Gov. Moore Backs Plan To Fix Grocery Prices, Build 7,000 Transit Homes

NOTE: The Office of the Governor shared the following press release:

ANNAPOLIS, Md. — Governor Wes Moore today testified in front of the Senate Finance Committee in support of the Protection from Predatory Pricing Act and the Maryland Transit and Housing Opportunity Act. Both bills are central to the governor’s legislative agenda to make Maryland more affordable and competitive by increasing transparency in grocery store pricing, accelerating housing production, and encouraging economic development where Marylanders live, work, and travel.

The Protection from Predatory Pricing Act (SB387/HB895) prohibits the use of “dynamic pricing” in grocery stores to ensure that price setting technologies are not used against Maryland consumers. Dynamic pricing is a price manipulation practice that allows the cost of basic household goods to surge based on the time of day, weather, or granular consumer data—meaning companies can calibrate price increases in stores to extract maximum profits on the backs of consumers.

To protect Maryland consumers from dynamic pricing practices, the governor’s Protection from Predatory Pricing Act requires grocery store prices to remain fixed for at least one business day. The legislation also bans the use of surveillance data—information derived from observation or inference about a consumer’s behavior or characteristics—in automated decision systems to set individualized prices. Violations would be treated as an unfair or deceptive trade practice under the Maryland Consumer Protection Act, enforced by the Office of the Attorney General.

The Maryland Transit and Housing Opportunity Act (SB389/HB894) addresses zoning and financing barriers to create more jobs and housing near transit. The legislation would eliminate minimum parking requirements for certain transit-oriented developments, promote mixed-use development around key stations, and give the State more authority over the development of state-owned land adjacent to transit stations. The legislation also reduces upfront capital restraints by designating transit-oriented development projects as Enterprise Zones, expanding financing opportunities and deferring impact fees and development taxes until after residential projects are complete.

The Maryland Transit and Housing Opportunity Act will unlock more than 300 acres of State-owned land adjacent to existing transit stations for development, resulting in more than 7,000 new housing units and nearly $1.4 billion in tax revenue for the State and its communities, leveraging Maryland’s multi-billion-dollar transit investments to speed up development of affordable, transit-connected housing.

Governor Moore’s testimony in support of the Protection from Predatory Pricing Act as delivered:

Thank you so much Madame Chair.

Thank you Mr. Vice Chair as well, and to all the members of the committee for having me here and allowing me to testify on this bill that I’m proud to testify on behalf of, which is the protection for Predatory Pricing Act.

This bill really is inspired by what I know each and every one of you have continued to hear from our constituents as we’re going all around the states.

Not just that things are becoming more and more expensive as we’re watching skyrocketing prices that are taking place throughout our communities, and prices that have increased on everything from beef to aluminum to energy, but also what they’re seeing when they go to the supermarkets as well.

And price manipulation that we are seeing in our supermarkets is something that we know is there and it is present. And it’s something that we can actually do something about, where we’re seeing how people’s basic technology is being used against them.

And we know the technology is something that should be working for Maryland families and not working against Maryland families.

The same algorithms that are being used to help make us smarter is also being used to weaponize when people are walking into supermarkets, and we’re seeing how it works in far too many grocery stores already.

And the way it’s basically working in terms of price manipulation is this, is that prices will change constantly. In many cases, they will change by the hour.

They can even change by the minute.

And that’s based on where you are and where you shop.

They are happening because you have digital price tags that are taking the place of paper price tags.

And they’re happening because cameras are watching aisles.

They are happening because sensors are actually counting customers.

They’re happening because as you walk into your supermarkets with these [smartphones] you don’t even realize how it’s actually can be used against you.

Because they now know when you’re coming in, they know oftentimes what you are buying.

How that matters is—if you are a working parent, and you know you have to get to that supermarket at six o’clock, and you know you have to be home by seven, and they have an understanding of what you normally buy—that you’ll buy milk, you’ll buy cereal, you’ll buy bread for your family.

They know that because patterns are emerging, so when they sense that you’re coming in during that time, they are already using that data to start manipulating prices against you, because they know you don’t have extra time.

You got from six to seven, and then you got to get home.

And so they know that if they jump up the prices, you’ll pay for it. They’re using your data against you. And what this bill is working to do, it’s addressing things like the ability for them to change prices and using algorithms against you during peak hours.

They’re using it so that they know if there are prime items that people are looking for, that they’re not going to be able to jack up prices, because they know that you’ll pay for it no matter what.

And, we know that this is not how innovation should be used.

This is exploitation, and we’re seeing how our people are getting hosed because of it.

And so the Protection from Predatory Pricing Act does two critical things that we think are important.

The first thing that it does is it requires grocery stores to keep prices fixed for at least one business day.

So they cannot make those adjustments as they see you walking into a grocery store.

No more paying different prices for the same items in the same store on the same day.

The second thing it does, it prohibits the use of surveillance data and automated systems to set individual prices.

So basically, when you walk into a grocery store, you will pay the same price as the person who walked in before you and after you.

