Vice President Kamala Harris' pitch for a federal law banning price gouging in the grocery and food industries is drawing heat from economists, Donald Trump and even some Democrats.
A price gouging law has been used in this state during emergencies since Hurricane Andrew devastated Miami-Dade County in 1992.
Even Florida Attorney General Ashley Moody, a Republican and Trump supporter, called price gouging during emergencies an "egregious act," during a 2021 news conference in Osceola County.
"When I became the attorney general, realizing that Florida truly is a microcosm of the rest of the nation in terms of our diversity, our communities, we wanted to make sure that everybody had the ability to report wrongdoing, scams and price gouging," Moody said then, promoting a "No Scam" app for smart phones that her department had developed.
Moody regularly activates the state's price gouging hotline in advance of hurricanes and storms, doing so as recently as this month. During COVID-19, she said the state had recovered $1 million for consumers who filed complaints related to price increases on essential goods.
But Harris' idea is portrayed as radical by opponents, including Moody. Trump at a rally last weekend in Pennsylvania accused Harris of going "full Communist" with her price gouging plan, part of a larger economic platform she had just unveiled.
"She wants to destroy our country. After causing catastrophic inflation, Comrade Kamala announced that she wants to institute socialist price controls," Trump told his supporters.
Florida Gov. Ron DeSantis also weighed in during an appearance this week in Sarasota. He parroted the "price control" line.
"We are going to end up having bread lines to be able to get food," DeSantis said. "Price control is a joke."
The political pressure of inflation, which Republicans try to pin on President Biden and his vice-president, clearly played a role in crafting the price gouging approach. Research shows the cost of groceries - which people buy regularly - is a driver of how American opinion is shaped about inflation.
Still, what's the difference between price gouging laws in Florida and 33 other states and the plan that Harris wants?
While Harris' proposal could be applied anytime, Florida's law, like most others, only outlaws any price that "grossly exceeds" what had been the average price for a commodity in the days before a public emergency was declared.
Civil penalties of $1,000 per violation and up to $25,000 for multiple violations can be applied, while criminal penalties can also be handed down. The attorney general's office often settles with accused offenders for monetary damages.
Following Hurricane Ian in 2022, Moody's office said it collected $330,000 in refunds and restitution, mostly from gas stations and hoteliers, for price gouging violations.
Moody, however, drew a sharp contrast between Florida's law and the Harris proposal.
"There is no comparison between Florida's price gouging laws that in place to protect people in emergency situations and what Harris is proposing which, from the limited information she is providing, appears to be communist-style price control," she said.
"The reason Americans cannot afford groceries is because of Biden-Harris inflation, not price gouging," she added.
Polls show voters support cracking down on corporate greed, which many blame for higher prices at the grocery store and across many other industries.
To be sure, pandemic-era supply problems have eased. But consumer groups along with some Democratic lawmakers accuse corporations of using complaints about shortages and inflation as a guise for price hikes to boost profits.
Economists and policymakers are uncertain how much of a factor corporate profit-seeking plays into current price spikes.
Florida is getting redder A battleground no more? Florida's growing GOP dominance dims presidential fight in state
How state is changing How Florida turned red: Changing population, weak opposition, aggressive Gov. Ron DeSantis
Harris' campaign is trying to deflect criticism of the plan, now casting her approach as merely an extension of what's happening in the states.
Days earlier, while unveiling the economic platform, the campaign was more promotional, touting it as the "first-ever" ban on price gouging in the grocery and food industries.
Along with the price gouging push, Harris' overall economic plan includes down-payment assistance for first-time homebuyers, medical debt relief and child tax-credits.
The campaign hasn't outlined much about how the price gouging measure would work in practice. But it does envision the Federal Trade Commission being authorized to impose fines for "excessive" price hikes.
Along with looking tough on inflation, Harris' approach also could satisfy demands from the Democratic progressives, who have long advocated for government to set limits on rising costs for food, housing and other necessities.
"It's very much aimed at reaching out more toward the progressive wing of the Democratic Party," said Sam Staley, a professor of applied economics and urban policy at Florida State University and director of its DeVoe L. Moore Center, a public policy research institute.
"It's geared toward sending a message to consumer advocates, who tend to be more left, and often frame price increases and inflation around subjective terms like 'greed,' " he added.
"But the mainstream reaction? It's pretty much people scratching their heads. This is not something that's going to resonate with what I call the radical middle, the 40% of people who are not represented by the Democratic or Republican parties," Staley said.
Sean Snaith, an economist at the University of Central Florida, also said price gouging is a "very slippery concept," hard to define.
"That bottle of Dasani water you might pay $1 for at Walmart, costs you $2.50 at Wawa and $8 at the airport," Snaith said. "It's available at different places at different times at different prices."
"In my mind, price gouging is a political term," he added. "Economically, I don't know if it can be defined in a way that's enforceable."
Even with a federal price gouging law, it will prove difficult to identify the bad guy, Snaith said.
"After all, if you're paying more, are you going to blame and go after Wonder Bread as the producer of the loaf of bread, or the distributor of the bread, or the convenience store where you bought it?" he added.
John Kennedy is a reporter in the USA TODAY Network's Florida Capital Bureau. He can be reached at [email protected], or on X at @JKennedyReport