Citing skyrocketing prices for fuel and consumer goods while corporate profits soar, House Democrats on Wednesday held a hearing on corporate price hikes they say exacerbate the inflation crisis.

Members of the House Democratic Policy Committee heard testimony on the impact that the consolidation of industries, such as the energy sector, controlled by a handful of companies, was having on Pennsylvania consumers.

They also highlighted a trio of bills aimed at preventing monopolistic practices.

“The act of price gouging is an unpatriotic act and it needs to be called out,” Rep. Eddie Day Pashinski, D-Luzerne, said.

The hearing followed a series of Republican Policy Committee hearings on inflation that focused on regulatory changes that would lower consumer prices and drive investment and economic growth in Pennsylvania.

The Stop Price Fixing Act, sponsored by Rep. Nick Pisciottano, D-Allegheny, would enhance the authority of the Pennsylvania attorney general’s office to investigate and prosecute price-fixing. It would create protections against retaliation and incentives for whistleblowers who report anti-competitive activity.

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The committee heard testimony from Lee Hepner, legal counsel for the San Francisco-based American Economic Liberties Project, who said inflation is a major concern for Pennsylvania residents. He noted a Suffolk University/USA Today Network poll in which the number of Pennsylvanians who said the economy is in poor shape increased to 45 percent, compared to 12 percent in 2018.

Hepner said that while external influences such as the war in Ukraine have driven inflation, the problem is made worse by companies that are recording record profits at the same time as the price of raw materials has increased.

The consolidation of major industries increases opportunities for collusion because it is easier for a small number of companies to agree to raise prices and reduces the chance that a competitor will go against them, Hepner said.

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