FRANKFORT, Ky. – A Kentucky lawmaker says that his hometown of Somerset, Kentucky, intruded into the free market when it began selling retail gas earlier this year, and he's preparing legislation that could shut down the pumps to the public.

Republican Senator Chris Girdler's proposal comes months after the city of Somerset opened a retail gas station. The no-frills venture on the outskirts of town unnerved fuel and convenience retailers, as well as many citizens who felt it was a governmental over-step. Girdler said that his bill will assure private business that government won't compete for their customers. He is drafting the bill for the legislative session that opens in January, through collaboration with the Kentucky League of Cities and Kentucky Association of Counties.

The measure would define traditional and essential government services, but would include a process for governments to be able to seek to provide services outside that definition, Girdler said. According to one news report, Somerset Mayor Eddie Girdler (a distant relative of the senator) said the legislator’s proposal amounts to "a big overreaction to a unique situation here in Somerset that has really worked."

The city-run Somerset Fuel Center opened to the public in July. The station was converted from use by government vehicles into one that also caters to anyone looking to fill their tanks. Since then, it has generally sold about 1,800 to 2,000 gallons of gas daily, the mayor said.

That's a typical amount of gas sales for many convenience stores in Kentucky, Ted Mason, executive director of the Kentucky Grocers Association and Kentucky Association of Convenience Stores, told news sources.
Critics of the venture say the government has no business inserting itself into the private sector, and one store owner branded it as socialism when the city-run station opened this summer.