II 

117TH CONGRESS 

2D SESSION S. 3920 

To protect consumers from price-gouging of gasoline and other fuels, and 

for other purposes. 

IN THE SENATE OF THE UNITED STATES 

MARCH 24, 2022 

Ms. DUCKWORTH introduced the following bill; which was read twice and 

referred to the Committee on Commerce, Science, and Transportation 

A BILL 

To protect consumers from price-gouging of gasoline and 

other fuels, and for other purposes. 

1 Be it enacted by the Senate and House of Representa2 tives of the United States of America in Congress assembled, 

3 SECTION 1. SHORT TITLE. 

4 This Act may be cited as the ‘‘Gas Price Gouging 

5 Prevention Act’’. 

6 SEC. 2. UNCONSCIONABLE PRICING OF GASOLINE AND 

7 OTHER PETROLEUM DISTILLATES DURING 

8 EMERGENCIES. 

9 (a) UNCONSCIONABLE PRICING.— 


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1 (1) IN GENERAL.—It shall be unlawful for any 

2 person to sell, at wholesale or at retail in an area 

3 and during a period of an international crisis affect4 ing the oil markets proclaimed under paragraph (2), 

5 gasoline or any other petroleum distillate covered by 

6 a proclamation issued under paragraph (2) at a 

7 price that— 

8 (A) is unconscionably excessive; and 

9 (B) indicates the seller is taking unfair ad10 vantage of the circumstances related to an 

11 international crisis to increase prices unreason12 ably. 

13 (2) ENERGY EMERGENCY PROCLAMATION.— 

14 (A) IN GENERAL.—The President may 

15 issue a proclamation of an international crisis 

16 affecting the oil markets and may designate any 

17 area within the jurisdiction of the United States 

18 (including the entire United States), where the 

19 prohibition in paragraph (1) shall apply. The 

20 proclamation shall state the geographic area 

21 covered, the gasoline or other petroleum dis22 tillate covered, and the time period that such 

23 proclamation shall be in effect. 

24 (B) DURATION.—The proclamation— 


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1 (i) may not apply for a period of more 

2 than 30 consecutive days, but may be re3 newed for such consecutive periods, each 

4 not to exceed 30 days, as the President de5 termines appropriate; and 

6 (ii) may include a period of time not 

7 to exceed 1 week preceding a reasonably 

8 foreseeable emergency. 

9 (3) FACTORS CONSIDERED.—In determining 

10 whether a person has violated paragraph (1), there 

11 shall be taken into account, among other factors— 

12 (A) whether the amount charged by such 

13 person for the applicable gasoline or other pe14 troleum distillate at a particular location in an 

15 area covered by a proclamation issued under 

16 paragraph (2) during the period such proclama17 tion is in effect— 

18 (i) grossly exceeds the average price 

19 at which the applicable gasoline or other 

20 petroleum distillate was offered for sale by 

21 that person during the 30 days prior to 

22 such proclamation; 

23 (ii) grossly exceeds the price at which 

24 the same or similar gasoline or other pe25 troleum distillate was readily obtainable in 


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1 the same area from other competing sellers 

2 during the same period; 

3 (iii) reasonably reflected additional 

4 costs, not within the control of that person, 

5 that were paid, incurred, or reasonably an6 ticipated by that person, or reflected addi7 tional risks taken by that person to 

8 produce, distribute, obtain, or sell such 

9 product under the circumstances; and 

10 (iv) was substantially attributable to 

11 local, regional, national, or international 

12 market conditions; and 

13 (B) whether the quantity of gasoline or 

14 other petroleum distillate the person produced, 

15 distributed, or sold in an area covered by a 

16 proclamation issued under paragraph (2) dur17 ing a 30-day period following the issuance of 

18 such proclamation increased over the quantity 

19 that that person produced, distributed, or sold 

20 during the 30 days prior to such proclamation, 

21 taking into account usual seasonal demand vari22 ations. 

23 (b) DEFINITIONS.—As used in this section— 

24 (1) the term ‘‘wholesale’’, with respect to sales 

25 of gasoline or other petroleum distillates, means eiVerDate Sep 11 2014 03:47 Mar 25, 2022 Jkt 029200 PO 00000 Frm 00004 Fmt 6652 Sfmt 6201 E:\BILLS\S3920.IS S3920

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1 ther truckload or smaller sales of gasoline or petro2 leum distillates where title transfers at a product 

3 terminal or a refinery, and dealer tank wagon sales 

4 of gasoline or petroleum distillates priced on a deliv5 ered basis to retail outlets; and 

6 (2) the term ‘‘retail’’, with respect to sales of 

7 gasoline or other petroleum distillates, includes all 

8 sales to end users such as motorists as well as all 

9 direct sales to other end users such as agriculture, 

10 industry, residential, and commercial consumers. 

11 SEC. 3. ENFORCEMENT BY THE FEDERAL TRADE COMMIS12 SION. 

13 (a) ENFORCEMENT BY FTC.—A violation of section 

14 2 shall be treated as a violation of a rule defining an un15 fair or deceptive act or practice prescribed under section 

16 18(a)(1)(B) of the Federal Trade Commission Act (15 

17 U.S.C. 57a(a)(1)(B)). The Federal Trade Commission 

18 shall enforce this Act in the same manner, by the same 

19 means, and with the same jurisdiction as though all appli20 cable terms and provisions of the Federal Trade Commis21 sion Act were incorporated into and made a part of this 

22 Act. In enforcing section 2 of this Act, the Commission 

23 shall give priority to enforcement actions concerning com24 panies with total United States wholesale or retail sales 


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1 of gasoline and other petroleum distillates in excess of 

2 $10,000,000,000 per year. 

