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If you’ve ever felt like the price of your groceries changes depending on when or how you shop, you’re not imagining things. And New Jersey lawmakers are working to make sure it doesn’t get worse.
A bill called the Fair Price Protection Act (A4085) is moving through the state legislature right now, and it takes aim at something called “surveillance pricing,” which is exactly as unsettling as it sounds. The bill just cleared the Assembly Appropriations Committee on June 23, 2026, by an 11 to 4 vote. A companion bill in the Senate (S3612) is also advancing. Governor Mikie Sherrill has already pledged to sign it if it reaches her desk.
So What Is Surveillance Pricing?
Here’s the short version. Companies collect personal data about you, things like your shopping habits, browsing history, location, and even biometric information, and then use algorithms to figure out the highest price you’re likely to pay for a product. Two people standing in the same grocery aisle, reaching for the same box of cereal, could end up paying two completely different prices.
This isn’t hypothetical. In late 2025, an investigation by Consumer Reports and the Groundwork Collaborative found that Instacart was running AI-powered pricing experiments on shoppers without telling them. The prices for identical products from the same store varied by as much as 23 percent from one customer to the next. The estimated cost to a family of four? About $1,200 a year in higher grocery bills. After public backlash and pressure from lawmakers, Instacart shut down those experiments.
But the technology isn’t going away.
Walmart has announced plans to install digital shelf labels in all 4,600 of its U.S. stores by the end of 2026. While Walmart says the labels are about efficiency and not about changing prices based on who is shopping, a lot of people aren’t convinced.
What Would the Bill Actually Do?
The Fair Price Protection Act would make it a violation of New Jersey’s Consumer Fraud Act for any retailer to set or change grocery prices based on a shopper’s personal data. That covers a wide range of products including produce, dairy, meat, seafood, snacks, beverages, frozen foods, pet supplies, paper products, cleaning supplies, and health and beauty items.
It would also put a one-year freeze on new electronic shelf label installations in the state. During that time, the New Jersey Innovation Authority would study whether digital shelf labels are being used to enable surveillance pricing. Stores that already have digital labels can keep using them, and they can repair or replace existing ones. After the moratorium, new digital labels would be allowed as long as they comply with the law.
Restaurants and any place that primarily sells prepared food for immediate consumption are exempt from the bill entirely.
What’s Still Allowed?
The bill isn’t trying to eliminate all price differences. Three types of pricing practices would still be permitted:
- Retailers can charge different prices based on the reasonable cost of serving different customers, like delivery fees. But prices can’t change more than once in a 24-hour period.
- Stores can offer bona fide discounts to broadly defined groups like teachers, veterans, or seniors, as long as the eligibility criteria are publicly disclosed.
- Loyalty programs are still fine. You can still earn points and get coupons. But the programs have to be voluntary, offer the same pricing benefits to all members, and be transparent about how they use your data. No using your loyalty card information to quietly charge you more than the person behind you in line.
Any personal data used for these permitted pricing differences cannot be repurposed for anything else.
Who’s Behind the Bill?
The legislation is sponsored by Assemblyman Chigozie Onyema (District 28) and has bipartisan public support, though the bill’s sponsors are all Democrats. In the Senate, Senators Joe Cryan and Joe Lagana are leading the companion effort.
Governor Sherrill has been vocal about the issue, calling surveillance pricing “creepy AF” during her budget address in March and pledging to ban it as part of her affordability agenda.
Where Things Stand Right Now
The bill has cleared three Assembly committees so far. Consumer Affairs in March, Commerce and Economic Development in May, and Appropriations on June 23. The Senate companion was referred to the Senate Budget and Appropriations Committee, with a hearing scheduled for June 24. If both chambers pass the bill and the governor signs it, most provisions would take effect 13 months later, with the electronic shelf label moratorium starting at seven months.
How Serious Are the Penalties?
Very. The Attorney General would be able to bring civil actions seeking actual damages or $50,000 per negligent violation, whichever is greater, plus injunctions and other relief.
The Bigger Picture
New Jersey isn’t doing this in a vacuum. Maryland signed a similar law in April 2026. Connecticut followed in June 2026. At least 12 states are now working on legislation to rein in AI-driven pricing. And at the federal level, a bipartisan bill called the No Rigged Grocery Prices Act was introduced in May 2026 by Congressman Josh Gottheimer (NJ-5) and Congressman Mike Lawler (NY-17).
Polling shows the issue resonates across party lines here in the Garden State. A GBAO Strategies survey of 600 New Jersey voters found that 65 percent support legislation to ban surveillance pricing and electronic shelf labels. That includes 73 percent of Democrats, 66 percent of independents, and 55 percent of Republicans.
Meanwhile, 84 percent of voters believe stores would use dynamic pricing to raise prices during emergencies. 73 percent believe stores would charge more to people they think can afford it. And 67 percent said they don’t trust grocery stores to use electronic price tags responsibly.
The bottom line? If this bill becomes law, the price you see on the shelf will be the same price everyone else sees. And the groceries you search for online won’t come back to bite you at checkout.
