Additional Protections In Consumer Code

Under current law, a person commits an unfair and unconscionable act or practice if the person engages in price gouging with regard to the sale or provision of certain goods or services during, and for a certain period after, a declared emergency disaster (disaster period). The act extends the disaster period from 180 days after the first declaration of the disaster to 180 days after the final declaration concerning the disaster expires.

The act also repeals and reenacts the "Colorado Antitrust Act of 1992" as the "Colorado State Antitrust Act of 2023" (antitrust act) and:

• Establishes that the facilitation or aiding and abetting of another person's violation of the antitrust act is itself a violation of the antitrust act;
• Authorizes the attorney general (AG) to request discovery from any person that the AG believes may in the future engage in, or has information related to, a violation of the antitrust act;
• Authorizes the AG to deem investigatory or intelligence records related to the antitrust act available for public inspection and allows the AG to issue public statements or warnings regarding conduct forming the basis of the investigatory or intelligence records;
• Authorizes a court, upon request of the AG, to compensate a person that has been injured from a violation of the antitrust act as part of a civil action that the AG brings on behalf of the person;
• Increases the maximum civil penalty that a court may award for a violation of the antitrust act from $250,000 to $1,000,000 per violation; and
• With regard to the statute of limitations for commencing a civil action under the antitrust act:
• Clarifies that a cause of action accrues on the date of the last in a series of acts or practices that, in the aggregate, constitute a violation of the antitrust act; and
• Tolls the statute of limitations for any civil action pertaining to an alleged violation of the antitrust act during the pendency of a federal proceeding regarding the conduct forming the basis of the alleged violation of the antitrust act.

EFFECTIVE June 7, 2023
(Note: This summary applies to this bill as enacted.)