The Maryland General Assembly just passed its halfway point, and with roughly 45 days left, Gov. Wes Moore is making headway on two of his key economic legislative proposals.

Moore completed his second round of testimony on the Protection from Predatory Pricing Act and the Maryland Transit and Housing Opportunity Act on Tuesday.

He urged members of the House Economic Matters Committee to advance the first piece legislation as a means to end “surveillance pricing” in grocery stores to prevent data-driven price gouging.

“Prices are changing, sometimes by the hour and sometimes by the minute, based on where you shop and based on who is shopping,” Moore said. “And it's happening because digital price tags are replacing paper ones. It's happening because we're having cameras that are watching aisles.”

Moore explained this type of data-gathering can lead to price surges during peak shopping hours or even tailored, algorithmic pricing based on someone’s consumer habits.

The bill would require grocery stores to keep prices fixed for at least one business day and prohibit the use of personal data and automated systems to individualize prices.

“So when you walk in, you will pay the same amount as the person who walked in before you and after you, and they cannot use your data to be able to manipulate what type of price they're going to charge you once you actually get to the register,” the governor said.

Retail and tech advocates have raised concerns over the bill unintentionally outlawing membership loyalty programs, which often offer personalized savings and coupons based on consumer spending habits.

Moore explained the bill includes a carveout for “promotional pricing offers, loyalty program benefits or other temporary discounts or changes to pricing related to retention of existing customers” — retailers have insisted the language within the bill is too broad to protect such programs.

While the question did not come up in the House hearing, two weeks ago during Moore’s testimony on the Senate version of the bill, Senate Republican Leader Stephen Hershey (R-Caroline, Cecil, Kent and Queen Anne’s Counties) asked if there was any evidence of grocery stores utilizing this type of surveillance pricing in Maryland.

“We have seen how this is happening, not just within the state of Maryland, but particularly for a lot of our ‘big box’ retailers, that this is something that has been moved on in other jurisdictions,” Moore responded, offering to share some data on the matter with the senator but not providing any specific store locations.

The bill is endorsed by House Speaker Joseline Peña-Melnyk (D-Anne Arundel and Prince George’s Counties) and Senate President Bill Ferguson (D-Baltimore City) and awaits a committee vote in both chambers.

Moore’s second piece of legislation, known as the Maryland Transit and Housing Opportunity Act, takes aim at current zoning and financing barriers in an effort 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 transit stations and give the state more authority over the development of state-owned land adjacent to transportation hubs.

“We know that we now have empty parking lots that frequently sit next to our Metro stations and our MARC stops, which is, frankly, just wasted opportunities to be able to address a fundamental issue,” Moore said. “This [bill] will be responsible for adding an additional 7,000 new homes by being able to leverage that land.”

According to an October 2025 report from the state comptroller, Maryland has a current shortage of about 100,000 housing units and needs to build 590,000 new housing units to meet demand and growth projections by 2045.

The legislation would largely spur housing in Prince George’s County, Montgomery County, Baltimore City and Baltimore County — home to several frequent rail corridors.

Various GOP committee members expressed concerns over the bill overriding local control, but Moore said the bill would not mandate counties to participate.

“We're basically saying if local jurisdictions believe that this is something that they think could be helpful for them, and this is state-owned land that we were speaking about, that we want to be able to provide assistance to it,” Moore said.

Del. Christopher Adams (R-Caroline, Dorchester, Talbot and Wicomico Counties) questioned the necessity of adding the use of project labor agreements as a scoring preference for projects seeking financial assistance.

Moore assured lawmakers that utilizing a project labor agreement is not a mandate under the legislation, but Adams pointed out the majority of Maryland’s construction industry is not unionized and worried adding the provision could encourage the use of out-of-state workers.

House Republican Whip Jesse Pippy (R-Frederick County) asked if the governor would be open to amending the requirement or striking it altogether.

“I think we are very much aligned on this… We want to make sure we're creating pathways for work, wages and wealth for the people of the state of Maryland, right? And that means prioritizing the people of the state of Maryland throughout this entire journey and with everything that we are proposing and pulling together. So we are very happy to work with you,” Moore answered.

But House Economic Matters Committee Vice Chair Lorig Charkoudian (D-Montgomery County) pushed back on the elimination of the provision, arguing the majority of project labor agreements in the state are hiring Maryland residents and those projects often come in under cost.

Maryland Department of Transportation Acting Secretary Kathryn Thomson confirmed Charkoudian’s argument is data-supported.

Both bills await a committee vote before advancing to a full vote in their respective chambers.