Retail pricing

AN ACT Relating to prohibiting surveillance-based price 1
discrimination and surge pricing for retail goods; adding a new 2
section to chapter 43.330 RCW; adding a new chapter to Title 19 RCW; 3
creating a new section; and providing expiration dates.4
BE IT ENACTED BY THE LEGISLATURE OF THE STATE OF WASHINGTON:5
NEW SECTION. Sec. 1. The legislature finds that the use of 6
algorithms for surveillance-based price discrimination and surge 7
pricing threatens fair market access to grocery goods. The use of 8
automation and dynamic pricing models in retail grocery sales 9
exacerbates inequality and undermines consumer trust. The price of 10
retail grocery goods should be rooted in fairness, not in profiling 11
or prediction.12
The legislature further finds that comprehensive consumer 13
protection is needed to prevent discriminatory and opaque pricing 14
practices in retail grocery sales as businesses increasingly adopt 15
data-driven technologies to set prices. Innovation should not come at 16
the expense of transparency, fairness, or access to grocery goods.17
The legislature further finds that the prohibition of 18
surveillance-based price discrimination and surge pricing will 19
protect consumers from profiling and ensure equitable and fair 20
pricing of grocery goods. 21
S-4261.1
SENATE BILL 6312
State of Washington 69th Legislature 2026 Regular Session
By Senators Saldaña, Alvarado, Conway, Dhingra, Frame, Hasegawa,
Lovelett, Nobles, Shewmake, Stanford, and Valdez
Read first time 01/26/26. Referred to Committee on Business, Trade &
Economic Development.
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The legislature further finds that a moratorium on the use of 1
electronic shelf label systems by grocery businesses will protect 2
consumers from data collection without their knowledge from their 3
electronic devices, such as smartphones, to modify the price of 4
grocery goods for individual shoppers. Pricing should remain 5
consistent and be clearly posted. 6
Therefore, the legislature intends to ban surveillance-based 7
price discrimination and surge pricing and establish a four-year 8
moratorium on the use of electronic shelf label systems in retail 9
grocery locations to allow further study of the impact on pricing 10
transparency and employee job security. 11
NEW SECTION. Sec. 2. The definitions in this section apply 12
throughout this chapter unless the context clearly requires 13
otherwise.14
(1) "Algorithm" means a computational process that uses a set of 15
rules to define a sequence of operation including, but not limited 16
to, artificial intelligence systems and facial recognition software.17
(2) "Behaviors" means a consumer's observable, measurable, or 18
inferred actions, habits, preferences, interests, or vulnerabilities, 19
including the consumer's political, personal, or professional 20
affiliations, web browsing history, internet protocol addresses used, 21
locations frequented, purchase history, financial circumstances, 22
consumer behaviors, or inferences associated with a group, band, 23
class, or tier of consumers in which the consumer belongs.24
(3) "Consumer" means a natural person who is a Washington 25
resident and who acts only in an individual or household context, 26
however identified, including by any unique identifier. The location 27
of a person in Washington state creates the presumption that the 28
person is a Washington resident. 29
(4) "Electronic shelf label system" means any hardware, software, 30
or connected technology used to display or update prices 31
electronically, including electronic shelf labels, pricing servers, 32
wireless beacons, and consumer-facing applications, that have the 33
capacity, directly or indirectly, to collect, receive, infer, 34
analyze, or use consumer data for the purpose of modifying, 35
personalizing, or varying the price of goods. Any electronic shelf 36
label system, regardless of whether it is enabled, disabled, or 37
actively utilized, is an electronic shelf label system for the 38
purposes of this act. 39
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(5) "Goods" means retail products for sale in a grocery 1
establishment as defined in RCW 49.85.015. 2
(6) "Inferred data" means data, assumptions, predictions, or 3
classifications about a consumer that are derived, in whole or in 4
part, from personally identifiable information, device identifiers, 5
online activity, loyalty program participation, or other behavioral 6
information, including, but not limited to, inferences about income, 7
education level, household composition, likelihood to purchase 8
certain products, race, ethnicity, age, disability status, or any 9
other protected characteristic. 10
(7) "Person" means any business engaged in the retail sale of 11
goods to consumers. For the purposes of this act, "person" does not 12
include a "small business," as defined in RCW 19.85.020.13
(8) "Personalized pricing" or "algorithmic pricing" means pricing 14
that is determined or modified in whole or in part through the use of 15
an automated system, artificial intelligence, machine learning model, 16
or algorithm that relies on consumer data or inferred data to 17
determine the price a consumer or group of consumers will be charged.18
(9)(a) "Personally identifiable information" means information 19
that identifies, relates to, describes, is reasonably capable of 20
being associated with, or could reasonably be linked, directly or 21
indirectly, with a particular consumer or household. Personally 22
identifiable information includes, but is not limited to, the 23
following if it identifies, relates to, describes, is reasonably 24
capable of being associated with, or could be reasonably linked, 25
directly or indirectly, with a particular consumer or household:26
(i) Identifiers such as a real name, alias, postal address, 27
unique personal identifier, online identifier, internet protocol 28
address, email address, account name, social security number, 29
driver's license number, passport number, or other similar 30
identifiers; 31
(ii) Any information that identifies, relates to, describes, or 32
is capable of being associated with, a particular consumer, 33
including, but not limited to, his or her name, signature, social 34
security number, physical characteristics or description, address, 35
telephone number, passport number, driver's license or state 36
identification card number, insurance policy number, education, 37
