Aug 16 (Reuters) - As Vice President Kamala Harris

focuses on price gouging in her presidential campaign, state

laws and laws proposed by her colleagues in the Senate show

potential paths for a crackdown on high prices.

The Democratic candidate planned to lay out her anti-price

gouging and other economic proposals in a speech in Raleigh,

North Carolina, on Friday.

Price gouging laws generally prohibit profiteering during

emergencies, but vary widely as to when they apply, said Lindsay

Owens, who leads Groundwork Collaborative, an anti-monopoly

think tank. Thirty-four states have some form of anti-price

gouging law on the books.

"States have been able to use these laws really effectively

to prevent companies from exploiting crises to profit," Owens

said.

Harris' plan will include "the first-ever federal ban on

price gouging on food and groceries," which her campaign says

aims to stop big corporations from unfairly exploiting consumers

while generating excessive corporate profits.

New York's law, which Owens views as one of the strongest, bans

companies from excessively raising prices on consumer staples

during an abnormal market disruption. Drugstore chain Walgreens

settled with the state last year over allegations it

jacked up baby formula prices after a recall led to a nationwide

shortage in 2022.

New York Attorney General Letitia James, a Democrat, accused

Walgreens of raising formula prices by 10% after accounting for

increased costs - and, in one case, 70% - during the shortage

prompted by a recall at major formula maker Abbott Labs ( ABT )

.

The only existing federal law against price gouging is aimed

at preventing profiteering during wartime or other national

emergencies. The law bans hoarding designated scarce items for

resale at more than the prevailing market price - a term it does

not define.

In 2020, when Harris was a U.S. senator, she co-sponsored

legislation that would have defined price gouging in an

emergency as charging more than 10 percent above the previous

average price. The bill built in a defense for sellers that

could show price hikes flowed from their own rising costs.

The proposal was modeled after California's anti-price

gouging law, which Harris warned businesses against violating

when she was the state's attorney general. The state's current

attorney general, Rob Bonta, used it to sue a landlord over rent

hikes during the COVID-19 pandemic.

While pandemic-era supply problems have eased, consumer

advocates and some Democratic legislators have accused

corporations of using the pandemic and general inflation as

cover for price hikes to boost profits.

Democratic U.S. senators, including Elizabeth Warren of

Massachusetts, introduced a bill earlier this year that would

make it illegal to offer goods or services at a "grossly

excessive price" - a term the U.S. Federal Trade Commission

would define.

A price at least 20% higher than the average market price in

the previous six months is one definition the agency would have

to consider.

It would also require publicly traded companies to disclose

their gross margins and pricing strategies in the wake of an

emergency or other unusual market disruption.

While that bill had no Republican sponsors, other pricing

bills, such as proposed drug price reforms, have received

bipartisan support.

Republican Senator Chuck Grassley of Iowa has led the charge

on those bills and co-sponsored others aimed at combating the

effects of consolidation in the meatpacking industry - an area

Harris is expected to highlight in her speech.

Even without additional federal legislation, a potential

Harris administration has some existing tools.

The Federal Trade Commission under the Biden administration has

already used its existing authority to sue to ask a court to

block grocery chain Kroger ( KR ) $24.6 billion deal to buy

rival Albertsons ( ACI ), and to launch a study of grocery

prices.