Latest news with #AaronFord
Yahoo
9 hours ago
- Politics
- Yahoo
Washoe County Democrat challenging Ford in 2026 governor's race
LAS VEGAS (KLAS) — A Washoe County Democrat has confirmed she is running for governor, according to a Northern Nevada newspaper. Washoe County Commissioner Alexis Hill told the Reno Gazette-Journal she would challenge Aaron Ford for the Democratic nomination. Her official announcement is expected before the end of August. Ford, currently serving as Nevada attorney general, was previously the only Democrat in the race, although former Gov. Steve Sisolak and others are considering a run. The Democratic primary winner is likely to face Gov. Joe Lombardo, who faces Republican challenger Irina Hansen of Las Vegas. Hill was elected to her commission seat in 2020, and won re-election in 2024. Both victories were by wide margins. Copyright 2025 Nexstar Media, Inc. All rights reserved. This material may not be published, broadcast, rewritten, or redistributed.
Yahoo
21-03-2025
- Business
- Yahoo
Nevada one of several states considering boosting antitrust protections
The office of Nevada Attorney General Aaron Ford, who last year joined several other states in an ultimately successful effort to block a proposed merger between grocery giants Kroger and Albertsons, did not respond to a request for comment about the bill. (Photo: April Corbin Girnus/Nevada Current) Nevada could be the first state to adopt legislation that would boost its ability to fight or address antitrust concerns. Senate Bill 218 would adopt the Uniform Antitrust Pre-Merger Notification Act, which would require companies to submit to state attorneys general the same notices and information they are already required to provide federal agencies prior to mergers or acquisitions. 'It does not require the attorney general to try and stop the merger,' emphasized state Sen. James Ohrenschall, the bill sponsor, during his presentation Thursday to the Senate Commerce and Labor Committee. It only requires that the AG be made aware of the proposal so they can analyze the impact of a merger or acquisition on industries, markets, and consumers in the state. The legislation was drafted by the Uniform Law Commission, a longstanding national nonprofit, nonpartisan group behind other broadly adopted state legislation, including the Uniform Commercial Code and the Uniform Anatomical Gift Act. Ohrenschall serves as a ULC commissioner. The pre-merger notification act has been introduced into eight state legislatures this year, including California, Utah and Colorado, according to ULC. States have the same right to enforce the federal merger law, said Dan Robbins, who chaired the ULC committee that drafted the act, but they may not find out about a proposed merger for months after their federal counterparts do. 'What often happens is a state will learn about it in a newspaper and say, 'Oh my goodness… I might want to take a look at that,'' said Robbins. 'What the state then needs to do is issue subpoenas and go into litigation, spending taxpayer dollars to get information that it could already have.' That's not good for businesses, he continued, which don't want states to come in months after they believe a deal is closed and say they have concerns. Under SB 218, Nevada would be notified only if the Silver State is the primary place of business or if the business has more than $25 million in net sales within the state. The attorney general's office would be prohibited from charging any fees for filing. Nevada already requires certain health care companies to inform the state about potential mergers. Lawmakers passed that legislation in 2021 over growing concerns about the consolidation of healthcare companies, particularly by private equity firms. SB 218 as introduced would expand notice to all companies making filings to the Federal Trade Commission and the U.S. Department of Justice's antitrust division as required by the federal Hart-Scott-Rodino Act. The filings would be confidential at the state level, just as they are at the federal level. Nevada Attorney General Aaron Ford did not participate in the legislative hearing Thursday. The Current asked Ford's office whether he is supportive of the bill but did not receive a response by publication time. Ford last year joined several other states and the FTC in an ultimately successful effort to block a proposed merger between grocery giants Kroger and Albertsons. In 2019, Ford took action against a proposed merger between Sprint and T-Mobile, which was resolved with a $30 million settlement for Nevada. The Nevada Resort Association submitted an amendment to exempt businesses regulated by an administrative or regulatory agency. NRA Lobbyist Misty Grimmer told the committee those in the gaming industry are already required to give similar notice to the Nevada Gaming Control Board for approval of mergers and acquisitions of any size, so the act would be duplicative. The attorney general serves as legal counsel for the state's gaming division. State Sen. Skip Daly expressed concern the wording of the proposed amendment might be too vague and used by other industries lawmakers don't intend to exempt. Ohrenshall, Grimmer and the committee's legal counsel said they would work on refining the language of the amendment. The state legislation is being introduced against the backdrop of President Donald Trump firing two members of the Federal Trade Commission, which enforces antitrust laws. 'When people hear this news,' one of the commissioners who was fired told the New York Times 'they need to think about the billionaires behind the president at his inauguration.'
