Good morning, it’s Friday, March 6, 2026. In today’s edition, lawmakers target grocery surveillance pricing; states sue over Trump tariffs; new polls in Georgia, Pennsylvania:
Top Stories
ECONOMY: Lawmakers in at least a dozen states are advancing bills to ban commercial sellers from using consumer data to set prices at grocery stores. Lawmakers in Maryland and Tennessee heard testimony on bills banning surveillance pricing this week. Bills in Illinois and Florida would require stores to disclose the use of surveillance pricing. Measures in New York would apply to restaurants that change menu prices based on demand. (Pluribus News)
MORE: Two dozen state attorneys general have sued to block President Trump’s new 10% global tariffs. The suit, led by Democrats from Oregon, New York, California and Arizona, accuses the administration of sidestepping a Supreme Court ruling against Trump’s original tariffs. (New York Times)
EVEN MORE: The Washington Senate has given final approval to legislation prohibiting employers from requesting or requiring employees to have microchips implanted in their bodies. Washington would be the 14th state to preemptively ban employee microchipping. (Spokane Spokesman Review)
CRYPTO: Virginia’s General Assembly has adopted a measure creating a regulatory framework around crypto kiosks, also called crypto ATMs. The bill would set daily and monthly transaction limits, create a 48-hour hold for new users to ensure money can be returned, and require identification for all transactions. (WSLS)
CONSUMER PROTECTION: The Arizona legislature is advancing a measure to allow easier cancelation of subscriptions. The bill would require businesses from gyms to streaming services to allow customers to cancel the same way they signed up. It would also require businesses to alert customers about annual subscription renewal one month before they are charged. (Arizona Republic)
DEI: The Florida Senate has approved legislation prohibiting cities and counties from funding or promoting diversity, equity and inclusion initiatives. The bill would allow local officials to be removed from office and local governments to face lawsuits if they spend money on DEI initiatives. (Florida Phoenix)
IMMIGRATION: The Alabama House has approved legislation requiring commercial drivers to be proficient in English. The bill makes it a crime to present a false commercial driver license to authorities. (Alabama Reflector)
ENVIRONMENT: The Iowa House has approved legislation banning the intentional emission of air contaminants to affect weather. The cloud-seeding ban has also passed the state Senate, though the two chambers must reconcile differences before a final version heads to Gov. Kim Reynolds (R). (Iowa Capital Dispatch)
In Politics & Business
GEORGIA: A new Emerson College poll finds Lt. Gov. Burt Jones (R) and businessman Rick Jackson statistically tied, 21% to 20%. Secretary of State Brad Raffensperger (R) trails at 11%, with Attorney General Chris Carr (R) at 6%. On the Democratic side, former Atlanta Mayor Keisha Lance Bottoms (D) leads with 35%, ahead of former Lt. Gov. Geoff Duncan (D) at 13% and former DeKalb County CEO Michael Thurmond (D) at 7%. (Emerson)
PENNSYLVANIA: A Franklin & Marshall College poll finds Gov. Josh Shapiro (D) leading Treasurer Stacy Garrity (R) 48% to 28%. Half of voters say Shapiro’s job performance is excellent or good, while 44% say it’s fair or poor. (Franklin & Marshall)
CALIFORNIA: Former Assembly Majority Leader Ian Calderon (D) has dropped his bid for governor, the only candidate so far to heed Democratic Party chairman Rusty Hicks’s call for consolidating the field. Today is the deadline for candidates to formally file papers to run. (Associated Press)
RHODE ISLAND: Attorney General Peter Neronha (D) has endorsed former CVS executive Helena Foulkes (D) in her bid against Gov. Dan McKee (D). Neronha has a contentious relationship with McKee, who trails Foulkes in public polling. (Providence Journal)
By The Numbers
$180,000: The proposed salary for New York State legislators, under a bill sponsored by Sen. James Sanders Jr. (D). New York lawmakers are already the highest paid in the nation, at $142,000 a year. (CBS 6)
160: The number of state legislative chambers that have flipped partisan control since 1992. Twenty-two chambers flipped in 2010 alone, the most of any election cycle. (Ballotpedia)
Fewer than 80: The number of dairy farms in Connecticut. The state had almost 1,000 dairy farms in the 1950s and 1960s. (CT News Junkie)
Off The Wall
The Ohio House of Representatives had an interesting visitor this week: Grimace, of McDonald’s fame. Gongwer Ohio reporter Tom Gallick snapped a must-click photo from the floor.
The Los Angeles City Council has designated the iconic home used in the Brady Bunch as a historic cultural landmark. HGTV purchased the home for $3.5 million in 2018 and featured it in a series dubbed “A Very Brady Renovation.” (Los Angeles Times)
Quote of the Day
“I just thought it would be fun.”
— Haylee Senger, deputy auditor of Bottineau County, N.D., on her winning design for North Dakota’s new “I voted” sticker. The sticker reads: “You betcha, I voted.” (Fargo Forum)