Sponsors (6)
Introduced February 12, 2026 by Ben Ray Luján · Last progress February 12, 2026
The bill enhances consumer protections against surveillance-based pricing, price gouging, and opaque biometric uses and strengthens enforcement, but does so at the cost of significant compliance, litigation, and operational burdens on retailers that could raise prices or reduce availability for consumers.
All shoppers are protected from individualized, surveillance-based price discrimination and from having biometric data sold or required as a condition of identity verification, reducing opaque targeted price-setting and commercial misuse of sensitive personal data.
Consumers (especially low- and middle-income households) gain limits on extreme price spikes during shortages or emergencies via a bright-line metric and a 180-day deadline for FTC guidance, lowering the risk of dramatic, short-term price gouging.
Consumers obtain stronger enforcement tools and access to justice: a private right of action with statutory damages, state attorney general enforcement, FTC rulemaking/ investigatory authority, and invalidation of pre-dispute arbitration/class waivers to allow collective court remedies.
Small and multi-location retailers face substantial new compliance costs (manual shelf tags, signage, privacy notices, data tracking/segregation, proofs of cost), which are likely to be passed through to shoppers as higher prices.
Retailers face greatly increased litigation exposure (private suits, statutory damages, and potential treble awards for willful violations), raising legal costs and incentivizing defensive pricing or settlements.
Shoppers risk reduced product availability or higher baseline prices if stores preemptively restrict inventory, raise prices, or change operations to avoid enforcement risk or litigation.
Based on analysis of 9 sections of legislative text.
Prohibits retail food stores from charging "grossly excessive" prices and from using surveillance-based individualized pricing (including via facial recognition and other biometric or tracking data). Requires clear store notice when facial recognition is used, bans electronic shelf labels in stores larger than 10,000 sq ft, gives the FTC rulemaking and enforcement authority, authorizes state attorneys general and private lawsuits with statutory damages, and funds implementation with a $5 million authorization for FY2026. Creates a strong set of definitions and enforcement tools (FTC power, state parens patriae actions, and a federal private right of action), includes an affirmative defense for cost-driven price increases, and sets procedural rules such as FTC guidance within 180 days and a narrow federal preemption standard that preserves stronger state consumer protections.