Price gouging.

All amendments to the Business and Professions Code (Sections 16750 through 16760) were removed. The bill no longer authorizes city attorneys of cities with populations over 900,000 to bring antitrust actions under the Cartwright Act, nor does it include civil penalty provisions for antitrust violations or subpoena immunity for antitrust proceedings.

The bill now incorporates additional changes to Section 396 proposed by SB 493, operative only if both bills are enacted and this bill is enacted last, creating a conditional legislative dependency.

Throughout Section 396, language that previously described 'exemptions' from price gouging was replaced with 'affirmative defense' language. This shifts the legal burden: a defendant charged with price gouging must now affirmatively prove their defense rather than the prosecution needing to show the exemption does not apply.

A new 180-day price cap (10 percent above pre-emergency prices) was added specifically for repair and reconstruction services performed by licensed contractors, compared to the 30-day cap that applies to other goods and services.

A new provision limits hotel and motel rate increases to 10 percent above regular advertised rates during a declared emergency (30-day period), with an affirmative defense for costs imposed by suppliers, seasonal adjustments, or previously contracted rates.

A new anti-eviction provision makes it unlawful to evict a residential tenant and re-rent the unit at a higher price during a declared emergency (30 days or extended period). Evictions lawfully begun before the declaration are exempt.

A new extension mechanism allows local legislative bodies, local officials, the Governor, or the Legislature to extend the price gouging prohibitions beyond the initial 30-day (or 180-day for contractors) period. Local extensions cannot exceed 30 days each and may authorize specified price increases above the normal cap.

A new definitions subsection was added covering 'state of emergency,' 'local emergency,' 'consumer food item,' 'repair or reconstruction services,' 'emergency supplies,' 'medical supplies,' 'building materials,' 'gasoline,' 'transportation, freight, and storage services,' 'housing' (expanded to include mobilehome parks and campgrounds), and 'rental price' with detailed calculation formulas including a 160 percent of HUD fair market rent benchmark for units not recently rented.

A new provision states that violations constitute an unlawful business practice under Section 17200 of the Business and Professions Code, making remedies cumulative with those available under unfair competition law and all other state laws.

The population threshold for a city attorney to initiate and prosecute antitrust actions under the Cartwright Act was changed from 750,000 (as set by the Senate) back to 900,000 (the Assembly's version). This affects which cities can bring these actions, retain proceeds from recoveries, exercise Attorney General powers in joint actions, and represent political subdivisions directly.

The bill's subject line was expanded from 'relating to business' to 'relating to business. price gouging.' to more specifically identify the price gouging provisions included in the bill.

The population threshold for cities whose attorneys may bring antitrust actions under the Cartwright Act was raised from 750,000 to 900,000. This appears throughout Sections 16750, 16750.2, 16752, 16753, 16754, 16754.5, 16755, 16755.1, and 16758 of the Business and Professions Code. In practice, this would likely exclude San Francisco (approximately 870,000 residents) from local antitrust enforcement authority while retaining Los Angeles, San Diego, and San Jose.

Assembly Member Kalra was added as a coauthor of the bill.

The price gouging exemption for rental housing no longer covers rent increases attributable to repair or addition costs that were incurred as a result of the event triggering the emergency proclamation or declaration. The previous version had two alternative bases for the exemption: (1) costs incurred as a result of the triggering event, or (2) costs incurred within the year prior with proof the housing was already on the market. The first basis was removed, leaving only the pre-existing-costs prong.

Section 16750(h)(2) now requires city attorneys of cities with population over 750,000 to file their proposed complaint with both the Attorney General AND the district attorney of the county at least 30 days before filing. Previously, only the Attorney General needed to be notified.

Section 16750(a)(1) changed 'a reasonable attorneys' fee' to 'reasonable attorney's fees,' clarifying that the fee award must be reasonable.

The legislative digest now includes items (4) and (5) addressing constitutional requirements for legislative findings when a statute limits access to public meetings or writings of public officials, and requiring local agencies to comply with statutory enactments relating to public records or open meetings.

Gender-neutral pronoun updates throughout: 'his or her' changed to 'their,' 'him or her' changed to 'them,' and removal of archaic 'such' references across multiple sections (16750, 16752, 16753, 16754, 16754.5, 16755).