An Act providing for prohibition on surveillance pricing; and imposing penalties.

PRINTER'S NO. 2451
THE GENERAL ASSEMBLY OF PENNSYLVANIA
HOUSE BILL
No. 1942
Session of
2025
INTRODUCED BY BURGOS, KINKEAD, GUZMAN, HILL-EVANS, RIVERA,
HOHENSTEIN, STEELE, BOROWSKI, HADDOCK, SANCHEZ, CEPEDA-
FREYTIZ, MERSKI, GALLAGHER, GREEN AND CIRESI,
OCTOBER 14, 2025
REFERRED TO COMMITTEE ON CONSUMER PROTECTION, TECHNOLOGY AND
UTILITIES, OCTOBER 16, 2025
AN ACT
Providing for prohibition on surveillance pricing; and imposing
penalties.
The General Assembly finds and declares as follows:
(1) A recent study documented how businesses are
aggressively and secretly engaging in surveillance of their
customers and secretly varying prices between customers or
groups accordingly. The study documented the following
surveillance-based pricing practices:
(i) Orbitz learned that Mac users typically spend
more money to stay at hotels and steered those users
toward different, sometimes costlier, travel options than
non-Mac users.
(ii) Hotel booking sites charged people in certain
zip codes more money to stay at hotels than people in
other zip codes across the country. In one example, a
person in the Bay area was charged by Hotels.com $80 more
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to stay in a New York City hotel than someone browsing
for the same room from Kansas City.
(iii) Staples.com charged people more for the same
stapler if they knew a person had fewer options such as
not being physically near a competitor.
(iv) Target charged people more for its products
when they were in a Target parking lot versus when they
were in another location because the company determined
people who were near a store entrance were willing to pay
more. As a result, prices spiked for a television, a
smart watch, a vacuum and a child car seat once consumers
had arrived in a store parking lot.
(v) Test preparation company The Princeton Review
charged customers more money when it found that they
lived in zip codes with large Asian populations.
(2) Corporate consultants have told clients that
surveillance-based pricing strategies "have become a
cornerstone of modern business strategy." Profit margins are
improved by two to seven percentage points when surveillance
pricing is implemented, according to McKinsey and Company. A
Yale study found surveillance-based pricing increased profits
for airlines by 4% to 5%.
(3) Other studies document that surveillance pricing
impacts lower-income people the most. A study of broadband
Internet offers to 1,100,000 residential addresses showed the
worst deals given to the poorest people. Areas with
discounted prices tended to have a higher average income than
areas that tended to see higher prices.
(4) Personalized or surveillance-based pricing
technologies could permit large grocery store chains to
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impose unfair and discriminatory prices on their customers
for basic food necessities in ways that might increase the
economic burdens of those already subject to discrimination
or economic hardships.
(5) Recent reports have raised the possibility that
publicly traded grocery store chains, including the dozens of
grocery brands under Kroger's corporate umbrella, are
concurrently installing facial recognition and other
biometric technologies and adopting electronic shelving
labels. Together, these technologies could allow grocery
retailers to distinguish between customers based on race,
gender, disability, distance traveled to the store, age and
electronically stored personal information in real time and
price food differently based on individualized profiling.
(6) Legislation is required to fairly and
compassionately restrain the deployment and use of unfair,
discriminatory, privacy-invading technologies that, if
deployed in ways contrary to the public interest and welfare,
will dramatically exacerbate gaps between wealthy and working
families to the unneeded benefit of the former and the
enduring, unjust harm of the latter.
The General Assembly of the Commonwealth of Pennsylvania
hereby enacts as follows:
Section 1. Short title.
This act shall be known and may be cited as the Surveillance
Pricing Act.
Section 2. Definitions.
The following words and phrases when used in this act shall
have the meanings given to them in this section unless the
context clearly indicates otherwise:
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"Electronic surveillance technology." A technological method
or system of surveillance used to observe, monitor or collect
information related to a person, including the following:
(1) Actions, habits, race, religion, residence,
sexuality or preferences.
(2) Interests, including the individual's political,
personal or professional affiliation.
(3) Web-browsing history, purchase history, financial
circumstances or consumer behaviors.
(4) Personally identifiable information.
"Person." A natural person or an entity, including, but not
limited to, a corporation, partnership, association, trust,
limited liability company, cooperative or other organization.
"Personally identifiable information." The term shall have
the same meaning as "personal information" as defined in section
2 of the act of December 22, 2005 (P.L.474, No.94), known as the
Breach of Personal Information Notification Act.