Myles will not have to pay a different price than me, despite the fact that we’re next to each other inside of the grocery store, and the price on the shelf is the price that you will pay at the register.

You will not see a jump from a distance between you picking up that item and you walking over to the cash register.

And this legislation requires transparency and fairness inside of our marketplace.

Now I know that there will be some who will say that this legislation actually stands in the way of innovation.

The thing that I would say is it’s not standing in the way of innovation. What it’s allowing is for innovation not to serve as predatory items against our people.

It’s basically saying we should not let prices be adjusted based on people’s situations.

That there might be some that will say that we should let the market decide the prices. But the reality is, fair markets only work when people have real information.

And fair markets work when that information, that content, cannot be manipulated.

And so we can tackle costs to ensure that our people do not get hosed.

We can work with innovation and not focus on and not act to give way to exploitation, and we believe that this is a way of actually addressing a very real need that the people in our state are seeing right now.

And so I look forward to collaborating with this committee, along with proponents of this bill and opponents, to create legislation that really does work to protect Marylanders inside this moment.

And with that, I respectfully urge the committee to pass the Protection from Predatory Pricing Act, and thank you very much for allowing me to testify.

Governor Moore’s testimony in support of the Maryland Transit and Housing Opportunity Act as delivered:

I thank you for allowing me and our distinguished panel to testify in support of the Maryland Transit and Housing Opportunity Act.

And before I do continue, Madam Chair, I just want to thank you for being such a champion on this issue, and for your continued commitment and support and push to making sure that these options are just more available to the people of this state.

Our Comptroller who I have the privilege of testifying with has also been a real champion for this and we’re deeply, deeply grateful.

And also Councilwoman Pickard, who has been a leader in TOD in Anne Arundel County, I know is here today. Thank you for your leadership and your work on this as well.

The reason for this piece of legislation is, again, what we are just continuing to see.

Where, you know, half of all Maryland renters will pay more than 30% of their income just to keep a roof over their head.

That is not only not sustainable. It is not fair for people to be so housing insecure in that way, and in that moment,

And in the state of Maryland, we have around a 96,000 unit shortage.

That young people, too often, are leaving Maryland because they cannot afford to live here.

The number one reason that we are hearing from young people as to why they would consider leaving Maryland comes down to one reason, and that’s housing costs.

Our ability to be able to create a more vibrant and a more affordable market is going to be a key determination about how we’re going to think about the larger growth of our economy.

And we’re talking about people who are teachers, are nurses, are first responders, people who make our communities work, but oftentimes, they just can’t afford to live in the communities that they are serving.

And we see how empty parking lots frequently sit next to our Metro stations and our MARC stops, that we are investing billions of dollars into infrastructure to make sure that we have and can have world class infrastructure,

But the land around those stations oftentimes are just sitting stagnant, and they’re just sitting empty.

And we think this is actually a way of helping to address a problem with a solution that has been staring us in the face for a long period of time.

We know that the Maryland Transit and Housing Opportunity Act is important because we’re talking about 7000 new homes.

We’re talking about $1.4 billion in tax revenue for state and local communities.

We’re talking about working Marylanders and the couple who is just trying to get their lives started in the state of Maryland, and this now gives them an opportunity to live near the place that can get them to their work options.

And so we want to make sure that we are doing this and doing it quickly, because we know the housing crisis has not started overnight.

We know this is a long term and a long standing challenge within the State of Maryland, and frankly, it’s a long term and long standing challenge that’s existed in many communities around the country.

But we also know that this is why we want to be able to move quickly and move now on it and move in partnership with our local jurisdictions.

Behind housing, transportation is the number one cost for Maryland families.

On average, they spend about $600 a month just to get to and from work.

And we think there is a way to be able to collapse that significantly as we can look to how we’re thinking about TOD in a different type of way.

That if we can build more homes near transit, we can reduce both burdens at once.

This legislation removes two big barriers from that.

One is zoning.

And the other is financing.

We’re eliminating parking minimums.

We’re authorizing mixed use development.

We’re creating targeted incentives to make the math actually work.

And we’re doing it in partnership with our local jurisdictions, because we think that is going to be an important way for this to be successful and not have the type of order rejection that oftentimes happens when you’re talking about housing within local areas.

We’ve worked with our local partners to narrow this list where state interest is stronger, and the answer on that is very clear, and it’s on state land.

That Maryland just happens to be the largest landowner inside of the state of Maryland.

And so in the place where the state has a significant amount of influence, and say, we want to be able to work with our local jurisdictions to determine where in those places can make the most sense.

So I appreciate the work of the Maryland Municipal League and also MACo for working with the administration last session to make these zoning reforms more targeted, and we are now expanding more financial opportunities to make sure that we can develop these projects quickly. Because we know the people of our state cannot wait any longer for this.

They want us to move urgently, they want us to move unapologetically, they want us to turn these lots into homes and to turn transit investments into economic engines, and that’s what this bill is all about.

And so I respectfully urge this committee to pass the Maryland Transit and Housing Opportunity Act, and I now pass it over to the members of the committee as well.