Tlaib Introduces Bill to Stop Price Gouging in Grocery Stores

DETROIT – Today, Congresswoman Rashida Tlaib (MI-12) introduced H.R. 4966 – the Stop Price Gouging in Grocery Stores Act to prohibit price gouging by grocery stores, including “personalized price gouging” where stores use consumers’ sensitive personal information against them to raise prices.

Across our country, families are facing an affordability crisis and struggling to put food on the table. Grocery prices have skyrocketed by more than 28 percent since 2020, while 47 million Americans, including over 7 million children, remain food insecure. At the same time, major grocery chains are using personal data, electronic shelf labels, and surveillance technology to quietly exploit shoppers and hike prices, often hitting Black and brown communities the hardest.

“The majority of Americans are stressed about rising grocery prices,” said Congresswoman Rashida Tlaib. “While our neighbors struggle, corporate grocery chains are feeding customer data into algorithms to decide who can be charged more. Companies should not be allowed to use electronic labeling or your personal information to charge you a higher price. We need to ban corporate price gouging and surveillance pricing.”

The Stop Price Gouging in Grocery Stores Act will:

• prohibit price gouging by retail food stores;
• prohibit surveillance pricing in retail food stores, with narrow exceptions for things like senior or student discounts;
• require food stores to disclose the use of facial recognition technology;
• ban electronic shelf labels in large stores;
• establish enforcement by the Federal Trade Commission to hold corporations accountable.

This legislation is cosponsored by Representatives Yassamin Ansari (AZ-03), Andre Carson (IN-07), Greg Casar (TX-35), Yvette Clarke (NY-09), Steve Cohen (TN-09), Chris Deluzio (PA-17), Dwight Evans (PA-03), Chuy García (IL-04), Sylvia Garcia (TX-29), Val Hoyle (OR-04), Pramila Jayapal (WA-07), Sydney Kamlager-Dove (CA-37), Summer Lee (PA-12), Teresa Leger Fernández (NM-03), LaMonica McIver (NJ-10), Jerry Nadler (NY-12), Eleanor Holmes Norton (DC), Alexandria Ocasio-Cortez (NY-14), Mark Pocan (WI-02), Ayanna Pressley (MA-07), Delia Ramirez (IL-03), Lateefah Simon (CA-12), Melanie Stansbury (NM-01), Shri Thanedar (MI-13), Derek Tran (CA-45), and Bonnie Watson Coleman (NJ-12).

“The UFCW wholeheartedly endorses the Stop Price Gouging in Grocery Stores Act and applauds Congresswoman Tlaib’s leadership on this issue. With the cost of living continuing to rise, the last thing families need is price gouging at the supermarket. Technologies like electronic shelf tags threaten to usher in a new era where the price of an item you pick up from the shelf can change within the amount of time it takes to walk to the register. Even more concerning, customers could be charged different prices based on personal data like income, race, gender, and more. ‘Surveillance pricing’ is deeply unfair, potentially discriminatory, and must be banned. This legislation will protect consumers as well as the hardworking UFCW members who help families put food on the table each time they visit their local grocery store,” said Milton Jones, United Food and Commercial Workers International Union President.

“Corporate greed has no place in the grocery aisle. Families shouldn’t be charged more because a retailer’s algorithm decides they can ‘afford’ it,” said J.B. Branch, Big Tech Accountability Advocate, Public Citizen. “The Stop Price Gouging in Grocery Stores Act closes the door on this kind of surveillance pricing. Public Citizen applauds Rep. Tlaib for tackling both the existing problem of price gouging and the new threat of personalized exploitation in the digital age.”

This legislation is endorsed by United Food and Commercial Workers International Union (UFCW), Detroit Action, Public Citizen, Open Markets Institute, Groundwork Collaborative, Electronic Privacy Information Center (EPIC), Demand Progress, Towards Justice, and Brightmoor Connection.

A copy of the legislation can be found here.

A copy of a one-pager can be found here. 

Rep. Tlaib’s op-ed on the bill can be found here. 

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