"Surveillance pricing." Offering or setting a customized
price for a good or service for a specific consumer or group of
consumers based, in whole or in part, on personally identifiable
information collected through electronic surveillance
technology. The term includes the use of technological methods,
systems or tools, including, but not limited to:
(1) Sensors.
(2) Cameras.
(3) Device tracking.
(4) Biometric monitoring.
(5) Other forms of observation or data collection that
are capable of gathering personally identifiable information
about:
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(i) A consumer's behavior and characteristics.
(ii) The location or other personal attributes of a
consumer, whether in physical or digital environments.
Section 3. Prohibition on surveillance pricing.
(a) Prohibition.--Except as provided in subsection (b), a
person shall not engage in surveillance pricing.
(b) Exception.--A person does not engage in surveillance
pricing if any of the following apply:
(1) The difference in price is based solely on costs
associated with providing the good or service to different
consumers.
(2) A discounted price is offered based on publicly
disclosed eligibility criteria, including, but not limited
to:
(i) signing up for a mailing list;
(ii) registering for promotional communications; or
(iii) participating in a promotional event.
(3) A discounted price is offered to members of a
broadly defined group based on publicly disclosed eligibility
criteria, including, but not limited to:
(i) teachers;
(ii) active or retired military;
(iii) senior citizens;
(iv) students; or
(v) residents of a certain area.
(4) A discounted price is offered through a loyalty,
membership or rewards program that consumers affirmatively
purchase or enroll in, based on publicly disclosed
eligibility criteria.
(5) The person operates as an insurer as defined in 40
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Pa.C.S. § 4502 (relating to definitions) and the pricing is
in connection with the activity.
(c) Consumer report.--A person is not in violation of this
act if the information used in surveillance pricing is based on
information contained in a consumer report as defined in 15
U.S.C. § 1681a(d) (relating to definitions; rules of
construction) or a commercial credit report, and the use relates
to:
(1) the pricing or specific terms for extending credit;
(2) entering into a transaction with a specific
consumer; or
(3) a specific commercial enterprise.
(d) Requirements.--A discounted price or reward offered
under subsection (b)(2), (3), (4) or (5) that collects
personally identifiable information shall:
(1) Clearly and conspicuously disclose any eligibility
criteria, available discounts and conditions for receiving or
earning the discount or reward before any personally
identifiable information is collected.
(2) Be uniformly offered or made available to all
consumers who meet the disclosed eligibility criteria.
(3) Not be augmented or supplemented by personally
identifiable information obtained from a third party or other
means.
(e) Personal information.--Any personally identifiable
information collected under subsection (b) shall be used solely
for the purpose of offering or administering the applicable
discount, cost-based pricing or loyalty program and shall not be
used for any other purpose, including profiling or
individualized price setting.
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(f) Construction.--Nothing in this act shall be construed to
allow any insurance company to engage in conduct that violates
any provision of 40 Pa.C.S. (relating to insurance).
Section 4. Penalties.
(a) Actions.--Except as provided under subsection (b),
actions under this act may only be brought by the Attorney
General or a district attorney as follows:
(1) In addition to any other remedy at law, a person
that violates this act shall be liable for the following
civil penalties, which shall be assessed and recovered in a
civil action brought under this subsection:
(i) A civil penalty not to exceed $12,500 for each
violation, with each violation of this act constituting a
separate violation with respect to each consumer or
transaction involved.
(ii) For an intentional violation of this act, a
civil penalty no greater than three times the amount of
the penalty assessed under subparagraph (i) in addition
to all revenues earned from the violation.
(2) A prevailing plaintiff in an action brought under
this section shall be awarded reasonable attorney fees and
applicable court costs.
(3) In addition to seeking civil penalties and other
monetary relief, a court may award injunctive or declaratory
relief as necessary to enforce this act and to remedy any
violation of law.
(b) Civil action by consumer.--A consumer may bring an
action for injunctive relief as necessary to enforce this act
and to remedy any violation of law. A prevailing plaintiff in an
action brought under this subsection shall be awarded reasonable
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attorney fees and applicable court costs.
Section 5. Waiver.
Any waiver of this act is against public policy and is void
and unenforceable.
Section 6. Interaction with other laws.
The rights, remedies and penalties established by this act
are cumulative and shall not be construed to supersede the
rights, remedies or penalties established under other laws,
including, but not limited to, the act of December 17, 1968
(P.L.1224, No.387), known as the Unfair Trade Practices and
Consumer Protection Law.
Section 7. Effective date.
This act shall take effect in 60 days.
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