Late in the afternoon before this hearing we received a copy of the report, MFA/Schnittker. At this time we would like to provide a preliminary response to the Massachusetts Food Association and Dr. Schnittker. Perhaps the most egregious flaw in their report is the equation of the proposed Connecticut price law with the proposed Massachusetts price law. The two proposals are entirely different, and their impact on the market will be different. Dr. Schnittker appears willing and ready to link the Massachusetts price gouging law with the more complicated price collar approach of the proposed Connecticut law because he would like to argue that the Massachusetts law would damage consumers in the long run and especially damage low-income consumers. Neither law would necessarily do that, but the Massachusetts law most certainly will not do it.