HB0895, the Protection From Predatory Pricing Act, regulates how food retailers and third-party food delivery service providers may set prices for consumer goods and services in Maryland. The bill prohibits these businesses from using “dynamic pricing” or surveillance personal data to charge a higher price for food exempt from sales and use tax, and it bars them from using protected class data to offer, advertise, or sell goods or services in a way that withholds or denies an accommodation, advantage, or privilege from a consumer. It also defines key terms such as dynamic pricing, surveillance personal data, protected class data, food retailer, and third-party food delivery service provider.
The bill also reaches beyond food retailers to other merchants. If a merchant sets prices using dynamic pricing or personal data and communicates that price in an advertisement, label, or other promotion, the merchant must include a clear and conspicuous disclosure stating: “THIS PRICE WAS SET BY AN ALGORITHM OR BY USING YOUR PERSONAL DATA.” The measure excludes several common pricing practices from the definition of dynamic pricing, including loyalty and rewards programs, promotional discounts, subscription pricing, objective cost differences, supply-and-demand differences by geography, and price corrections after errors or outages.
HB0895 amends Maryland’s Commercial Law and Labor and Employment articles and references the existing sales tax exemption for certain food sales in the Tax-General Article. It makes violations of the new pricing and disclosure rules unfair, abusive, or deceptive trade practices enforceable under the Maryland Consumer Protection Act, while also providing a 45-day cure period before enforcement actions may begin. The bill expressly states that it does not create a private right of action for the Commercial Law provisions, but it does create a private right of action for the labor provision protecting collective bargaining rights at food retailers.
The labor component prohibits a food retailer from making administrative, operational, or organizational changes that diminish or impair employee rights or benefits under an existing collective bargaining agreement or memorandum of understanding unless the change is negotiated and mutually agreed to with the employees’ exclusive representative. This provision is separate from the consumer pricing rules and is aimed at preserving bargained-for workplace protections in the food retail sector.
The available record shows no committee transcript debate or recorded votes, but the bill was enacted as an emergency measure and approved by the Governor as Chapter 154. The overall sentiment reflected in the bill text is consumer-protection oriented, with a strong emphasis on transparency, limits on algorithmic and data-driven pricing, and safeguards against discriminatory or exploitative pricing practices. The main points of potential contention are the restrictions on dynamic pricing and personal-data-based pricing, the use of protected class data, and the labor provision limiting unilateral changes that could affect union-negotiated employee rights.
HB0895 adds new consumer-protection restrictions to the Commercial Law Article and a new labor protection in the Labor and Employment Article. It limits certain pricing practices by food retailers and third-party food delivery service providers, requires disclosures for some algorithmic or personal-data-based pricing by merchants, and makes violations enforceable as unfair, abusive, or deceptive trade practices under the Maryland Consumer Protection Act. It also preserves employee rights under collective bargaining agreements at food retailers by restricting unilateral operational changes that would reduce negotiated benefits or rights. The bill references the existing sales tax exemption for off-premises food sales and ties its food-retailer definition to that tax category.
The bill’s apparent sentiment is strongly protective of consumers and workers, with the legislature and governor treating it as an urgent public-safety or public-interest measure by enacting it as an emergency law. The text suggests concern about algorithmic pricing, surveillance-based data use, and discriminatory pricing practices, while also signaling support for transparency and labor stability. No recorded committee testimony or vote breakdown is available in the provided materials, so there is no evidence of formal opposition in the record supplied.
The most likely points of contention are the bill’s restrictions on dynamic pricing and the use of personal or surveillance data to set prices, especially for food retailers and delivery platforms that rely on algorithmic pricing tools. Businesses may view the disclosure mandate and the prohibition on higher prices for specific consumers as burdensome or difficult to administer, while consumer advocates would likely support the transparency and anti-discrimination goals. The labor provision may also be contested because it limits a food retailer’s ability to make operational changes without bargaining, which could be viewed by employers as a constraint on management flexibility and by unions as a necessary protection of negotiated rights.