Gov. Andrew Cuomo signed a bill Saturday that expands New York's price gouging statute after complaints of jacked-up prices during the COVID-19 pandemic. The measure broadens the state's price gouging law to include "essential medical supplies and services," along with "any other essential goods and services used to promote the health or welfare of the public."

The bill was part of a package of COVID-19 legislation passed by lawmakers last month.

New York Attorney General Letitia James reported Saturday that her office has received more than 7,000 price gouging complaints tied to COVID-19 since the coronavirus pandemic started. 

"Today's law will vastly expand our efforts to protect New Yorkers' wallets, as well as the bottom lines of small businesses and taxpayer dollars," she said in a statement issued Saturday.

Cuomo says the legislation will ban price gouging on personal protective equipment, in turn helping the public and health care workers have access to the items. The third-term governor said in a statement that there have been too many examples of retailers charging exorbitant prices when it comes to critical medical supplies.

The legislation also states that the maximum civil penalty for price gouging is $25,000 per violation or three times the gross receipts for the goods, whichever is more.

State Sen. Brad Hoylman issued a statement saying the measure will allow James to crack down on price gougers. 

"Pandemic profiteers need to get the hell out of New York," the Manhattan Democrat said in a statement. "It's outrageous that these lowlifes have tried to make a quick buck off of our state's valiant efforts to save the lives of COVID-19 patients and protect frontline medical workers."

The pandemic has exposed glaring flaws in the law, but the legislation will make sure that people have access to items without "paying excessive and unreasonable prices," said Assemblymember Nily Rozic, who sponsored the bill in the state's lower chamber.

The state attorney general's office Saturday reported they have issued more than 1,500 cease-and-desist orders to businesses accused of violating the current law. Health care providers and consumers have seen steep upticks on such items as disinfectant spray, hand sanitizer and face masks since the start of the coronavirus outbreak, according to the office.

Under the old statute on price gouging, the office said it has "been limited in its ability to take action on certain types of items not typically deemed consumer goods, such as medical supplies."