---
title: "New York City votes 44–5 to ban surveillance pricing, at up to US$1,000 per shopper"
summary: "New York City Council’s vote of 12 November: what Intro 891-A bans, the discounts it still allows, the US$1,000 fines per shopper, and how it compares with Seattle’s grocery ban."
url: https://www.thetechbag.com/blog/new-york-city-votes-44-5-to-ban-surveillance-pricing
format: Note
desk: "Data & privacy"
region: Global
published: 2026-11-14
facts_checked: 2026-11-14
author: TechBag (The TechBag Journal)
tags: ["surveillance pricing ban","NYC surveillance pricing law","New York City surveillance pricing","personalized pricing ban","Intro 891-A","algorithmic pricing","personalised pricing","Julie Menin","New York City Council","DCWP","Seattle surveillance pricing","Seattle Ordinance 127515","loyalty program discounts","One Fair Price Act","Lyft pricing","consumer protection","dynamic pricing"]
cover: https://www.thetechbag.com/blog/covers/new-york-city-votes-44-5-to-ban-surveillance-pricing.png
---

# New York City votes 44–5 to ban surveillance pricing, at up to US$1,000 per shopper

*New York City Council’s vote of 12 November: what Intro 891-A bans, the discounts it still allows, the US$1,000 fines per shopper, and how it compares with Seattle’s grocery ban.*

Note · Data & privacy · By TechBag · Published 2026-11-14 · Facts checked 2026-11-14 · Canonical: https://www.thetechbag.com/blog/new-york-city-votes-44-5-to-ban-surveillance-pricing

New York City’s Council voted 44 to 5 on 12 November to ban “surveillance pricing”: prices set wholly or partly by an algorithm that uses personal data to offer different customers different prices for the same goods or services. Each breach can cost up to US$1,000, and every consumer or transaction affected counts as a separate violation.[1][2][3] The bill, Introduction 891-A from Speaker Julie Menin, now sits on the mayor’s desk for signature, and takes effect one year after it becomes law.[2][4]

NotePassed, not yet signed

The Council has passed the bill; the mayor has not signed it yet, so it is not yet law. We will update this piece when it is signed.

44–5

Council vote on 12 November; two members absent

NYC Council

US$1,000

maximum fine per violation, counted per consumer or transaction

Int. 891-A

1 year

from becoming law to taking effect

Int. 891-A

4

new enforcement staff at the city's consumer department, US$356,258 a year

Council Finance Division

## What is banned, and what still counts as a discount

A business may not use surveillance pricing to set or adjust a price, to advertise one, or to collect, use, sell or share personal data for it. Ordinary discounts stay legal if anyone can get them without personal data: sales, bulk and subscription prices, flash sales, price matching. So do “custom” discounts on disclosed terms: loyalty tiers built only on purchase history, discounts for groups a customer declares (veterans, seniors, students, teachers, a birthday), and a seller’s own purchase history, provided none of it is combined with other personal data. A business offering such discounts must tell customers, on request, what personal data was considered in a price.[2]

Insurance, credit priced on a credit report, prices required by law and fees of brokers and investment advisers based on assets are exempt. Location data a customer shares to price a trip or a delivery, or to measure local demand, is not personal data under the bill. A business with fewer than 15 locations, mostly in the city, gets 30 days to correct a first violation and repay customers before any case is brought.[2] The committee report says discounts on items left in an online cart may no longer be allowed.[5]

The Council’s own investigators ran about 370 price checks with 10 Lyft accounts on three routes. On a Manhattan to JFK trip the fare ran from about US$114 to US$149; two accounts got a discount on nearly every check, typically US$5 to US$9, and two got none.[5]

## Seattle went first, for groceries

Speaker Menin called New York “the first local jurisdiction in the nation” to ban the practice.[6] Seattle’s council passed a narrower ban on 22 September, which its mayor signed on 5 October: it covers grocers with 20 or more stores, food and essentials at large mixed stores, and delivery services, from 1 September 2027, with fines of up to US$3,000 for a first violation and US$10,000 for each later one, per customer.[7] Among states, the committee report lists Maryland’s ban for food retailers and delivery services, in force since 1 October, and a state-wide New York ban passed in June that still needs the governor’s signature.[5]

**Figure: New York voted its ban seven weeks after Seattle's, for all goods and services**

*Surveillance-pricing bans in US cities, from New York's bill to Seattle's start date, May 2026 to September 2027*

| Date | Event | Detail |
| --- | --- | --- |
| 14 May 2026 | New York bill introduced | Int. 891, Speaker Julie Menin |
| 17 Jun 2026 | New York hearing | Committee on Consumer and Worker Protection |
| 22 Sept 2026 | Seattle council passes ban | Grocers and delivery services |
| 5 Oct 2026 | Seattle mayor signs | Ordinance 127515 |
| 12 Nov 2026 | New York passes 44–5 | Fines up to US$1,000 per consumer or transaction |
| 1 Sept 2027 | Seattle ban in force | New York's starts one year after its bill becomes law |

