Attorney general blasts governor’s veto of bill to rein in price fixing

Attorney General Aaron Ford and Gov. Joe Lombardo. (Photo: Richard Bednarski/Nevada Current)

Democratic Attorney General Aaron Ford said Monday that Republican Gov. Joe Lombardo’s veto of Ford’s legislation to crack down on price fixing “means fewer protections for your wallet.”

Lombardo, in his veto message last week, blasted the bill as “a striking case of government overreach” and “inherently broad and open to wide interpretation, likely making enforcement subjective and inconsistent.”

Assembly Bill 44 sought to expand the state’s existing Unfair Trade Practice Act to include knowingly deceptive price fixing of essential goods and services, defining those goods as things “needed on a daily or recurring basis for the livelihood of a person.”

The list of essential goods defined by the bill included housing, food, internet service, ground transportation, and pharmaceutical and other medical products. 

“Let’s be clear about what this veto means,” said Ford, who has indicated he hopes to take Lombardo’s job away from him in next year’s election, in a statement Monday.  “It means fewer tools to hold bad corporations accountable. It means fewer protections for your wallet. And it means more power for the people who rig the rules against all of us in the Nevada family.”

During his presentations of AB 44, Ford told lawmakers the legislation was designed to bolster consumer protections and wouldn’t apply to businesses if they weren’t engaging in fraudulent practices. 

The legislation passed the Assembly 24-18 in April with three Democrats, Assemblymembers Joe Dalia, Duy Nguyen and Venise Karris, joining Republicans in opposing the measure. 

AB 44 passed the Senate 14-7 in late May, with Republican state Sen. John Steinbeck joining Democrats. 

The veto showed Lombardo sided “with corporations that cheat and deceive to make a buck,” Ford said Monday, adding that Lombardo’s decision was “disappointing, but not surprising.” 

While the bill encompassed several categories of goods and services, perhaps its most notable feature was an attempt to rein in price fixing in the rental market. 

Landlords and property owners across the country, including in Nevada, have come under fire in recent years for using rent-fixing software to artificially raise the price of rents.

Real estate software companies, like RealPage, have been sued by several state attorneys general and the federal government in the last year, though the companyRealPage has denied wrongdoing in these cases.

During the legislative session, rental property owners and real estate groups likened the bill’s efforts to address price fixing as “rent control.” 

“​​This bill does not cap in any kind of way how much someone can charge for something as long as they aren’t knowingly, fraudulently or deceptively engaging in conduct,” Ford said in a March bill hearing. “You can charge what you want to charge.”