DENVER-
After a lawmaker warned that $5 turkeys and ladies’ nights were at risk, the House on Wednesday rejected a measure that would have limited cheap gas and other consumer discounts.
Instead, lawmakers went back to a previous version allowing below-cost gas prices statewide.
It was the latest round in a long-running battle over allowing grocery stores and other big retailers to resume selling cheap gasoline after a judge ruled the discounts violated state law.
The Senate had passed a version allowing retailers to sell gas and other items below cost only in counties with at least 200,000 residents, which would include nine of the state’s 64 counties. Sen. Jim Isgar, D-Hesperus, had argued that distributors that deliver fuel to farmers and ranchers could be driven out of business.
Opponents and Attorney General John Suthers warned that would eliminate many other discounts in those small 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,” said Rep. Cheri Jahn, D-Wheat Ridge.
Jahn 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.
She also argued the Senate version would stop discounts in some counties that aren’t truly rural, such as Eagle, Mesa and Broomfield.
The Colorado Retail Council said the Senate version would also outlaw things like promotions for free coffee or oil changes.
The bill now goes back to the Senate, which can accept the House version or stick to its own, which would kill the bill.
Sen. Steve Johnson, R-Fort Collins, said he thinks the Senate will accept the House version.
The effort to allow cheap gas to return was launched after the Safeway and King Soopers grocery chains cut their discounts to 3 cents a gallon, down from about 10 cents, when two distributors successfully sued.
Those distributors are in Montrose, part of Isgar’s district.
