The push for federal surveillance pricing standards

The Federal Trade Commission closed public comment on its personalized-pricing enforcement policy Sept. 25 and has not said when, or whether, it will finalize it. No Senate bill on surveillance pricing has been introduced despite a bipartisan framework senators described two months ago.

The August hearing, no bill since

The Senate Judiciary Subcommittee on Crime and Counterterrorism, chaired by Josh Hawley with Dick Durbin as ranking member, held a hearing August 4 titled "Your Data, Their Profit: The Consumer Cost of AI Surveillance Pricing." In a rare show of bipartisan consensus, Democratic Senator Richard Blumenthal and Republican Senator Josh Hawley announced they already have a framework for federal legislation. Blumenthal was blunt about the gap he wants filled: "We need a law. We need a federal law. We need federal standards. We need national safeguards." Durbin used the same hearing to press for a separate priority, questioning witnesses and calling for passage of his bipartisan Credit Card Competition Act, which would crack down on swipe fees. Hawley said afterward he expected to introduce legislation "soon." Ten weeks later, no text exists.

The FTC's disclosure-only draft

Separately, the FTC advanced its own approach. The Federal Trade Commission is considering an enforcement policy that would put businesses on notice that using personal data to set individualized prices without adequate disclosure could violate federal consumer protection law, opening a 30-day comment period after approving the proposal by a 2-0 vote. That 2-0 vote reflects the agency's depleted bench: Chairman Andrew Ferguson and Commissioner Mark Meador are the FTC's only sitting commissioners, after the Supreme Court upheld President Trump's removal of Democrats Rebecca Slaughter and Alvaro Bedoya. The statement itself is limited. The FTC acknowledges that Congress has not granted it authority to ban personalized pricing outright, and the FTC will instead rely on Section 5 of the FTC Act to police concealed personalized pricing.

A growing target

Democrats already have a more aggressive bill—Sen. Ruben Gallego's One Fair Price Act, introduced in December 2025 with Kirsten Gillibrand and Cory Booker as cosponsors, which would prohibit surveillance pricing but currently lacks Republican support. Democratic committee leaders have begun to write major retailers, grocery chains and airlines about affordability issues, including the practice of surveillance pricing, as the rising cost of living has become a focus of election campaigns for the upcoming midterms. While the Trump Administration would likely refuse a similar request under the cover of executive privilege, private companies are more susceptible to these oversight requests and can’t avoid subpoenas so easily. Should Democrats take control of either House of Congress after a campaign focused on affordability, expect surveillance pricing to become a focal point for legislative and oversight activity in 2027.