New Jersey Lawmakers Send Surveillance Pricing Ban to Governor

A bill banning surveillance pricing has been passed by both houses of the New Jersey legislature and sent to the governor’s desk.

The “Fair Price Protection Act” was passed Tuesday (June 30) by the New Jersey Senate on a 22-14 vote and by the state’s Assembly on a 51-20-1 vote, according to the New Jersey Legislature website.

The bill would prohibit the use of consumers’ personal data gathered via technology to set individual prices for food products, including grocery purchases and orders from third-party grocery delivery platforms, according to a Tuesday press release issued by the New Jersey State Democrats.

It would also prohibit any pricing that determines the price of essential food products based on biometric monitoring, genetic information or protected class data, the release said.

In addition, the bill would establish a one-year moratorium on the installation of new electronic shelving labels (ESLs), though it would allow business that already use ESLs to continue using them, and it would require a study on the impact of ESLs to determine their impact on surveillance pricing and their compliance with the state’s Consumer Fraud Law.

The bill would take effect one year after enactment, per the release.

One of the sponsors of the Fair Price Protection Act, Sen. Joe Cryan, said in the release that surveillance pricing is “an abuse of modern technology” because it sets different prices for different customers.

“[Consumers] should be protected from the intrusive use of algorithms, personal data and other technologies to exploit their food purchases or individual characteristics,” Cryan said.

Another sponsor of the bill, Sen. Joe Lagana, said in the release that the Fair Price Protection Act will prevent businesses from “weaponizing” shoppers’ personal data against them.

“Surveillance pricing isn’t innovation at its finest, but a modern form of consumer fraud that quietly manipulates prices based on a customer’s private online behavior,” Lagana said.

The New Jersey Assembly Republicans said in a Tuesday post on X that the bill will have unintended consequences.

“Retailers warn it could eliminate loyalty programs because of new limits on using consumers data for discounts,” the group said in the post.

It was reported in May that more than 50 bills had been introduced in 26 states to restrict or ban algorithmic price-setting.

The New York state legislature passed a bill in June that would ban surveillance pricing.