I got a call from Austin Scott, the author of HB 96, the Georgia Free Enterprise and Antitrust Act of 2009, yesterday. I recently discussed this bill in my “State House Bills I Find Interesting” commentary series, where I opposed it with a rank of 4 – meaning that while in general the bill may be decent, there was one particular issue I had with it that I objected to so much that I would kill the entire bill just to kill that clause.
For me, that issue was that the State of Georgia was exempted from this, and therefore could create or endorse monopolies at will, such as in regards to healthcare and utilities, among other areas.
Scott explained that the intent of this bill was aimed directly at gas stations fixing prices. For example, let’s say that in Cartersville there are 5 gas stations and they are all owned by Jim Bob. Well, without this bill, Scott’s contention is that Jim Bob can set whatever prices he wants at all 5 of those stations and if his stations are the only ones around, people will be forced to pay whatever price he demands. The State can’t do anything about this under current law except during an emergency, which is why Scott introduced this bill. Apparently, he had lawyers look to other States – Texas specifically was mentioned – and model this bill after their laws.
I can see his point there, and Scott said he would examine the points I brought up regarding state-sponsored monopolies. Hopefully he will make this bill into something I can support, and if he does, I will point it out here. After all, the whole point of this series is to both inform you, the readers, of the bills the General Assembly is working with so that hopefully better laws can be crafted.
Austin Scott Explains HB 96 (The “Georgia Free Enterprise and Antitrust Act of 2009″)
I got a call from Austin Scott, the author of HB 96, the Georgia Free Enterprise and Antitrust Act of 2009, yesterday. I recently discussed this bill in my “State House Bills I Find Interesting” commentary series, where I opposed it with a rank of 4 – meaning that while in general the bill may be decent, there was one particular issue I had with it that I objected to so much that I would kill the entire bill just to kill that clause.
For me, that issue was that the State of Georgia was exempted from this, and therefore could create or endorse monopolies at will, such as in regards to healthcare and utilities, among other areas.
Scott explained that the intent of this bill was aimed directly at gas stations fixing prices. For example, let’s say that in Cartersville there are 5 gas stations and they are all owned by Jim Bob. Well, without this bill, Scott’s contention is that Jim Bob can set whatever prices he wants at all 5 of those stations and if his stations are the only ones around, people will be forced to pay whatever price he demands. The State can’t do anything about this under current law except during an emergency, which is why Scott introduced this bill. Apparently, he had lawyers look to other States – Texas specifically was mentioned – and model this bill after their laws.
I can see his point there, and Scott said he would examine the points I brought up regarding state-sponsored monopolies. Hopefully he will make this bill into something I can support, and if he does, I will point it out here. After all, the whole point of this series is to both inform you, the readers, of the bills the General Assembly is working with so that hopefully better laws can be crafted.