Yahoo
07-03-2025
- Business
- Yahoo
Industries line up to tear down proposal to rein in price-fixing
"This bill does not cap in any kind of way how much someone can charge for something as long as they aren't knowingly, fraudulently or deceptively engaging in conduct" said the bill's sponsor, Democratic Attorney General Aaron Ford. Democratic Attorney General Aaron Ford this week said his proposed legislation to crack down on 'knowingly deceptive' price fixing would bolster consumer protections and that opposition from industry groups are relying on 'a bit of hyperbole' to attack it. 'If you're not being deceptive, if you're not being fraudulent, this bill would not apply to you,' Ford said. 'If you are using deceptive and fraudulent means to manipulate the price of necessities beyond those basic forces of supply and demand, this bill speaks directly to your activities.' Assembly Bill 44, heard Wednesday at the Assembly Committee on Commerce and Labor, expands the state's existing Unfair Trade Practice Act to include knowingly deceptive price fixing of essential goods and services. The bill defines essential goods as those 'needed on a daily or recurring basis for the livelihood of a person,' including 'food, medicine and shelter.' An amendment proposed prior to the hearing tweaked the definition to include 'food purchased for off-premises consumption, clothing and footwear, gasoline and other energy goods, pharmaceutical and other medical products, housing, household utilities, ground transportation, telecommunication services, and internet access.' Ford told state lawmakers he was working on an additional amendment but didn't offer details of what it would include. He said the efforts to crack down on price fixing came from concerns about the increased cost of housing. Landlords and property owners have come under fire in recent years for using rent-fixing software to artificially raise the price of rents. Real estate software companies, like RealPage, have been sued by several state attorneys general and the federal government in the last year. RealPage has denied wrongdoing in these cases. Nevada has not taken action against RealPage. 'We learned of rental prices being increased by virtue of some unfair and illegal price fixing tactics,' Ford said. 'We learned about that through not only complaints from our constituents but also from other attorneys general who are prosecuting agencies and entities that are engaging in that in their practice.' The cost of living, the state's 'consistently high unemployment rate' and the potential of cuts to the federal social safety net programs such as Medicaid being considered by congressional Republicans are putting 'both the health and financial livelihoods of so many Nevadans at risk,' Ford said. During times of financial stress, he added, it's easy for people to be exploited through deceptive practices including price fixing. While the state does have a mechanism to go after some industries that engage in price fixing under the Nevada Unfair Trade Practice Act, he said the office was seeking more specific language to give them additional tools. 'This bill would fill current holes in statutes that have proven insufficient to stop these practices from occurring,' Ford said. Multiple times during the hearing, Ford reiterated the bill wouldn't apply to businesses that have to increase prices because of inflation, supply chain disruptions or operational costs. Still, many concerns around the bill stemmed from how the legislation would affect small businesses. Republican Assemblymember Melissa Hardy, a former small business owner, questioned how the bill would affect businesses that have to raise prices 'because our rent went way up, or our products increased substantially.' Ford said the scenario described was a basic instance of supply and demand. 'The threshold question for this bill is whether there has been knowingly fraudulent activity,' he said. Ford used the example of a small business owner raising prices because the commercial space they occupy raised the rent. If the property owner colluded with other landlords or price-fixing algorithms to raise the rent for the small business owner, Ford said, the landlord 'might fall within the bill' but 'raising your prices because of your rent increase would not.' The Vegas Chamber, Retail Association of Nevada, T-Mobile, AT&T, Nevada Realtors and the Nevada State Apartment Association were among the many industry groups opposed to the bill. They labeled the legislation as overly broad, 'government price control' and government 'overreach.' One went as far as saying efforts to prevent deceptive price fixing would 'impose rent control.' 