particularly sharp during the pandemic, when food prices surged nearly 8% within just 12 months.
A Kroger spokesperson attributed higher prices on the Western Slope in Colorado to rising fuel and labor costs, although the analysis suggests that areas with less competition are seeing even higher prices. Meanwhile, politicians nationwide have been rallying around the issue of price gouging, particularly in response to ongoing cost-of-living concerns exacerbated by the COVID-19 pandemic. During her unsuccessful 2024 presidential campaign, Vice President Kamala Harris proposed a national ban on price gouging.
The Colorado bill, which has yet to have its first committee hearing scheduled, will be debated by a legislature that has expressed a bipartisan commitment to addressing Colorado’s affordability issues. House Speaker Julie McCluskie highlighted the state’s high cost of living in her opening speech, as did Governor Jared Polis in his State of the State address. Senate Republicans also held a press conference, where they showcased $4,500 in cash they claimed they wanted to save Coloradans, to promote their own plan to reduce costs. Minority Leader Rose Pugliese, the leading Republican in the House, who has also made affordability a priority, said last month that she was still reviewing Zokaie’s bill and was unsure about her caucus’s support for it.
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