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DENVER, CO – The House Business Affairs and Labor Committee today passed a bill, sponsored by Assistant Majority Leader Jennifer Bacon and Representative Javier Mabrey, that would prohibit corporations from using consumers’ personal data to charge them more or pay them less.
“Corporations are keeping tabs on your online habits to determine the absolute highest amount you’re willing to pay for everyday items, like groceries,” said Assistant Majority Leader Jennifer Bacon, D-Denver. “As Trump’s tariffs and budget bill continue to drive up costs for Coloradans, we’re sponsoring legislation to prevent corporations from overcharging consumers and pricing out small businesses. Big corporations are spying on consumers to figure out how to keep wages low and prices high, which makes life more expensive for Coloradans who can least afford it. This legislation helps tackle the affordability crisis by prohibiting this practice to protect consumers from price gouging and boost workers’ wages.”
“Our bill is clear - corporations cannot use algorithmic technology with the purpose of wringing every dollar possible from hardworking Coloradans,” said Rep. Javier Mabrey, D-Denver. “Big corporations are rigging the system to pad their pockets. They are collecting our personal data to run an automatic analysis to determine how much they can charge consumers or how little they can pay their workers. Our bill would prohibit this practice, increase incomes, and make life more affordable for hardworking Coloradans.”
HB26-1210 would prohibit the use of a price or wage-setting algorithm that uses AI and other data processing techniques to strategically set prices or wages based on an individual’s surveillance data, including browsing and purchase history, financial status, habits and affiliations. HB26-1210 passed by a vote of 7-6.
In recent years, corporations have increasingly weaponized price and wage setting to set prices at the highest amount someone is willing to pay and wages at the lowest amount that someone is willing to accept, based on data that is not publicly accessible and often collected without an individual’s knowledge or consent. For example, if someone searches for funeral homes online and then goes to book a plane ticket, an algorithm may judge that they are traveling for a funeral and would be willing to pay more for the flight. Engaging in these price or wage-setting practices would be considered a deceptive trade practice and could result in a civil penalty.
A 2025 Federal Trade Commission report found that individualized pricing tools are being used to target specific consumers with artificially-inflated prices for goods and services based on their surveillance data, such as a person’s location or the motion of a computer mouse.