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Joy Siu is an associate in the Antitrust and Competition Practice Group in the firm’s San Francisco office.

Republican and Democrat candidates alike have promised along the campaign trail that they will work to address the costs of everyday essentials for American consumers, particularly for food. One of the centerpieces of the Harris-Walz campaign is enacting “the first-ever federal ban on price gouging on food and groceries”[1] and the Trump-Vance campaign has decried the rising price of eggs as a byproduct of the Biden Administration’s economic policies.[2] Candidates’ focus on the checkout counter is unsurprising given reports that rising prices are one of voters’ top concerns this election cycle. And while the Consumer Price Index indicates that the current rate of inflation is 2.4% and on a downward trend,[3] certain data show that the price for food has increased by an average of 25% across urban cities in the United States since 2020.[4]Continue Reading Campaign Promises to Address Rising Prices at the Grocery Store Signal Stronger Price Gouging Investigations, Enforcement Actions, and Prohibitions to Come

On the eve of the July 1, 2024 deadline for businesses to comply with California’s so-called junk fee ban (“SB 478”), Governor Gavin Newsom signed into law SB 1524, which allows restaurants, bars, and other food services businesses that sell directly to consumers to continue using surcharges so long as such fees are “clearly and conspicuously” displayed.Continue Reading California Legislature Eighty-Six’s “Junk Fee Ban,” But Relief May Be Temporary