HB 132: "An Act making sales of and offers to sell certain energy resources in this state by a refiner at prices that are exorbitant or excessive an unlawful act or practice under the Alaska Unfair Trade Practices and Consumer Protection Act."
00 HOUSE BILL NO. 132 01 "An Act making sales of and offers to sell certain energy resources in this state by a 02 refiner at prices that are exorbitant or excessive an unlawful act or practice under the 03 Alaska Unfair 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 (58) 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 in this state at a price that is 11 exorbitant or excessive. 12 (b) The provisions of this section apply only to sales in this state 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) In this section, 04 (1) a price is excessive or exorbitant if it is unreasonably high given 05 the reasonable costs incurred by the refiner in the state in connection with the refiner's 06 sale of the energy resource, taking into account the 07 (A) reasonable cost to refine the product; 08 (B) reasonable cost of transporting the product to the point of 09 sale; and 10 (C) reasonable transaction costs; and 11 (2) it is prima facie evidence that a price is exorbitant or excessive if 12 the price exceeds by more than 10 percent the average wholesale price of the 13 comparable energy resource charged by refiners in the states of Idaho, Oregon, and 14 Washington. 15 (d) A refiner may rebut the presumption set out in (c)(2) of this section by 16 providing evidence that the amount charged by the refiner was attributable to 17 additional reasonable costs incurred by the refiner in connection with the refiner's sale 18 of the energy resource in this state or that additional reasonable costs incurred by the 19 refiner were caused by a natural disaster. In this subsection, "natural disaster" has the 20 meaning given in AS 38.05.870. 21 (e) If the attorney general believes that a refiner has engaged in or is engaging 22 in a violation of (a) of this section, the attorney general shall initiate an investigation 23 under AS 45.50.495. 24 (f) Notwithstanding the penalties authorized by AS 45.50.551, the attorney 25 general may recover, on behalf of the state, a civil penalty of not less than the greater 26 of 27 (1) 10 times the economic benefit obtained by the refiner through the 28 refiner's conduct that violated or violates this section; or 29 (2) $50,000,000. 30 (g) In this section, "refiner" means a company, corporation, or individual who 31 owns or controls, or controls through a substantially owned subsidiary, partnership, or
01 joint venture, a refinery used for the production of an energy resource described in (b) 02 of this section having total annual sales that exceed 1,000,000 gallons of all of those 03 energy resources.