Economic and Community Development

This bill prohibits retailers in Michigan from using surveillance pricing, which involves raising the price of a consumer item based on an individual's personal data such as their IP address, search history, or device type. It requires businesses to clearly display the total price of items at the point of sale, with specific exceptions for things like food sold by weight, motor vehicles, and small items under 30 cents. The legislation also allows consumers to sue retailers for violations, potentially recovering actual damages or a minimum of $250 for each day the law is broken. Finally, the bill includes a tie-breaker provision that prevents it from taking effect unless a companion bill, HB 6098, is also passed into law.

This bill amends the Michigan Consumer Protection Act to explicitly prohibit merchants from using "surveillance pricing," a practice where prices are dynamically adjusted based on data gathered from monitoring individual customers. The legislation directly affects businesses selling goods and services by adding a new provision that makes it unlawful to charge higher prices to consumers who are being tracked or monitored. By incorporating this specific prohibition into the state's existing list of unfair trade practices, the bill aims to prevent deceptive pricing tactics that exploit consumer data.

SB 783 prohibits publicly traded companies receiving Michigan state economic incentives (like grants, tax breaks, or loans) from buying back their own company shares during the incentive period. It requires the Michigan Strategic Fund to include this restriction in all new incentive agreements, with a 10% penalty plus repayment of incentives if violated. The bill directly affects publicly traded businesses that seek state economic development assistance under Michigan's Strategic Fund Act. This policy change aims to ensure state incentives support broader economic activity rather than shareholder returns.

This bill allows certain Michigan nonprofit organizations to claim a tax credit against state income tax withholdings for wages paid to qualified employees. The credit applies to tax years starting on or after January 1, 2026, and is limited to 50% of the amount the employer would have received under a federal work opportunity credit. To qualify, employees must be Michigan residents certified by the state unemployment agency as members of a targeted group, and the credit cannot be refunded if it exceeds the employer's withholding tax liability. The legislation also requires that any unused federal credits from previous years be excluded from the calculation. The bill will only take effect if a companion bill, SB 995, is also passed into law.

Senate Bill 991 amends Michigan's Consumer Protection Act to prohibit businesses from using certain algorithms and protected class data to set prices. This law directly affects companies that sell goods or services by banning the practice of adjusting prices based on factors like race, age, or other personal characteristics. The bill adds a new section to the statute to explicitly make this pricing behavior unlawful, ensuring that consumers are not charged different amounts for the same items based on their personal data.