If you read the article carefully, you will notice that the bill requires the Federal Trade Commission--part of the executive branch--to define price gouging. Given the massive, rampant corruption of this current executive branch, I wouldn't be surprised to see the FTC define price gouging in a way that punishes small retailers severely while letting Big Oil get off scot-free.

Nothing will change fundamentally unless we use the common definition of price gouging: a price hike of over 10%. I think this bill provides nothing but cosmetic changes, since election-year moderates from the repuke party introduced this watered-down version of a bill Dems have been trying to push since Katrina hit.