Vindman bills would ban surveillance pricing at big grocers and track corporate concentration

By Philippa Langstrom

WASHINGTON — Rep. Eugene Vindman of Virginia has introduced two bills aimed at grocery and household costs: one that would bar large grocery stores from charging individual shoppers different prices based on their personal data, and another that would require federal regulators to publish regular reports on corporate concentration in markets for food, rent, prescription drugs, gasoline and telecommunications.

The No Personal Data in Grocery Pricing Act, introduced Oct. 22, would ban what Vindman’s office calls surveillance pricing, in which retailers use data such as shopping habits, purchase history or other identifying information to set the price an individual customer pays. According to the release, the bill would also bar large grocers from using facial recognition technology and other surveillance tools to set prices, and would prohibit dynamic pricing at large grocery stores and their online platforms.

“The last thing they need is to worry that the price of milk, eggs, or bread could change based on who’s buying it or what a retailer knows about them,” Vindman, a first-term Democrat whose 7th District includes parts of Prince William County and Fredericksburg, said in the release.

A federal version of a Maryland law

Across the Potomac, a similar rule is already in force. Maryland’s Protection From Predatory Pricing Act (House Bill 895), signed by Gov. Wes Moore on April 28, took effect Oct. 1. It bars food retailers with at least 15,000 square feet, and third-party food delivery services, from using dynamic pricing or consumer surveillance data to set prices, and makes violations an unfair or deceptive trade practice under the Maryland Consumer Protection Act. The law defines dynamic pricing as setting a personalized price based on a consumer’s personal data, including through artificial intelligence.

In the Senate, Sen. Ben Ray Luján of New Mexico and four other Democrats introduced a related bill, S. 3892, in February to prohibit retail food stores from price gouging and surveillance-based pricing. It was referred to the Commerce Committee.

The concentration bill

Vindman’s second bill, the American Cost of Living Defense Act, introduced Oct. 23, would direct the Federal Trade Commission to convene an interagency working group with the Justice Department’s Antitrust Division, the Department of Health and Human Services, the Agriculture Department, the Department of Housing and Urban Development and the Consumer Financial Protection Bureau.

Every three years, the FTC would publish a public report naming the four largest firms by market share in each covered sector and examining supply-chain bottlenecks and “platforms or other market structures that may enable pricing coordination,” according to Vindman’s office. Covered sectors include beef, poultry, eggs and milk; housing rent; prescription drugs; motor fuel; and telecommunications. The bill is endorsed by the American Economic Liberties Project, an antitrust advocacy group.

“When a handful of giant corporations control the markets for everyday essentials, hardworking Americans are the ones left footing the bill,” Vindman said.

What happens next

Both House bills were introduced in the final months of the 119th Congress; bills that do not pass before the Congress ends in January must be reintroduced. Neither of Vindman’s releases listed co-sponsors.

On Nov. 3 Vindman faces Republican Doug Ollivant and four independent and Libertarian candidates, according to the House Clerk’s list of nominees. Vindman’s campaign reported $5.2 million in cash on Oct. 14, compared with $109,216 for Ollivant, according to FEC filings.

The Washington Inquisitor has asked Vindman’s campaign, the Ollivant campaign, FMI–The Food Industry Association, the National Grocers Association, the Consumer Brands Association, the American Economic Liberties Project and the Electronic Privacy Information Center for comment. This story will be updated with any response.

Photo: Rep. Eugene Vindman, official portrait. U.S. House of Representatives, via the Biographical Directory of the U.S. Congress, public domain.