'The manipulation of price prevention, while it mentions fraudulent or deceptive conduct, will make normal, everyday market activities legally suspect,' said Miranda Hoover, a lobbyist with the Energy & Convenience Association of Nevada. The bill would mean 'raising prices for any reason could bring legal action and result in liability.' Ford called their statements hyperbolic. 'We are talking about engaging in knowingly and deceptive conduct,' he said. 'That's the threshold. We don't get to the question about how much the price has increased … This bill does not cap in any kind of way how much someone can charge for something as long as they aren't knowingly, fraudulently or deceptively engaging in conduct. You can charge what you want to charge.' He reminded lawmakers that some of the same groups against his bill also opposed efforts to restrict price gouging during a state of emergency. AB 44 also includes price fixing by utilities, but the legislation exempts utilities that are already regulated by the Public Utilities Commission of Nevada. Several Democratic lawmakers questioned the strength of the provision and whether all the state's utilities would essentially be exempt under this provision. 'I can't think of any that are not already regulated,' Democratic Assemblymember Elaine Marzola said. Ford said telecommunications providers, like AT&T and T-Mobile, were deregulated in the state. It is 'not beyond the pale of imagination that an entity that right now is regulated may no longer be regulated,' he added. The Nevada Coalition of Legal Service Providers was the lone organization to testify in support of the bill. 'This is about scammers trying to fleece Nevadans,' said Jonathan Norman, the coalition's advocacy, outreach and policy director. 'When I think of the consumers we see, the people coming into our offices, they almost uniformly, no matter the issue, had economic harm happen to them. We appreciate any bill that stands up for those consumers' The committee took no action on the bill.
Yahoo
07-03-2025
- Business
- Yahoo
Industries line up to tear down proposal to rein in price-fixing
"This bill does not cap in any kind of way how much someone can charge for something as long as they aren't knowingly, fraudulently or deceptively engaging in conduct" said the bill's sponsor, Democratic Attorney General Aaron Ford. Democratic Attorney General Aaron Ford this week said his proposed legislation to crack down on 'knowingly deceptive' price fixing would bolster consumer protections and that opposition from industry groups are relying on 'a bit of hyperbole' to attack it. 'If you're not being deceptive, if you're not being fraudulent, this bill would not apply to you,' Ford said. 'If you are using deceptive and fraudulent means to manipulate the price of necessities beyond those basic forces of supply and demand, this bill speaks directly to your activities.' Assembly Bill 44, heard Wednesday at the Assembly Committee on Commerce and Labor, expands the state's existing Unfair Trade Practice Act to include knowingly deceptive price fixing of essential goods and services. The bill defines essential goods as those 'needed on a daily or recurring basis for the livelihood of a person,' including 'food, medicine and shelter.' An amendment proposed prior to the hearing tweaked the definition to include 'food purchased for off-premises consumption, clothing and footwear, gasoline and other energy goods, pharmaceutical and other medical products, housing, household utilities, ground transportation, telecommunication services, and internet access.' Ford told state lawmakers he was working on an additional amendment but didn't offer details of what it would include. He said the efforts to crack down on price fixing came from concerns about the increased cost of housing. Landlords and property owners have come under fire in recent years for using rent-fixing software to artificially raise the price of rents. Real estate software companies, like RealPage, have been sued by several state attorneys general and the federal government in the last year. RealPage has denied wrongdoing in these cases. Nevada has not taken action against RealPage. 'We learned of rental prices being increased by virtue of some unfair and illegal price fixing tactics,' Ford said. 