The House rejected a Senate plan Wednesday to exempt rural towns from a bill that would let retailers sell gasoline below cost.
The hard-line move to strip the amendment and adhere to the House version leaves the Senate with only two options – accept the measure or kill it.
“As usual, we had it right in the House,” said Rep. Cheri Jahn, D-Wheat Ridge, before representatives voted 63-1 to stick with the original proposal.
It was the latest round in a long-running battle over allowing grocery stores and other big retailers to lure customers with below-cost gasoline after a judge ruled the discounts violated the 1937 Unfair Practices Act.
The Senate had voted to exempt counties with less than 200,000 residents after Sen. Jim Isgar, D-Hesperus, argued for the need to protect mom-and-pop stores that can’t compete with gas prices at Costco and Kroger.
But opponents and Attorney General John Suthers warned that the Senate language would inadvertently eliminate many other discounts in those counties as well.
“I’m here to tell you the bad news. That means your $5 holiday turkeys are gone. Buy one, get one free at the grocery store – gone. Or, what’s worse, ladies’ night – gone,” Jahn told the House.
She said rural residents are already paying up to 40 cents a gallon more for gas than people on the Front Range. She said barring the discounts in rural counties would ultimately hurt the small businesses that senators wanted to protect because people would drive to the nine largest counties to fill up at a discount.
The Associated Press contributed to this report.
