00                             HOUSE BILL NO. 68                                                                          
01 "An Act making sales of and offers to sell certain energy resources by a refiner at prices                              
02 that are exorbitant or excessive an unlawful act or practice under the Alaska Unfair                                    
03 Trade Practices and Consumer Protection Act."                                                                           
04 BE IT ENACTED BY THE LEGISLATURE OF THE STATE OF ALASKA:                                                                
05    * Section 1. AS 45.50.471(b) is amended by adding a new paragraph to read:                                         
06                 (56)  violating AS 45.50.483 (sales of certain energy resources by                                      
07       refiners).                                                                                                        
08    * Sec. 2. AS 45.50 is amended by adding a new section to read:                                                     
09            Sec. 45.50.483. Sales of certain energy resources by Alaska refiners. (a) A                                
10       refiner may not sell or offer to sell an energy resource at a price that is exorbitant or                         
11       excessive.                                                                                                        
12            (b)  The provisions of this section apply only to sales of                                                   
13                 (1)  motor fuel used in an engine for the propulsion of a motor vehicle,                                
14       as that term is defined in AS 28.90.990, or an aircraft;                                                          

01                 (2)  fuel for space heating; and                                                                        
02                 (3)  diesel fuel.                                                                                       
03            (c)  For purposes of this section, it is prima facie evidence that a price is                                
04       exorbitant or excessive if the price exceeds by more than 10 percent the average                                  
05       wholesale price of the comparable energy resource charged by refiners in the state of                             
06       Washington. A refiner may rebut the presumption by providing evidence that the                                    
07       amount charged by the refiner was attributable to additional reasonable costs incurred                            
08       by the refiner in connection with the refiner's sale of the energy resource.                                      
09            (d)  If the attorney general believes that a refiner has engaged in or is engaging                           
10       in a violation of (a) of this section, the attorney general shall initiate an investigation                       
11       under AS 45.50.495.                                                                                               
12            (e)  Notwithstanding the penalties authorized by AS 45.50.551, the attorney                                  
13       general may recover, on behalf of the state, a civil penalty of not less than the greater                         
14       of                                                                                                                
15                 (1)  10 times the economic benefit obtained by the refiner through the                                  
16       refiner's conduct that violated or violates this section; or                                                      
17                 (2)  $50,000,000.                                                                                       
18            (f)  In this section, "refiner" means a company, corporation, or individual who                              
19       owns or controls, or controls through a substantially owned subsidiary, partnership, or                           
20       joint venture, a refinery used for the production of an energy resource described in (b)                          
21       of this section having total annual sales that exceed 1,000,000 gallons of all of those                           
22       energy resources.