HF 1007

1st Engrossment - 82nd Legislature (2001 - 2002) Posted on 12/15/2009 12:00am

  1.1                          A bill for an act 
  1.2             relating to trade regulations; prohibiting gasoline 
  1.3             sales below cost; providing enforcement authority; 
  1.4             amending Minnesota Statutes 2000, section 325D.01, 
  1.5             subdivision 5, and by adding subdivisions; proposing 
  1.6             coding for new law in Minnesota Statutes, chapter 325D.
  1.7   BE IT ENACTED BY THE LEGISLATURE OF THE STATE OF MINNESOTA: 
  1.8      Section 1.  Minnesota Statutes 2000, section 325D.01, 
  1.9   subdivision 5, is amended to read: 
  1.10     Subd. 5.  [COST.] The term "cost", as applied to the 
  1.11  wholesale or retail vendor, means: 
  1.12     (1) The actual current delivered invoice or replacement 
  1.13  cost, whichever is lower, without deducting customary cash 
  1.14  discounts, plus any excise or sales taxes imposed on such 
  1.15  commodity, goods, wares or merchandise subsequent to the 
  1.16  purchase thereof and prior to the resale thereof, plus the cost 
  1.17  of doing business at that location by the vendor; 
  1.18     (2) Where a manufacturer publishes a list price and 
  1.19  discounts, in determining such "cost" the manufacturer's 
  1.20  published list price then currently in effect, less the 
  1.21  published trade discount but without deducting the customary 
  1.22  cash discount, plus any excise or sales taxes imposed on such 
  1.23  commodity, goods, wares or merchandise subsequent to the 
  1.24  purchase thereof and prior to the resale thereof, plus the cost 
  1.25  of doing business by the vendor shall be prima facie evidence of 
  1.26  "cost.;" 
  2.1      (3) For purposes of gasoline offered for sale by a retail 
  2.2   vendor, at a location where gasoline is typically dispensed into 
  2.3   passenger automobiles and trucks, "cost" means the average 
  2.4   terminal price on the day, at the terminal from which the most 
  2.5   recent supply of gasoline delivered to the retail location was 
  2.6   acquired, plus all applicable state and federal excise taxes and 
  2.7   fees, plus six percent. 
  2.8      Sec. 2.  Minnesota Statutes 2000, section 325D.01, is 
  2.9   amended by adding a subdivision to read: 
  2.10     Subd. 11.  [TERMINAL.] "Terminal" means a storage facility 
  2.11  to which gasoline is shipped by pipeline, barge, or rail, and 
  2.12  from which gasoline is subsequently transferred into motor 
  2.13  vehicles for delivery to other locations.  For purposes of this 
  2.14  chapter, an oil refinery is also a terminal. 
  2.15     Sec. 3.  Minnesota Statutes 2000, section 325D.01, is 
  2.16  amended by adding a subdivision to read: 
  2.17     Subd. 12.  [AVERAGE TERMINAL PRICE.] "Average terminal 
  2.18  price" means the arithmetic mean of all prices for an individual 
  2.19  grade of gasoline at a terminal as published by a nationally 
  2.20  recognized petroleum price reporting service. 
  2.21     Sec. 4.  [325D.71] [UNLAWFUL GASOLINE SALES.] 
  2.22     Any sale of gasoline by a retailer that is below cost, as 
  2.23  defined by section 325D.01, subdivision 5, clause (3), is a 
  2.24  violation of section 325D.04.  In addition to the penalties for 
  2.25  violations and the remedies provided for injured parties set 
  2.26  forth elsewhere in this chapter, the commissioner of commerce 
  2.27  may use the authority under section 45.027 for the purpose of 
  2.28  preventing violations of this section.  A retailer who sells 
  2.29  gasoline at the same or higher legally posted price of a 
  2.30  competitor in the same market area, on the same day, is not in 
  2.31  violation of this section.