Archaic price regulation repeal.

WORKING DRAFT

ORIGINAL SENATE

FILE

NO.
0112

ENROLLED ACT NO. 88, SENATE

SIXTIETH LEGISLATURE OF THE STATE OF
WYOMING
2009 GENERAL SESSION

AN ACT relating to
trade and commerce; amending price regulation provisions as specified; repealing duplicative and archaic provisions;
and providing for an effective date.

Be It Enacted by the Legislature of the State of
Wyoming
:

Section 1.

W.S. 40
‑
4
‑
101(a)
(intro), (i),
(b), (c)(iii)
,
by creating new paragraphs (v)

through (vii)
and by creating a new subsection (d),
40
‑
4
‑
107(b), 40
‑
4
‑
110(a)(intro), (iv), by creating a new paragraph (v)
through (vii)
and (c)
and 40
‑
4
‑
114(b)
are amended to read:

40
‑
4
‑
101.

What constitutes unfair discrimination; penalty; exceptions.

(a)

Any person, firm
,

or
corporation, foreign or domestic,
or other entity
doing business in the state of Wyoming and engaged in the production, manufacture, sale or distribution of any commodity in general use, shall not:

(i)

Make, enter into, form or become a party to any plan,
contract,
agreement, consolidation
, merger
or combination of any kind whatsoever to prevent competition or to control or influence production or prices thereof
; or

(b)

Any person, firm
,

or
corporation
or other entity
violating subsection (a) of this section is guilty of unfair discrimination
and any agreement, contract, whether express or implied, or any provision of an agreement or contract violating subsection (a) of this section is illegal and void to the extent it violates subsection (a) of this section
.

(c)

This chapter shall not:

(iii)

Prevent the sale of goods at
proper
commercial discounts customary in the sale of
such particular

the
goods;

(v)

Prohibit the development, agreement on and use of standards designed to permit or encourage competition or interoperability among products or services, provided the standards do not include provisions fixing or colluding on the prices or colluding to prevent competition by limiting the availability of the products or services; or

(vi)

Prohibit any person, firm, corporation or other entity from entering into any agreement or contract with a customer which specifies the price charged, or the
services
furnished, to the customer, or which gives discounts or additional services to the customer for purchasing specified volumes or multiple products
of the same or similar product or service
;

(vii)

Prohibit any person, firm, corporation or other entity from offering a customer loyalty program.

(d)

As used in this chapter "this act" means W.S. 40
‑
4
‑
101 through
40
‑
4
‑
105, 40
‑
4
‑
107, 40
‑
4
‑
109, 40
‑
4
‑
110 and 40
‑
4
‑
114
.

40
‑
4
‑
107.

Sale
at less than cost prohibited; cost defined.

(b)

The term cost as applied to production

or manufacturing
is hereby defined as including the cost of raw materials
,

and
labor
and all overhead expense of the producer
;
and as applied to distribution cost shall mean the invoice or replacement cost, whichever is lower, of the article or product to the distributor and vendor plus

the cost of doing business

any freight charges, all applicable federal, state and local taxes and any charges imposed by federal, state or local government that are not taxes that are paid
by
said

the
distributor and vendor

and are not included in the invoice cost
.

40
‑
4
‑
110.

Persons, agreements and transactions exempted from W.S. 40
‑
4
‑
107
and
40
‑
4
‑
109.

(a)

The provisions of W.S. 40
‑
4
‑
107
, 40
‑
4
‑
108,
and 40
‑
4
‑
109 shall not apply to any sale made:

(iv)

In an endeavor made in good faith to meet the
legal
prices of a competitor
as herein defined
selling the same

or similar
article or product in the same locality or trade area
;
.

(v)

When the goods are sold for promotional purposes at a special sale of limited duration including
but not limited to
a grand opening sale, an annual anniversary sale, an annual customer appreciation sale or a community, neighborhood or mall wide sale
;

(vi)

In a sale of limited duration to reduce inventory, dispose of slow selling items or dispose of items replaced or to be replaced by new models;

(vii)

Of a
ny products in a class of products where the prices are identical for the same volume
throughout
the class provided the total revenues from all the sales of products of that class by the vendor exceed the costs as defined in W.S. 40
‑
4
‑
107. For pharmaceuticals, for the purposes of this subsection, prices are identical if they are identical

for a supply for a defined period of time even though the physical quantities of pharmac
euticals may be different.

(c)

W.S.
40
‑
4
‑
106

40
‑
4
‑
107
through
40
‑
4
‑
116

40
‑
4
‑
110
shall not apply to any person entering into a cooperative arrangement for antitrust exceptions approved pursuant to W.S. 35
‑
24
‑
101 through 35
‑
24
‑
116.

40-4-114. Enjoining violations; recovery of damages
.

(b)

Any injured person
, firm, private corporation or trade association
may maintain an action
against the alleged violator of W.S. 40-4-101(a)(i) to recover three (3) times the actual damages sustained, together with costs, where there is a reasonably foreseeable physical and economic causal nexus between the injury and the violation

for violation of this act against the alleged violator to recover the actual damages sustained by the injured person together with reasonable attorneys fees and costs
.

Section 2.

W.S. 40
‑
4
‑
101(a)(ii)
,
(iii), (c)(i) and (ii),
40
‑
4
‑
106,
40
‑
4
‑
107(c), 40
‑
4
‑
108
,
40
‑
4
‑
111 through

40
‑
4
‑
113, 40
‑
4
‑
114(c) through (g) and 40
‑
4
‑
115 through
40
‑
4
‑
121 are repealed.

Section
3
.

This act is effective July 1, 2009.

(END)

Speaker of the House

President of the Senate

Governor

TIME APPROVED: _________

DATE APPROVED: _________

I hereby certify that this act originated in the Senate.

Chief Clerk

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