A bill intended to prevent businesses from charging high prices in so-called captive audience settings in Colorado — like airports, hospitals and stadiums — was rejected Tuesday during its first committee hearing.
House Bill 1012 failed in the House Judiciary Committee. There were seven “no” votes and four “yes” votes, with three Democrats on the panel siding with the committee’s four Republicans to kill the measure.
The legislation would have required vendors in captive audience settings — where the options of where to buy food, services and goods are limited — to charge prices that match the average for a comparable product in the surrounding county.
So if the average price of a hot dog in Denver is $3.50 (we’re guessing here), the bill would have required that it cost the same or less at Coors Field, Ball Arena, Empower Field and the airport.
State Rep. Yara Zokaie, a Fort Collins Democrat and lead sponsor of the bill, said her measure aimed at combating “funflation.”
“We see that there’s almost this disregard for how these things impact consumers,” she said.
The bill, as introduced, also would have applied to other settings like hospitals, where it would have aimed to prevent a patient from being charged an exorbitant amount for a Band-Aid or ibuprofen pill. It was amended to limit the measure’s effect in health care settings to cafeterias and gift shops.
But the business community complained that the measure would be too onerous to comply with and didn’t take into account the extra costs that go into selling goods in captive audience settings.
Nick Hoover of the Colorado Restaurant Association said he understood the goals of the bill, but said food vendors in captive audience settings usually have smaller margins in stadiums and airports despite charging higher prices.
“Those who operate in airports and stadiums have additional costs that are significant,” Hoover said. “Some of our members pay five-figure sponsorship fees to be in a stadium. Thirty to 40% of their revenue goes to their food (suppliers). They usually have to make their food offsite.”
Opponents also argued that consumers don’t have to subject themselves to captive audience settings if they don’t like the higher prices.
State Rep. Matt Soper, a Delta Republican who sits on the Judiciary Committee, said people don’t have a right to go to a sporting event or concert.
“There’s not even a right to fly,” he said. “They are privileges. And someone who has economic means — has the privilege to travel, they have the ability to go to these events to be entertained — they go in (with) eyes wide open that they are going to be paying a lot and that they might be paying more for food or beverage or for parking within those locations. That’s the free market at work.”
Travelers wait for their flights Wednesday, Jan. 22, 2025, on Concourse B of the Denver International Airport. (Alyte Katilius, Special to The Colorado Sun)State Rep. Lorena Garcia, an Adams County Democrat on the House Judiciary Committee who voted for the bill, said that argument was unfair.
“Just because you’re poor doesn’t mean you can’t have access to entertainment,” she said.
The legislation would also have required third-party delivery apps, like Uber Eats and Door Dash, to display the in-store or in-restaurant price of products they offer alongside their price when they’re purchased for delivery through the app.
The in-store prices are typically lower, and the bill’s sponsors wanted consumers to be aware of that difference.
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