Key point: The final law is much narrower than when the bill was first introduced and applies only to food retailers and third-party food delivery services.
On April 28, 2026, Maryland Governor Wes Moore signed the Protection From Predatory Pricing Act (HB 895) into law. The law regulates food retailer and third-party food delivery service providers’ use of personal data to set prices. Many states are considering similar proposals, although each is different in its scope. In a press release, Governor Moore stated that signing the bill into law makes “Maryland the first state in the country to ban price manipulation practices driven by the ability to instantly spike prices based on surveillance data.”
In the below article, we provide an overview of the new law.
Maryland’s Protection From Predatory Pricing Act
Maryland’s personalized pricing law imposes three new types of restrictions on price-setting by food retailers and third-party delivery service providers. Under the law, a food retailer or third-party service provider may not:
- Engage in “dynamic pricing” to set a higher price for food for a specific consumer;
- Use personal data to set a higher price for food for a single consumer; or
- Use protected class data — which identifies a characteristic protected by state or federal anti-discrimination law — to offer, advertise, or sell a good or service to a consumer for whom the protected class data pertains, if the use of the protected class data has the effect of withholding or denying from the consumer an accommodation, an advantage, or a privilege accorded to others.
The law defines “dynamic pricing” narrowly. While the bill as introduced would have defined “dynamic pricing” as the practice of varying the prices of consumer goods or services within a business day based on demand or other factors, the bill as enacted limits the definition of “dynamic pricing” to “the discriminatory practice of offering or setting a personalized price … that is specific to a consumer based on the consumer’s personal data.” In other words, the law’s prohibition on “dynamic pricing” applies more specifically to practices commonly described as personalized or surveillance pricing.
“Personal data” has the same meaning as in the Maryland Online Data Privacy Act: “any information that is linked or can reasonably be linked to an identified or identifiable consumer,” excluding de-identified data and publicly available information.
The “food retailers” subject to the law are merchants that operate a substantial grocery or market business of at least 15,000 square feet and that sell food for consumption off-premises (other than food that is sold for immediate consumption or served for consumption on the premises of the buyer or a third party). “Third-party delivery service providers” are merchants that facilitate as a consumer service the delivery of such food.
The law also includes numerous exceptions to its three core price-setting restrictions. The law’s restrictions do not apply to certain customer retention practices like promotional offers, loyalty program benefits, and temporary discounts or price changes; loyalty, membership, or rewards programs open to any consumer; subscription-related prices; differential pricing based on differences in the costs of dealing with particular consumers or supply and demand; prices offered in exchange for the consumer consenting to provide personal data or other information; correcting pricing errors; or resetting a price following an outage.
Enforcement
The statute does not provide a private right of action. Before initiating an enforcement action for a violation of the law, the Attorney General’s Division of Consumer Protection must issue a notice of violation. If the alleged violator cures the violation within 45 days of receiving the notice, the division may not initiate enforcement.
Effective Date
The law goes into effect October 1, 2026.