Sponsors
The bill strengthens protections against price-gouging and speeds government response in acute shortages—benefiting consumers and health systems—but increases legal and financial risks for small sellers and creates enforcement ambiguity that could reduce supply or shift costs to taxpayers.
Low- and moderate-income consumers are less likely to face extreme price spikes for food, medicine, fuel, and emergency supplies during declared acute shortages.
Hospitals and emergency responders can obtain essential medical supplies and fuel more affordably during acute shortages, supporting patient care and emergency operations.
The bill clarifies government authority by defining 'acute shortage' and 'critical good,' enabling faster official action to limit gouging and allocate scarce supplies during crises.
Small sellers and independent retailers face risk of very large monetary penalties (up to 300% of violating revenue) and criminal exposure, which could raise compliance costs or push some out of business.
To avoid liability, businesses may preemptively raise prices, limit sales, or restrict supply during early stages of shortages, which could shrink availability and worsen access to critical goods.
If 'willful' and similar standards are interpreted broadly, individuals and small sellers could face heavy criminalization for accidental or marginal pricing errors.
Based on analysis of 2 sections of legislative text.
Adds a federal ban on charging "unfairly excessive" prices for scarce or critical goods, defines thresholds and shortages, and imposes large fines for willful violations.
Introduced July 23, 2025 by Josh Riley · Last progress July 23, 2025
Prohibits selling or offering scarce or critical goods at prices that "grossly exceed" market prices or are an "unfairly excessive price," and expands the existing hoarding prohibition to cover any critical good experiencing an acute shortage. Defines key terms (including a presumptive 10% price-increase threshold), creates definitions for “critical good” and “acute shortage,” and builds the standard into the Defense Production Act enforcement authority. Creates new criminal and financial penalties for willful violations: on conviction, offenders face a fine equal to the greater of $20,000 or 300% of revenue generated by the violation. The measure broadens federal power to police price-gouging during shortages and changes the legal test used to challenge resale and hoarding conduct under the Defense Production Act.