'We learned about that through not only complaints from our constituents but also from other attorneys general who are prosecuting agencies and entities that are engaging in that in their practice.' The cost of living, the state's 'consistently high unemployment rate' and the potential of cuts to the federal social safety net programs such as Medicaid being considered by congressional Republicans are putting 'both the health and financial livelihoods of so many Nevadans at risk,' Ford said. During times of financial stress, he added, it's easy for people to be exploited through deceptive practices including price fixing. While the state does have a mechanism to go after some industries that engage in price fixing under the Nevada Unfair Trade Practice Act, he said the office was seeking more specific language to give them additional tools. 'This bill would fill current holes in statutes that have proven insufficient to stop these practices from occurring,' Ford said. Multiple times during the hearing, Ford reiterated the bill wouldn't apply to businesses that have to increase prices because of inflation, supply chain disruptions or operational costs. Still, many concerns around the bill stemmed from how the legislation would affect small businesses. Republican Assemblymember Melissa Hardy, a former small business owner, questioned how the bill would affect businesses that have to raise prices 'because our rent went way up, or our products increased substantially.' Ford said the scenario described was a basic instance of supply and demand. 'The threshold question for this bill is whether there has been knowingly fraudulent activity,' he said. Ford used the example of a small business owner raising prices because the commercial space they occupy raised the rent. If the property owner colluded with other landlords or price-fixing algorithms to raise the rent for the small business owner, Ford said, the landlord 'might fall within the bill' but 'raising your prices because of your rent increase would not.' The Vegas Chamber, Retail Association of Nevada, T-Mobile, AT&T, Nevada Realtors and the Nevada State Apartment Association were among the many industry groups opposed to the bill. They labeled the legislation as overly broad, 'government price control' and government 'overreach.' One went as far as saying efforts to prevent deceptive price fixing would 'impose rent control.' 'The manipulation of price prevention, while it mentions fraudulent or deceptive conduct, will make normal, everyday market activities legally suspect,' said Miranda Hoover, a lobbyist with the Energy & Convenience Association of Nevada. The bill would mean 'raising prices for any reason could bring legal action and result in liability.' Ford called their statements hyperbolic. 'We are talking about engaging in knowingly and deceptive conduct,' he said. 'That's the threshold. We don't get to the question about how much the price has increased … This bill does not cap in any kind of way how much someone can charge for something as long as they aren't knowingly, fraudulently or deceptively engaging in conduct. You can charge what you want to charge.' He reminded lawmakers that some of the same groups against his bill also opposed efforts to restrict price gouging during a state of emergency. AB 44 also includes price fixing by utilities, but the legislation exempts utilities that are already regulated by the Public Utilities Commission of Nevada. Several Democratic lawmakers questioned the strength of the provision and whether all the state's utilities would essentially be exempt under this provision. 'I can't think of any that are not already regulated,' Democratic Assemblymember Elaine Marzola said. Ford said telecommunications providers, like AT&T and T-Mobile, were deregulated in the state. It is 'not beyond the pale of imagination that an entity that right now is regulated may no longer be regulated,' he added. The Nevada Coalition of Legal Service Providers was the lone organization to testify in support of the bill. 'This is about scammers trying to fleece Nevadans,' said Jonathan Norman, the coalition's advocacy, outreach and policy director. 'When I think of the consumers we see, the people coming into our offices, they almost uniformly, no matter the issue, had economic harm happen to them. We appreciate any bill that stands up for those consumers' The committee took no action on the bill.
