S-2114.1  _______________________________________________

                    SUBSTITUTE SENATE BILL 5980

          _______________________________________________

State of Washington      57th Legislature     2001 Regular Session

By Senate Committee on Labor, Commerce & Financial Institutions (originally sponsored by Senators Prentice, Winsley and Kline)

READ FIRST TIME 03/05/01.

Reviewing the impact of below-cost sales of petroleum.

    AN ACT Relating to fair competition in motor fuel marketing; and creating new sections.

BE IT ENACTED BY THE LEGISLATURE OF THE STATE OF WASHINGTON:

NEW SECTION. Sec. 1.  The senate committee on labor, commerce, and financial institutions and the house committee on commerce and labor shall cause an interim joint study to be performed regarding the possibility that below-cost sales of petroleum may have an anticompetitive effect.  The interim study shall examine petroleum marketing practices and evaluate whether and to what extent below-cost sales may constitute deceptive advertising, unfair competition, or other anticompetitive effects.  The study shall also research whether such below-cost sales promote bankruptcies, unemployment, and other economic dislocation in the areas in which they occur.

NEW SECTION. Sec. 2.  The joint interim study shall report its findings to the committees set forth in section 1 of this act on or before December 1, 2001.

                            --- END ---