3 (b) CIVIL PENALTIES.— 

4 (1) IN GENERAL.—Notwithstanding the pen5 alties set forth under the Federal Trade Commission 

6 Act, any person who violates section 2 with actual 

7 knowledge or knowledge fairly implied on the basis 

8 of objective circumstances shall be subject to— 

9 (A) a civil penalty of not more than 3 

10 times the amount of profits gained by such per11 son through such violation; or 

12 (B) a civil penalty of not more than 

13 $100,000,000. 

14 (2) METHOD.—The penalties provided by para15 graph (1) shall be obtained in the same manner as 

16 civil penalties obtained under section 5 of the Fed17 eral Trade Commission Act (15 U.S.C. 45). 

18 (3) MULTIPLE OFFENSES; MITIGATING FAC19 TORS.—In assessing the penalty provided by sub20 section (a)— 

21 (A) each day of a continuing violation shall 

22 be considered a separate violation; and 

23 (B) the court shall take into consideration, 

24 among other factors, the seriousness of the vio25 lation and the efforts of the person committing 


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1 the violation to remedy the harm caused by the 

2 violation in a timely manner. 

3 SEC. 4. CRIMINAL PENALTIES. 

4 (a) IN GENERAL.—In addition to any penalty appli5 cable under section 3, any person who violates section 2 

6 shall be fined under title 18, United States Code, in an 

7 amount not to exceed $500,000,000. 

8 (b) ENFORCEMENT.—The criminal penalty provided 

9 by subsection (a) may be imposed only pursuant to a 

10 criminal action brought by the Attorney General or other 

11 officer of the Department of Justice. The Attorney Gen12 eral shall give priority to enforcement actions concerning 

13 companies with total United States wholesale or retail 

14 sales of gasoline and other petroleum distillates in excess 

15 of $10,000,000,000 per year. 

16 SEC. 5. ENFORCEMENT AT RETAIL LEVEL BY STATE ATTOR17 NEYS GENERAL. 

18 (a) IN GENERAL.—A State, as parens patriae, may 

19 bring a civil action on behalf of its residents in an appro20 priate district court of the United States to enforce the 

21 provisions of section 2 of this Act, or to impose the civil 

22 penalties authorized by section 3(b)(1)(B), whenever the 

23 attorney general of the State has reason to believe that 

24 the interests of the residents of the State have been or 

25 are being threatened or adversely affected by a violation 


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1 of this Act or a regulation under this Act, involving a re2 tail sale. 

3 (b) NOTICE.—The State shall serve written notice to 

4 the Federal Trade Commission of any civil action under 

5 subsection (a) prior to initiating such civil action. The no6 tice shall include a copy of the complaint to be filed to 

7 initiate such civil action, except that if it is not feasible 

8 for the State to provide such prior notice, the State shall 

9 provide such notice immediately upon instituting such civil 

10 action. 

11 (c) AUTHORITY TO INTERVENE.—Upon receiving the 

12 notice required by subsection (b), the Federal Trade Com13 mission may intervene in such civil action and upon inter14 vening— 

15 (1) be heard on all matters arising in such civil 

16 action; and 

17 (2) file petitions for appeal of a decision in such 

18 civil action. 

19 (d) CONSTRUCTION.—For purposes of bringing any 

20 civil action under subsection (a), nothing in this section 

21 shall prevent the attorney general of a State from exer22 cising the powers conferred on the attorney general by the 

23 laws of such State to conduct investigations or to admin24 ister oaths or affirmations or to compel the attendance 


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1 of witnesses or the production of documentary and other 

2 evidence. 

3 (e) VENUE; SERVICE OF PROCESS.—In a civil action 

4 brought under subsection (a)— 

5 (1) the venue shall be a judicial district in 

6 which— 

7 (A) the defendant operates; 

8 (B) the defendant was authorized to do 

9 business; or 

10 (C) the defendant in the civil action is 

11 found; 

12 (2) process may be served without regard to the 

13 territorial limits of the district or of the State in 

14 which the civil action is instituted; and 

15 (3) a person who participated with the defend16 ant in an alleged violation that is being litigated in 

17 the civil action may be joined in the civil action with18 out regard to the residence of the person. 

19 (f) LIMITATION ON STATE ACTION WHILE FEDERAL

20 ACTION IS PENDING.—If the Federal Trade Commission 

21 has instituted a civil action or an administrative action 

22 for violation of this Act, no State attorney general, or offi23 cial or agency of a State, may bring an action under this 

24 subsection during the pendency of that action against any 

25 defendant named in the complaint of the Federal Trade 


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1 Commission or the other agency for any violation of this 

2 Act alleged in the complaint. 

3 (g) ENFORCEMENT OF STATE LAW.—Nothing con4 tained in this section shall prohibit an authorized State 

5 official from proceeding in State court to enforce a civil 

6 or criminal statute of such State. 

7 SEC. 6. EFFECT ON OTHER LAWS. 

8 (a) OTHER AUTHORITY OF FEDERAL TRADE COM9 MISSION.—Nothing in this Act shall be construed to limit 

10 or affect in any way the Federal Trade Commission’s au11 thority to bring enforcement actions or take any other 

12 measure under the Federal Trade Commission Act (15 

13 U.S.C. 41 et seq.) or any other provision of law. 

14 (b) STATE LAW.—Nothing in this Act preempts any 

15 State law. 

Æ 


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