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Law360 (March 20, 2020, 3:41 PM EDT) -- Massachusetts Attorney General Maura Healey has filed an emergency regulation banning price-gouging of essential products and services during the COVID-19 pandemic, her office said Friday.
The amendment, filed with the Secretary of State's Office and effective immediately, prohibits jacking up prices on anything necessary for public health and safety during a declared statewide or national emergency. The previous law only banned price gouging for gasoline and other petroleum products, Healey's office said.
"We've heard from hospitals and consumers about skyrocketing prices for things like hand sanitizer, face masks and other essential gear needed to prevent the spread of this highly contagious virus and keep our front-line workers safe," Healey said in a statement Friday. "That's unacceptable and illegal."
Healey said the emergency regulation was put in place "because no one should be exploiting this crisis and putting the public at risk."
During the pandemic, reports have cited thousands of allegations of price gouging, charging exorbitant prices for hand sanitizer and other products that some people have been stockpiling amid orders to shelter in place and practice social distancing.
"Because the COVID-19 epidemic continues to escalate at an alarming rate, the AG's Office has prioritized measures to ensure the availability of necessary goods and services, including personal protective equipment for medical professionals," Healey's office said Friday.
The regulation will define price gouging as a gross disparity between the price of a product and the price the same business or service charged immediately prior to the emergency or the price at which the product or service is available elsewhere.
Increased prices that are due to an uptick in prices charged by a business's suppliers or an abnormal market disruption will be exempt from the new regulation.
Earlier in the week, Healey joined New York Attorney General Letitia James and California Attorney General Xavier Becerra in calling on the federal government to mobilize the business community to address the shortage of personal protective equipment such as masks, eye protection, gowns and gloves.
The measure from Healey comes the same day as Massachusetts' first reported death connected to the novel coronavirus. The Boston-area man who died was 87 and had underlying health conditions, state health officials said.
More than 300 people in the state had tested positive for the disease as of Friday morning.
--Editing by John Campbell.
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