Senate · Introduced · 2025-2026 Regular Session

SB164: SB164 Trade Practices; surveillance based price discrimination and surveillance based wage discrimination; prohibit

Last action February 13, 2025 · Senate Read and Referred

A Georgia Senate bill would ban businesses from using automated systems and personal surveillance data to charge individual consumers different prices or pay individual workers different wages, with civil penalties for violations.

In plain language

Right now, companies can use algorithms and data about a person's behavior, biometrics, or personal characteristics to set individualized prices or wages, and Georgia law does not specifically address this practice. This bill would add a new article to Georgia's trade practices law (O.C.G.A. Title 10, Chapter 1) banning what it calls surveillance based price discrimination and surveillance based wage discrimination, meaning the use of an automated decision system to set prices or wages for a person based on surveillance data like browsing history, location, purchase history, or biometrics. The bill lists exceptions, such as pricing based on actual cost differences, insurers using only risk-relevant data, and wage differences based on job-related data or disclosed and audited automated systems. It labels violations as deceptive or unfair trade practices, lets the Attorney General or district attorneys sue for civil penalties up to $10,000 per violation, and lets affected consumers or workers sue individually or as a group for damages, including triple damages for bad-faith violations.

What the bill does

Bans using an automated decision system to set individualized prices for consumers based on surveillance data about that person or a group they belong to.
Bans using an automated decision system to set individualized wages for workers based on surveillance data about that person or a group they belong to.
Creates exceptions for price differences justified by actual cost differences and for insurers that use only risk-relevant data in pricing.
Creates exceptions for wage differences based on job-related data, disclosed data practices, and reasonable accuracy procedures for the automated system.
Lets the Attorney General or district attorneys sue violators for civil penalties of up to $10,000 per violation, plus costs and attorneys' fees.
Lets individual consumers or workers sue on their own or as a group for actual damages, a flat $3,000 per violation, or triple damages for bad-faith violations.

Who it affects

Businesses and employers that use algorithms or data analysis to set prices or wages, including insurers; consumers who buy goods or services; workers, including independent contractors evaluated under the bill's employee test; and the Attorney General and district attorneys, who would enforce the new rules.

Why it matters

If enacted, Georgia consumers could no longer legally be charged different prices, and workers could no longer be paid different wages, based on personal data collected through tracking or algorithms, unless an exception applies. Violators would face state lawsuits and penalties, and affected individuals could sue directly for money damages.

Key provisions

Section 1 adds new Code Section 10-1-960 defining key terms like 'automated decision system,' 'surveillance data,' 'behaviors,' 'biometrics,' and 'worker.'
New Code Section 10-1-961(a) prohibits surveillance based price discrimination, with exceptions for cost-based pricing differences and insurers using only risk-relevant data.
New Code Section 10-1-961(b) prohibits surveillance based wage discrimination, with exceptions for job-related data, worker disclosures, and accuracy procedures for automated systems.
New Code Section 10-1-962 authorizes the Attorney General to write rules and regulations to implement and enforce the article.
New Code Section 10-1-964(a) classifies any violation as a deceptive, unfair, or unconscionable trade practice.
New Code Section 10-1-964(b) sets civil penalties of up to $10,000 per violation, recoverable by the Attorney General or district attorneys, plus costs and attorneys' fees.
New Code Section 10-1-964(c) creates a private right of action for individuals or groups to sue for actual damages, $3,000 per violation, or triple damages for bad-faith conduct.
Section 2 repeals conflicting laws.

From the bill

“No person shall engage in surveillance based price discrimination.”
This is the bill's direct prohibition on individualized surveillance-based pricing.

Status timeline

2025-02-13Senate Read and Referred (Senate)
2025-02-12Senate Hopper (Senate)

Topics

consumer protection
data privacy
wage discrimination
algorithmic pricing
trade practices law