Source: NYC Council, Legistar record of Int. 891-A; City of Seattle, Ordinance 127515 · as of 14 November 2026

The European Commission’s Digital Fairness Act proposal of 11 November goes less far: it bars personalised prices only where they are likely to harm a known minor or vulnerable consumer. India has no ban on personalised prices; our [Analysis of the EU proposal](https://www.thetechbag.com/blog/eu-digital-fairness-act-dark-patterns-6-percent-fines) sets out what Indian sellers should watch.[8]

How we did this

Figures as of 14 November 2026, 7:30pm IST

The vote is the roll call in the Council’s Legistar record: 44 in favour, 5 against, 2 absent, of 51 members; the committee approved the amended bill 10 to 0 earlier the same day. The rules are from the text of Proposed Int. No. 891-A, which is the version passed. The record shows the bill as passed and awaiting the mayor’s signature; it takes effect one year after it becomes law, so no start date can yet be given. The staff cost is the Council Finance Division’s estimate; the mayor’s budget office gave none. Seattle’s dates and scope are from its signed ordinance and council record. “Seven weeks” is 22 September to 12 November.

Spotted an error? Write to us; corrections are published at the foot of the piece.

Sources

1. [New York City Council, New York City Council Approves Landmark Legislation Banning Surveillance Pricing](https://council.nyc.gov/press/2026/11/12/3339/) — 12 November 2026
2. [New York City Council, Proposed Int. No. 891-A, A Local Law ... in relation to prohibiting surveillance pricing](https://legistar.council.nyc.gov/View.ashx?M=F&ID=16125435&GUID=FA1EFED8-901E-488B-8972-BE09CA95EE44) — 9 November 2026
3. [New York City Council, Legistar: Int 0891-2026, roll call of the Stated Meeting](https://legistar.council.nyc.gov/LegislationDetail.aspx?ID=8027985&GUID=A6815BBB-AC2B-487F-A27B-46449A644474) — 12 November 2026 Status: Enacted (Mayor's Desk for Signature).
4. [New York City Council Finance Division, Fiscal Impact Statement, Int. No. 891-A](https://legistar.council.nyc.gov/View.ashx?M=F&ID=16132515&GUID=90275A17-B43D-42B1-9BAA-F5F4703742AF) — 9 November 2026
5. [New York City Council, Committee on Consumer and Worker Protection, Committee Report on Proposed Int. No. 891-A](https://legistar.council.nyc.gov/View.ashx?M=F&ID=16133260&GUID=ECF5AD45-58F6-495B-8788-A1E41CD21DC8) — 12 November 2026
6. [New York City Council, Remarks as Prepared: Speaker Julie Menin’s Pre-Stated Press Conference](https://council.nyc.gov/press/2026/11/12/3341/) — 12 November 2026
7. [City of Seattle, Ordinance 127515 (Council Bill 121267), algorithmic-based price discrimination, signed](https://legistar2.granicus.com/seattle/attachments/5cf6cf12-3b11-41c6-ae0c-0916c23c6fc1.pdf) — 5 October 2026 Passed by the City Council on 22 September 2026.
8. [The TechBag Journal, EU proposes Digital Fairness Act: 10 dark patterns banned, fines up to 6% of turnover](https://www.thetechbag.com/blog/eu-digital-fairness-act-dark-patterns-6-percent-fines) — 12 November 2026

**Disclosure.** TechBag is a software reseller: it earns when companies buy through it, including from vendors named here. The analysis is TechBag’s own; no vendor paid for or saw this piece before publication. Facts are labelled reported, TechBag count or our view.

**Read this next:** [EU proposes Digital Fairness Act: 10 dark patterns banned, fines up to 6% of turnover](https://www.thetechbag.com/blog/eu-digital-fairness-act-dark-patterns-6-percent-fines) — Europe’s proposal of 11 November: 10 dark patterns banned, rules for checkouts, subscriptions and personalised ads, and fines up to 6% of turnover.

Go deeper on TechBag

- [Retail obligations in India](https://www.thetechbag.com/industries/retail/obligations) — the CCPA Dark Patterns Guidelines and the E-Commerce Rules, with dates
- [OneTrust Consent & Preferences](https://www.thetechbag.com/onetrust/onetrust-consent-preferences) — consent and preference records of the kind a disclosed loyalty discount relies on
- [Data security & privacy guides](https://www.thetechbag.com/browse/data-security-privacy) — the categories behind consent, privacy and data rights