Portland Shoppers Eye Ban on Personal-Data Pricing
The council postponed its vote to January, and the ordinance would take effect July 1, 2027 if approved.
Updated on Nov. 5, 2026 in Couponing
Live Poll
Should stores be banned from using your personal data to set your prices?
Shoppers in Portland could soon be protected from stores using their personal data to set prices, but the City Council postponed its vote on a proposal to ban the practice. Councilor Eric Zimmerman revised the ordinance to add restrictions similar to Seattle's surveillance pricing law.
Why it matters
Grocery prices are a daily concern for households across the city, and shoppers have grown wary of how businesses use personal information to decide what they pay. The proposal arrives as more local supermarkets swap paper price tags for digital ones, a change that makes it easier to adjust prices quickly.
The proposed ordinance sets fines of up to $7,500 per violation, and each shopper charged an illegal price counts as a separate violation. It would take effect July 1, 2027 if approved, and the council plans to revisit it in January.
The players
Portland City Council
The twelve-member body that will decide whether to adopt the surveillance pricing ban.
Eric Zimmerman
The councilor who introduced the COST ordinance and revised it to add Seattle-style restrictions.
Angelita Morillo
The councilor who unsuccessfully tried to send the revised proposal back to committee.
The details
Councilor Eric Zimmerman introduced the COST ordinance earlier this year to ban retailers and third-party delivery services from using shoppers' personal information to set prices. On Wednesday, Zimmerman revised the proposal to add restrictions similar to Seattle's law, but the council postponed its vote, and Councilor Angelita Morillo unsuccessfully tried to send the revised version back to committee. Under the proposal, the city administrator would investigate violations, demand records and seek fines, though stores would not have to keep specific pricing records and shoppers could not sue retailers directly.
Timeline
Earlier this year: Zimmerman introduced the COST ordinance.
November 5, 2026: The council postponed the vote and Zimmerman revised the proposal.
January 2027: The council plans to revisit the proposal.
July 1, 2027: The ordinance would take effect if approved.
Beyond the Bridges
Portland's proposal borrows its core restrictions from Seattle's law banning surveillance pricing at large grocery stores. Maryland was the first state to restrict personalized pricing at grocery stores, so Portland would join a small but growing group of places acting on the issue.
If the ordinance passes, the prices you see on a digital shelf tag at your neighborhood grocery store could no longer be set using information gathered about you personally. Watch for the January council agenda if you want to weigh in before the vote.
The takeaway
The key point is that Portland is weighing whether shoppers' personal data should be off-limits when stores set prices, and the proposal could be revisited as early as January. Keep an eye on the council's agenda and the revised ordinance's restrictions as the vote approaches.
What happens next
The council plans to revisit the surveillance pricing proposal in January 2027, and the ordinance would take effect July 1, 2027 if approved.
Further reading
For more on how grocery savings work in the city, see our Couponing coverage.
Source note: This article includes information reported by Oregon Live.
Live Poll
Should stores be banned from using your personal data to set your prices?
