(Source: MIRS.news, Published 12/12/2024) Michigan hotels would be banned from ramping up costs by more than 10 percent in an area hit by a declared state of emergency, under bills passed by Senate Democrats Thursday afternoon.  

SB 954 , SB 955 and SB 956 aim to regulate price increases during and "reasonably after" the Governor declares a state of emergency, including severe floods, tornadoes, snowstorms and public health threats.  

If located in a community impacted by a state of emergency, an individual business owner can face a one-year, $10,000 misdemeanor, or a $1 million civil fine if the violator was larger than a single person. Under the legislation, the Attorney General would be responsible for making the charges, and there would be a six-year deadline following the reported incident for when the Attorney General could bring action forward. 

Moss' SB 954 deals with hotels and inns, and his SB 955 deals with consumer food items, medications, bandages and tangible goods. Meanwhile, SB 956 by Sen. Mary Cavanagh (D-Redford Twp.) deals with gasoline, propane or home heating oil. 

All bills passed by a party-line, 20-16.  

"Every other state has this trigger in their law that places gouging limitations in effect when an emergency like an extreme weather event or natural disaster is declared," Moss said in the Senate chamber. "Just this fall, the state attorneys general in Florida and North Carolina promoted and boasted about their laws to the public to take on price gouging during the destructive hurricane season." 

For example, in Florida, businesses during a state of emergency can face price gouging charges if a commodity they offer is grossly higher than its average price during the 30 days ahead of the emergency.  

The 10 percent trigger is currently being used to direct attorney general charges in Oklahoma, New Jersey, Utah and California, according to a list of price gouging statutes published by the Food Industry Association.  

Moss' work on price gouging started as a constituent call to his previous state House office in 2017. In March 2017, intense wind gusts hit Southeast Michigan, with the highest reportedly reaching 68 miles per hour, according to the National Weather Service. As power lines and trees were taken out, it was reported that around 700,000 DTE Energy consumers lost power.  

"As families were displaced, my state rep office received a complaint about a hotel in my district charging people almost seven times the nightly room rate," he said. "We went to the Attorney General in 2017, who told us we (didn't) have the tools to go after this. No one should be profiting from human misery like that."  

However, members of the business community – like the Michigan Chamber of Commerce, the Small Business Association of Michigan and the Detroit Regional Chamber – requested lawmakers to consider a 20 percent cap instead of a 10 percent mark-up threshold.  

"If the threshold is capped at 10 (percent), businesses may be forced to proactively increase the price of an item in preparation for an emergency declaration or limit the supply," an October letter from the groups reads.  

The letter illustrated how COVID-19 pandemic media reports found the cost of two little hand sanitizer bottles jumping from $30 to $250.  

"This increase was over 800 (percent) and encapsulates the markup this legislation intends to address. Instead, however, as introduced the bills punish good actors," the groups warned.  

Meanwhile, Sen. Thomas Albert (R-Lowell) said in free societies, price control should be used in very limited situations, separating public necessities from other monopolies.  

"If anything, when it comes to what we can do during declared emergencies, we should be limiting the emergency authority that's held by the state executive branch and local health departments," Albert said. "We do not need authoritarian leaders telling us which aisles we can walk through in the stores."