employment, employment history, bank account number, credit card 38
number, debit card number, or any other financial information, 39
medical information, or health insurance information;40
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(iii) Characteristics of protected classifications under 1
Washington or federal law; 2
(iv) Commercial information, including records of personal 3
property, products or services purchased, obtained, or considered, or 4
other purchasing or consuming histories or tendencies;5
(v) Biometric information; 6
(vi) Internet or other electronic network activity information, 7
including, but not limited to, browsing history, search history, and 8
information regarding a consumer's interaction with an internet 9
website application, or advertisement; 10
(vii) Geolocation data; 11
(viii) Audio, electronic, visual, thermal, olfactory, or similar 12
information; 13
(ix) Professional or employment-related information;14
(x) Education information, defined as information that is not 15
publicly available personally identifiable information as defined in 16
20 U.S.C. Sec. 1232g as it existed on December 18, 2025;17
(xi) Inferences drawn from any of the information identified in 18
this section to create a profile about a consumer reflecting the 19
consumer's preferences, characteristics, psychological trends, 20
predispositions, behavior, attitudes, intelligence, abilities, and 21
aptitudes; or 22
(xii) Sensitive personal information. 23
(b) "Personally identifiable information" does not include 24
publicly available information or lawfully obtained, truthful 25
information that is a matter of public concern. 26
(c) "Personally identifiable information" can exist in various 27
formats, including, but not limited to, all of the following: (i) 28
Physical formats, including paper documents, printed images, vinyl 29
records, or video tapes; (ii) digital formats, including text, image, 30
audio, or video files; and (iii) abstract digital formats, including 31
compressed or encrypted files, metadata, or artificial intelligence 32
systems that are capable of outputting personally identifiable 33
information. 34
(10)(a) "Publicly available" means any of the following:35
(i) Public records; 36
(ii) Information that a person has a reasonable basis to believe 37
is lawfully made available to the general public by the consumer or 38
from widely distributed media; or 39
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(iii) Information made available by a person to whom the consumer 1
has disclosed the information if the consumer has not restricted the 2
information to a specific audience. 3
(b) "Publicly available" does not mean biometric information 4
collected by a person about a consumer without the consumer's 5
knowledge. 6
(11) "Surge pricing" means increasing the price of a good or 7
service based on real-time or predicted demand, consumer behavior, 8
consumer characteristics, or algorithmic determination of willingness 9
to pay, rather than changes in the person's actual costs of providing 10
the good or service. 11
(12) "Surveillance pricing" means the practice of using 12
personally identifiable information, personal data, inferred data, 13
device information, browsing history, geolocation, purchasing 14
behavior, demographic characteristics, or any other consumer-specific 15
information to set, vary, modify, or optimize the price of a good or 16
service for a consumer or a group of consumers. Surveillance pricing 17
does not mean offering the same price for a good or service to all 18
consumers. 19
(13) "Surveillance-based price discrimination" means the practice 20
of setting, altering, or manipulating the price of goods or services 21
offered to a consumer based in whole or in part on monitoring, 22
tracking, or automated analysis of the consumer's behavior, location, 23
demographic characteristics, biometric data, or other personally 24
identifiable information, rather than on the actual cost of providing 25
the good or service. 26
NEW SECTION. Sec. 3. (1) A person must clearly post the price 27
of goods in a retail location.28
(2) A person may not use surveillance-based price discrimination 29
to modify the price of goods for a consumer. 30
(3) A person is prohibited from using surge pricing to modify the 31
price of goods regardless of the frequency or duration of the price 32
change, including price changes that occur within minutes, hours, 33
days, or across separate transactions. 34
(4) Surveillance-based price discrimination and surge pricing do 35
not include a reduction in the posted price that is uniformly offered 36
or made available to all consumers who meet the disclosed eligibility 37
criteria. A person may offer a loyalty, membership, or reward program 38
if any personally identifiable information collected for the purpose 39
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of administering the program is not used to personalize, optimize, or 1
otherwise modify the price of goods offered for sale to a consumer.2
NEW SECTION. Sec. 4. (1) A person may not use an electronic 3
shelf label system in retail locations 15,000 square feet or larger 4
until January 1, 2030.5
(2) This section expires June 30, 2031. 6
NEW SECTION. Sec. 5. The legislature finds that the practices 7
covered by this chapter are matters vitally affecting the public 8
interest for the purpose of applying the consumer protection act, 9
chapter 19.86 RCW. A violation of this chapter is not reasonable in 10
relation to the development and preservation of business and is an 11
unfair or deceptive act in trade or commerce and an unfair method of 12
competition for the purpose of applying the consumer protection act, 13
chapter 19.86 RCW.14
NEW SECTION. Sec. 6. This chapter shall be known as the "fair 15
pricing and transparency act."16
NEW SECTION. Sec. 7. Sections 2 through 6 of this act 17
constitute a new chapter in Title 19 RCW.18
NEW SECTION. Sec. 8. A new section is added to chapter 43.330 19
RCW to read as follows: 20
(1) The department shall study the use of electronic shelf label 21
systems, as defined in section 2 of this act, and the impact of such 22
systems on pricing transparency and employee job security. The 23
department shall submit a report to the legislature with its findings 24
and recommendations by June 30, 2029, in compliance with RCW 25
43.01.036. 26
(2) This section expires June 30, 2031. 27
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