DISCRIMINATION
House Bill 5183
Sponsor: Rep. Derrick Hale
Committee: Constitutional Law and Ethics
Complete to 8-24-00
A SUMMARY OF HOUSE BILL 5183 AS INTRODUCED 12-9-99
The Michigan Consumer Protection Act specifies that "unfair, unconscionable, or deceptive methods, acts, or practices in the conduct of trade or commerce" are unlawful, and defines such methods, acts, or practices in a list provided in the act. The bill would amend the act to add to this list of unlawful methods, acts, or practices, pricing identical goods or services differently based on the race of the potential customer.
More specifically, the bill would make it unlawful to sell or offer to sell either of the following:
(1) Goods that differed only in identifiable racial characteristics, unless the price for the sale of those goods were identical (unless the manufacturing cost of the products were not substantially the same;
(2) Identical goods or services to members of different races at different prices.
MCL 445.903
Analyst: S. Ekstrom