HouseH.R. 10905119th Congress
No Personal Data in Grocery Pricing Act
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[Congressional Bills 119th Congress]
[From the U.S. Government Publishing Office]
[H.R. 10905 Introduced in House (IH)]
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119th CONGRESS
2d Session
H. R. 10905
To prohibit individualized pricing, dynamic pricing, and pricing based
on facial recognition technology at large retail food stores and their
online platforms, and for other purposes.
_______________________________________________________________________
IN THE HOUSE OF REPRESENTATIVES
October 22, 2026
Mr. Vindman introduced the following bill; which was referred to the
Committee on Energy and Commerce
_______________________________________________________________________
A BILL
To prohibit individualized pricing, dynamic pricing, and pricing based
on facial recognition technology at large retail food stores and their
online platforms, and for other purposes.
Be it enacted by the Senate and House of Representatives of the
United States of America in Congress assembled,
SECTION 1. SHORT TITLE.
This Act may be cited as the ``No Personal Data in Grocery Pricing
Act''.
SEC. 2. PROHIBITED PRICING PRACTICES.
(a) Prohibited Pricing Practices.--
(1) In general.--A covered operator may not do any of the
following at a covered store or through a covered online
platform:
(A) Engage in individualized pricing.
(B) Use facial recognition technology or other
biometric data to set, adjust, or offer the price of an
item.
(C) Engage in dynamic pricing.
(2) Permitted practices.--The following is not a violation
of subparagraph (A) or (C) of paragraph (1) if the practice
does not use facial recognition technology or other biometric
data and, except in the case of subparagraph (E), the resulting
price does not exceed the generally available price:
(A) A coupon.
(B) A price or discount offered through a loyalty
or membership program in which the consumer voluntarily
enrolled.
(C) A discount offered, under publicly disclosed
eligibility criteria, to consumers based on age,
disability, military or veteran status, student or
educator status, employment by the covered operator, or
participation in a Federal, State, or local nutrition
assistance program.
(D) A markdown of an item that is perishable,
damaged, near the expiration or sell-by date of the
item, seasonal, or discontinued, if the markdown is
available to all consumers at the covered store or
through the covered online platform.
(E) A difference in price based on nothing other
than a fee for delivery, pickup, or another service
requested by the consumer, if the fee is disclosed
before purchase, is the same for all consumers under
the same service conditions, and is not based on a
factor described in subsection (e)(9).
(F) A credit, refund, or discount provided to a
consumer to resolve a complaint, billing error, or
service problem.
(G) A difference in price between covered stores,
or for online orders fulfilled from different covered
stores, if the price is the same for all consumers at a
given covered store or for all online orders fulfilled
from that covered store and the difference is not based
on a characteristic described in subparagraph (A) or
(B) of subsection (e)(9).
(3) Prohibition on evasion.--A covered operator may not,
directly or indirectly, including through a person acting on
behalf of the covered operator, engage in any act or practice,
or combination of acts or practices, that is designed to evade
a prohibition under paragraph (1), including through the use of
any practice described in paragraph (2).
(b) Enforcement by Federal Trade Commission.--
(1) Unfair or deceptive acts or practices.--A violation of
subsection (a) or a regulation promulgated under this section
shall be treated as a violation of a regulation under section
18(a)(1)(B) of the Federal Trade Commission Act (15 U.S.C.
57a(a)(1)(B)) regarding unfair or deceptive acts or practices.
(2) Powers of commission.--The Federal Trade Commission
shall enforce subsection (a) and any regulation promulgated
under this section in the same manner, by the same means, and
with the same jurisdiction, powers, and duties as though all
applicable terms and provisions of the Federal Trade Commission
Act (15 U.S.C. 41 et seq.) were incorporated into and made a
part of this section. Any person who violates such subsection
or a regulation promulgated under this section shall be subject
to the penalties and entitled to the privileges and immunities
provided in the Federal Trade Commission Act.
(3) Regulations.--
(A) In general.--The Commission may promulgate
regulations under section 553 of title 5, United States
Code, to carry out this section, including any
regulation that:
(i) Clarifies the terms defined in
subsection (e).
(ii) Clarifies the practices described in
subsection (a)(2).
(iii) Establishes additional permitted
practices, if the Commission determines that
the practice does not use facial recognition
technology or other biometric data and does not
result in a consumer being charged more than
the generally available price based on the
personal data of the consumer.
(iv) Identifies and prohibits acts or
practices, or combinations of acts or
practices, that evade or are designed to evade
a prohibition under subsection (a)(1),
including through the use of fees, discounts,
promotions, price corrections, changes to
items, or the routing of online orders.
(B) Limitation.--A regulation promulgated under
subparagraph (A)(iv) may not permit any act or practice
prohibited under subsection (a).
(4) Authority preserved.--Nothing in this section may be
construed to limit the authority of the Commission under any
other provision of law.