Yahoo
11-02-2025
- Business
- Yahoo
Ford sponsors bill to confront ‘unfair' pricing
Nevada Attorney General Aaron Ford said the legislation stems from 'several investigations and litigations my office has been active in" dealing with "prices of essential goods and services," including food and shelter. (Photo: Richard Bednarski/Nevada Current) With the Trump administration indicating little interest in the federal government's consumer protection role, it could be up to states to prohibit and prevent corporate landlords from using algorithm software to inflate rents via price fixing. Nevada Attorney General Aaron Ford has brought forward Assembly Bill 44 to regulate price fixing of essential goods and services, including shelter, food and medicine. Ford's office declined to say how the legislation, if passed by the Legislature and signed into law by the governor this year, would specifically address alleged practices by real estate software companies, like RealPage, that are being investigated for price fixing rents. 'We can't address hypotheticals about specific companies but to the extent any business' operation violates the provisions as laid out in AB 44, our office will not hesitate to utilize the statute to protect Nevada's consumers,' the office said in an email. The White House Council of Economic Advisors under former President Joe Biden released an analysis in mid-December that found RealPage and other firms that market rent price algorithms r likely cost renters more than $3.8 billion in 2023. Rent-pricing algorithms added on average $92 a month for units in Las Vegas that use such software, according to the report. The national average was $70 per month. 'Our analysis indicates that if price coordination was eliminated, there would be an economically meaningful decrease in price mark-ups for rental units using pricing algorithms,' the report found. The White House has since removed the analysis from the website after President Donald Trump returned to office last month. A ProPublica investigation from 2022 found rental pricing software by RealPage used algorithms to collect lease transaction data and advertised rates. The data was used to effectively tell landlords the highest rent an apartment applicant is able to pay, and then charge it. Greystar, one of the nation's largest property management firms, featured prominently in the investigation. Greystar lists 44 apartment complexes under its management in Southern Nevada and five in the Reno area. Currently more than 30 lawsuits nationwide allege RealPage has colluded with corporate landlords to inflate rent prices The U.S. Department of Justice, along with Attorneys General of North Carolina, California, Colorado, Connecticut, Minnesota, Oregon, Tennessee, and Washington, filed a lawsuit against the company in August 2023 alleging it violated antitrust laws. The department expanded its antitrust lawsuit in early January, prior to Trump's inauguration. 'RealPage will continue to aggressively defend itself in the remaining, previously filed civil lawsuits, which we believe are wholly without merit,' RealPage said in a statement in December. 'RealPage's revenue management software is purposely built to be legally compliant, enhances competition throughout the rental housing ecosystem and is highly configurable by our customers.' The future of the lawsuit remains uncertain under the new administration. Ben Iness, the coalition coordinator for the Nevada Housing Justice Alliance, said the state needs to take 'a bold and brave stance' to regulate the practice. Some states, including Washington, have introduced bills to specifically prohibit landlords from using software that collect rental data to fix prices. Lawmakers in New Jersey sought to make algorithmic systems unlawful, noting it would violate the New Jersey Antitrust Act. In an email to Nevada Current, Ford said 'AB44 is designed to curb unfair methods of increasing prices' in general and would attempt to regulate price fixing essential goods and services under the Nevada Unfair Trade Practice Act. The legislation, Ford added, stemmed from 'several investigations and litigations my office has been active in during my time as Attorney General.' He said details of those investigations are not yet public. 'These investigations and litigations have to do with the prices of essential goods and services like food, medicine, shelter, and the ability of companies to raise those prices to levels that impact consumers ability to purchase them,' he said. The threshold for violating the law under the bill is when a person pays 'more than $750 for the good or service over a 30-day period or $9,000 for the good or service over a 1-year period.' When asked about the threshold amounts, Ford said he was looking to 'balance the concerns of various industries with the need to curb the unfair practices that take advantage of consumers who must have regular, continual access to essential goods and services.' He anticipated 'further discussions on these thresholds to occur throughout the legislation session.' Iness noted that while the legislation is significant and has the potential to rein in rent-price fixing, the bill 'in the current form is broad and vague.' He urged lawmakers to 'explicitly name' the practices they are looking to regulate. 'I would love, during that hearing, that they talk about housing scarcity, cost fixing and the exploitative factors around renting,' he said. Lawmakers are expected to introduce a variety of bills this session to address the state's housing shortage and costs, as well as a landlord-tenant regulatory framework in Nevada that critics say is uniquely landlord hostile compared to most states. Gov. Joe Lombardo named housing as one of his top legislation priorities in his state of the state address last month, and called on $1 billion in new attainable housing units, supported by some direct state spending, the Nevada State Infrastructure Bank, and bonds. The details of that legislation have yet to be released. Iness said addressing the housing crisis needs to go beyond building more units and include expanding tenant protections. 'If folks are going to take our housing crisis seriously they need to look at all sides of it and not just the one-dimensional supply and demand approach,' Iness said.
