Senators Tuesday modified a bill originally intended to repeal the state's Unfair Trade Practices Act (SB259), in what they said is an effort to modernize the 1939 law designed to protect consumers.
"Our law today is really being used to limit competition, not to assure fair competition," said Sen. Herb Snyder, D-Jefferson, one of the bill's sponsors.
Drafted during the Great Depression, the law was intended to keep large companies from driving competitors out of business by temporarily offering goods or services at prices well below cost. Currently, the law requires at least a 4 percent markup over cost by wholesalers and a 7 percent markup by retailers.
Instead of protecting consumers, Snyder said, businesses use the law to threaten lawsuits against competitors who attempt to offer lower prices.
"It's almost extortion," he told the Government Organization Committee. "It's out of date. It needs to be fixed ... There should be some law to stop the real predatory pricing."
The committee advanced a revised bill that keeps some provisions of the current law, including the 7 percent markup on retail prices, while liberalizing some of its provisions.
For instance, evidence of a competitor within 50 miles selling an identical product or service at the same or lower price would be an absolute defense against charges of unfair trade practices.
There would also be exceptions to the required markups for perishable items, seasonal goods, as well as for discounts earned through points programs for frequent customers.
However, Sen. Doug Facemire, D-Braxton, wasn't convinced the bill protects consumers or small "mom-and-pop" businesses.
"If I'm big enough to buy better than you, I will always be able to sell cheaper than you. If you try to match my price, then you're in violation of the law," said Facemire, who owns a chain of small grocery stores.
"In actuality, it keeps the little man from being able to compete. I'll never be able to buy as cheap as Wal-Mart," he said.
However, Snyder said Facemire's concerns more accurately describe the current Unfair Trade Practices Act that the bill is intended to modify.
The bill now goes to Senate Judiciary Committee.
Also Tuesday, the committee took up the first of several bills pending in the Legislature to relax or repeal current gun regulations, with a bill that would prevent county parks and recreation commissions from imposing rules prohibiting firearms in county parks (SB254).
Committee members laid over the bill after questions arose over how many counties have parks commissions, and what authority county commissions themselves have to restrict firearms in county parks.
David Frercks of Elkview, who has had an ongoing fight with Kanawha County officials over allowing guns in county parks, spoke in favor of the bill. He said allowing county parks commissions to restrict guns is inconsistent with laws passed by the Legislature in the past three years repealing firearms restrictions, including a 2014 law preventing cities from enacting firearms ordinances.
"If you're a firearms owner, and you want to do things right, you want to know the law," he told the committee.
Asked afterward why he would need a gun in a county park, Frercks said, "You never know who's there. There are parts of the park that are very remote."
Reach Phil Kabler at philk@wvgazettemail.com, 304 348-1220 or follow @PhilKabler on Twitter.