(c) Enforcement by States.--
(1) In general.--In any case in which the attorney general
of a State has reason to believe that an interest of the
residents of the State has been or is threatened or adversely
affected by the engagement of any person in a practice that
violates subsection (a) or a regulation promulgated under this
section, the attorney general of the State, as parens patriae,
may bring a civil action on behalf of the residents of the
State in an appropriate district court of the United States
to--
(A) enjoin that practice;
(B) enforce compliance with this section or such
regulation;
(C) obtain damages, restitution, or other
compensation on behalf of residents of the State; or
(D) obtain such other relief as the court may
consider to be appropriate.
(2) Notice to commission.--
(A) In general.--Before filing an action under
paragraph (1), the attorney general of the State shall
provide to the Commission written notice of the action
and a copy of the complaint for the action.
(B) Exception.--If the attorney general of a State
determines that it is not feasible to provide the
notice described in subparagraph (A) before filing the
action, the attorney general shall provide the notice
and copy of the complaint to the Commission at the same
time as the attorney general files the action.
(3) Intervention.--Upon receiving notice under paragraph
(2), the Commission may intervene in the action and, upon
intervening--
(A) be heard on all matters arising in the action;
and
(B) file petitions for appeal.
(4) Pending action by commission.--If the Commission has
instituted a civil action for a violation of subsection (a) or
a regulation promulgated under this section, no attorney
general of a State may, during the pendency of that action,
bring an action under paragraph (1) against any defendant named
in the complaint of the Commission for the violation alleged in
that complaint.
(d) Relation to State Law.--This section does not annul, alter,
affect, or exempt any person subject to this section from complying
with the law of any State with respect to pricing practices, except to
the extent that the law is inconsistent with this section and then only
to the extent of the inconsistency. For purposes of this subsection, a
State law is not inconsistent with this section if the protection that
the law affords any consumer is greater than the protection provided by
this section.
(e) Definitions.--In this section:
(1) Automated decision system.--The term ``automated
decision system'' means a system, software, or process that
uses computation, including machine learning, statistics, or
other data processing or artificial intelligence techniques, to
assist, inform, or perform decision-making.
(2) Biometric data.--The term ``biometric data'' means
information generated from the measurement or technological
processing of the physical or biological characteristics of an
individual, including facial geometry, fingerprints,
voiceprints, iris or retina patterns, and gait.
(3) Commission.--The term ``Commission'' means the Federal
Trade Commission.
(4) Consumer.--The term ``consumer'' means an individual
who purchases or seeks to purchase an item for personal,
family, or household purposes.
(5) Coupon.--The term ``coupon'' means a paper or digital
offer, issued by a covered operator or a manufacturer, that a
consumer may redeem for a reduction from the generally
available price of an item.
(6) Covered online platform.--The term ``covered online
platform'' means a website, mobile application, or other online
service through which a covered operator, or a person acting on
behalf of a covered operator, offers items from a covered store
for sale to consumers.
(7) Covered operator.--The term ``covered operator'' means
a person that operates a covered store.
(8) Covered store.--The term ``covered store'' means a
retail food store with not less than 15,000 square feet of
retail sales floor space.
(9) Dynamic pricing.--The term ``dynamic pricing'' means
increasing the price of an item, including through the use of
an automated decision system, based in whole or in part on--
(A) the times at which a consumer, or categories of
consumers, is expected to be present at a covered store
or using a covered online platform, including the
beginning or end of a work shift or school day; or
(B) the demographic, economic, or other
characteristic of a consumer, or categories of
consumers, expected to be present at a covered store or
using a covered online platform, including age, race,
ethnicity, sex, income, wage, occupation, or employment
status.
(10) Facial recognition technology.--The term ``facial
recognition technology'' means technology that analyzes the
face of an individual to identify the individual or to infer
characteristics of the individual, including age, sex,
emotional state, or behavior.
(11) Generally available price.--The term ``generally
available price'' means the price at which an item is offered
to all consumers at a covered store, or through a covered
online platform, at a given time, without regard to the
personal data of any consumer.
(12) Individualized pricing.--The term ``individualized
pricing'' means offering or charging a consumer a price for an
item that differs from the generally available price, based in
whole or in part on the personal data of the consumer,
including through the use of an automated decision system.
(13) Item.--The term ``item'' means a good offered for sale
to consumers by a covered operator.
(14) Personal data.--The term ``personal data'' means
information that identifies, or is linked or reasonably
linkable to, a consumer, a household, or a device linked to a
consumer or household, including purchase history, location,
biometric data, and inferences derived from such information.
(15) Price.--The term ``price'' means the total amount a
consumer is charged for an item, including any fee or
surcharge, and does not include any applicable tax.
(16) Retail food store.--The term ``retail food store'' has
the meaning given the term in section 3 of the Food and
Nutrition Act of 2008 (7 U.S.C. 2012).
(17) State.--The term ``State'' means each of the several
States, the District of Columbia, the Commonwealth of Puerto
Rico, Guam, American Samoa, the United States Virgin Islands,
and the Commonwealth of the Northern Mariana Islands.
(f) Effective Date.--This section shall take effect 1 year after
the date of the enactment of this section.
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