Denver, CO – Consumer Reports today applauded the passage of House Bill 26-1210, legislation that would ban surveillance pricing. Surveillance pricing, also known as personalized pricing, is the practice of using personal data such as browsing history, inferred health conditions, family structure, or income to set individualized prices or discounts for consumers. Consumer Reports urges Governor Polis to sign the bill.
If signed into law, HB26-1210 would prohibit the use of a Coloradan’s personal data to set individualized prices or wages. It also includes protections for commonly understood group discounts, discounts offered through loyalty and rewards programs, and discounts based on actions any consumers could take. Consumer Reports testified in support of HB 1210, and also testified in support of similar legislation in Colorado in 2025.
“If signed, this bill will protect consumers from pricing practices that companies deploy in secret. It’s unfair to consumers that businesses can use what they know about you to charge you the most you are willing to pay,” said Grace Gedye, senior policy analyst at Consumer Reports. “This legislation helps create a fairer marketplace and protects consumers from these invasive — and expensive — tactics. We urge Governor Polis to sign HB 26-1210 without delay.”
In December 2025, CR published an investigation into Instacart’s pricing tactics which found that consumers were paying different prices for the same products from the same store at the same time. The investigation found that Instacart’s algorithmic pricing experiments could result in price differences as high as 23% for certain products and could cost families more than $1,200 a year at checkout. Soon after, Instacart announced in a company blog post that it would end the program. However, Instacart told CR that it would still allow its partners — grocery retailers and food brands — to test different types of promotions and discounts on their customers through the platform.
Maryland recently signed into law a bill aimed at banning surveillance pricing but CR found that the measure fell short. Connecticut also just advanced a bill out of the legislature that would limit personalized pricing. Other states are considering surveillance pricing bans including California, Illinois, New Jersey, New York, and others.
Contact: cyrus.rassool@consumer.org