Anonymous
Photo by Kelly Sikkema on Unsplash
Source: Santa Barbara County District Attorney’s Office
On March 11, 2020, the Governor issued a Proclamation of a State of Emergency with price-gouging protections in effect through September 4, 2020. Therefore, Santa Barbara County District Attorney Joyce E. Dudley announced that her office will diligently investigate and prosecute cases of price-gouging for as long as Santa Barbara County is under a State of Emergency for the novel Coronavirus (COVID-19).
District Attorney Dudley also encouraged County residents to report any instances of price-gouging when shopping for consumer goods or medical supplies.
California’s anti-price-gouging statute, Penal Code Section 396, prohibits raising the price of many consumer goods and services by more than 10% after an emergency has been declared.
This law applies to any person or business selling goods or services including consumer goods, food and drink items, emergency supplies, medical supplies, storage facilities, emergency cleanup materials and transportation.
Violations of the price-gouging statute are subject to criminal prosecution that can result in one-year imprisonment in county jail and/or a fine of up to $10,000.
Violators are also subject to civil enforcement actions including civil penalties of up to $5,000 per violation, injunctive relief and mandatory restitution.
District Attorney Dudley stated, “Local businesses have traditionally been community partners during crises, but anyone that profiteers during a state of emergency will be prosecuted to the full extent of the law. County residents must have access to necessary supplies, especially when community health is at stake.”
The Santa Barbara County District Attorney’s Office is committed to protecting consumers during this emergency. Anyone who suspects they have been the victim of price-gouging, or who has information regarding potential price-gouging, is encouraged to immediately file a complaint with the District Attorney’s Office by completing a Consumer Complaint Form on our website (English version, Spanish version) or by calling 805-568-2300.
For more information on price-gouging, please see the Attorney General’s website (https://www.oag.ca.gov/consumers/pricegougingduringdisasters)
16oz bottle of 99% Isopropyl Alcohol, $7.99 at Lassen’s Natural foods, Magnolia Center.
Seemed a bit ‘gougy’ to me!
It’s been so bad on Ebay – they are trying to sell those tiny 2 oz bottles of Purell for upwards of $30! Supposedly Ebay was clamping down on that but they still seem to be up.
if you see it locally, Report it. and to the greedy lady who had a year supply of toilet paper in her cart from a local grocery store (not Costco or Smart and Final), I hope you have the runs for a month!
99% is industrial grade. Duh , of course it costs more . 70% is the cheap stuff. lol
I see two sides to “price gouging.” Jacking up prices to take advantage of people dealing with an emergency situation sucks. At the same time, allowing the free market to set higher prices ensures that supplies remain available to meet demand. The more expensive something gets, the more motivation there is for new sellers to enter the market which increases supply. At the same time, higher prices discourage people from buying which lowers demand. All the stocking up that is going on now could be curtailed by higher prices. Limiting the price of a product can result in shortages by causing demand to outstrip supply. Yes, hand sanitizer may be expensive on ebay, but at least you can buy it. If the price were limited by regulation, it would simply be unavailable. As an aside, I read tickets for the last flights home from Europe were selling for over $20,000.
Oh come on, Coastwatch. If it were YOU that made away with a year’s supply of toilet paper, you’d be on here telling everyone else to move to another city where they could afford more toilet paper. Hypocrite much?
99.9% isopropanol is also ineffective. The optimal concentration for sterilization is 70% isopropanol (or ethanol), though the effective range can be 60-80%. There are a number of reasons for this, but the two most crucial are 1) Nearly pure concentrations of these alcohols evaporate too quickly to be of much use; 2) Concentrations of these alcohols approaching 100% precipitate proteins too quickly, forming a protective barrier that laminates/insulates the pathogen from further/complete sterilization. Our lab uses 70% ethanol. The choice between ethanol and isopropanol is negligible for these purposes and the choice really comes down to personal preference. As a note, I work with bacteria and mammalian cancer cell lines.
Best virucidal alcohol ethanol or ispropanol study suggests differential efficacy, which may indeed be negligible but what is important is that it does confirm that concentrations < 100% are optimal. https://www.ncbi.nlm.nih.gov/pubmed/16443090
$4.00 for a latte has always seemed price gougy to me.
Chlorox bleach is plentiful, cheap, effective. Wipes that come in those barrel shaped plastic cans have different disinfectant qualities and different amount of skin-friendly substances. They are more widely available. But why has our brilliant genius of a governor not followed the lead of NYS’s Governor Cuomo and started production of hand sanitizer? Frankly, there is no way not to “politicize” when the elected officials fail in the most obvious duties they have – deliver testing kits and hand sanitizer. Instead, they shut down the whole economy and so we will have to deal with the result of that on top of caring for our sick friends and neighbors…all the while wondering when we will ever be able to buy hand sanitizer like New Yorkers and get tested like Koreans. I am not proud of my electeds and public health – Republic OR Democrat. And no, they did NOT have alcohol today at the 99 cent.
Chem, Thank you for your posts. It’s interesting to hear input from someone in your profession. If you read this, curious what you think of the value of Vodka in having some mild cleaning effect? I know it’s only 40 %, but if you let it sit a long while might it not kill some pathogens or at least act as a surfactant? Also, would wearing disposable gloves shopping etc., help protect hands so that sanitizer is not necessary at times? And why do “medical authorities” keep saying that hand washing and sanitizer is key to avoiding infection, when they also admit that the virus is likely suspended in the air long after the person/vector has left? It seems that even if one’s hands are autoclaved, you could still get the virus from simply walking into a store—sans the face masks “they” are propagandizing us not to wear.
I believe in declarations of emergency, price gouging also applies to rent prices. Landlords may not raise rent more than 10% for the duration of the emergency. This applies whether or not they begin renting to a new tenant during this time.
This is true, however I have never heard of any landlord being reprimanded for doing this.
If you are trying to make hand sanitizer, get 90% alcohol if possible. Your final mixture needs to be at least 60% alcohol, so if you start with 70, you will only be able to add a tiny bit of aloe.
heres the old phrase we get all the time. “supply and demand dictates the price…..”. Housing prices, medical supplies, food, toilet paper, and everything in between. This is how our society deals with this. Distract by saying “its normal, its supply and demand. so we can up the price cause the supply is low and demand is high” then ask for remorse and empathy during a crisis ” We are in the same situation as all of you, we just got in at a better time, we just got 300 rolls of toilet paper luckily, we just bought all the hand sanitizer cause we could” when asked to share or not be so ridiculous ” just because YOU didnt buy in when you should have doesnt mean I have to share”
its the same dribble from the same manipulative greedy people. when the chips fall, everyone is at risk. The people that have been price gouging us for years on rents and the same people hoarding toilet paper and hand sanitizer
kinda ironic- cities within the state with the highest tax rates, including gas taxes is concerned about gouging
They have to be reported to the DA first, and most people don’t know about that regulation to begin with. Love the downvotes, too – must be landlords LOL!
In a pinch, you could probably get the same effect if you made some mud and rubbed it all over your hands for 20 seconds! Nature does have solutions. Find them. Carrying mud in your pocket may suck, though.