Repeal Of Unfair Sales Act May Not Pass This Year, Say GOP Leaders

Republican leaders say an effort to repeal Wisconsin’s “minimum markup law” might not pass this session.

The Depression-era law known as the Unfair Sales Act prevents companies from selling products below cost. Its aim is to prevent big retailers from driving smaller retailers out of business. Some Republicans want to repeal the law, arguing it violates free market principles. But Senate Majority Leader Scott Fitzgerald said other Republicans have questions about how that would affect Wisconsin’s economy.

“It’s not that some of us aren’t proponents of the idea or that somehow we’re anti-free market — or certainly if it did allow consumers to save a few cents here and there, that it might make sense,” said Fitzgerald. “But it’s just we need some substantial kind of data, and we don’t have that yet.”

Assembly Speaker Robin Vos said he personally supports repealing the minimum markup law, so long as there’s assurance that there would be “no possibility of predatory practices from big, huge corporations that prey on small business.” Nevertheless, he said that a repeal probably won’t pass this year.