| Summary |
Section 1 of the bill:
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Removes the knowingly or recklessly mental state from the
general unfair or deceptive trade practice provision
concerning an unfair, unconscionable, deceptive,
deliberately misleading, false, or fraudulent act or practice;
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Establishes as a deceptive trade practice the act of
including in a contract offered to or entered into with a
consumer a term that is substantially unconscionable or
void as against public policy;
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Establishes that evidence that a person has engaged in an
unfair or deceptive trade practice constitutes a significant
impact to the public; and
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Amends the definition of recklessly with regard to unfair
or deceptive trade practices to mean without regard to
consequences or to the rights, interests, or safety of others.
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). Section 2
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.
Section 3 repeals and reenacts the Colorado Antitrust Act of
1992 as the Colorado State Antitrust Act of 2023 (act) and:
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Establishes that the facilitation or aiding and abetting of
another person's violation of the act is itself a violation of
the act;
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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
act;
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Authorizes the AG to deem investigatory or intelligence
records related to the act available for public inspection,
but allows the AG to issue public statements or warnings
regarding conduct forming the basis of the investigatory or
intelligence records without waiving the AG's authority not
to deem the records available for public inspection;
•
Authorizes a court, upon request of the AG, to compensate
a person that has been injured from a violation of the 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 act from $250,000 to
$1,000,000 per violation; and
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With regard to the statute of limitations for commencing a
civil action under the act:
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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 act;
•
Tolls the statute of limitations for any civil action
pertaining to an alleged violation of the act during
the pendency of a federal proceeding regarding the
conduct forming the basis of the alleged violation of
the act; and
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Exempts the AG from the statute of limitations.
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