The Denver Post reports that Gov. Jared Polis vetoed House Bill 1210, a Democratic-priority “surveillance pricing” bill that would have blocked companies from using large amounts of data collected on Coloradans to set individualized prices for goods like groceries and electronics. The bill also would have barred companies like Uber and Lyft from using that information to set differing wages for drivers.
Polis framed the veto as a defense of markets and useful technology, warning the bill was too broad and could catch harmless tools that benefit consumers and workers. Translation: legislative Democrats brought the consumer-protection sermon, Polis brought the libertarian-tech-bro red pen, and Colorado consumers got another front-row seat to one-party government arguing with itself in public.
The Bullet Point Brief
- For the second time in a year, Polis vetoed legislation meant to curb price-setting algorithms in Colorado. Apparently, the algorithm gets more due process than the guy buying eggs.
- HB 1210 passed with support only from Democratic lawmakers, which means the ruling party passed its own affordability message bill, then watched its own governor throw it into the shredder. Efficient? No. On-brand? Painfully.
- Supporters said the technology can set prices at the highest level a consumer is willing to pay, or the lowest wage a worker is willing to accept, based on location and other characteristics. That is not “innovation.” That is a digital carnival barker with your data in his pocket.
- Polis argued the bill was too broad, could interfere with lower prices and discounts, and might sweep in “innocuous uses of technology” that help consumers and workers. Fair concern, if the bill was sloppy. Thin comfort, if the machine is already measuring how hard it can squeeze people.
- The bill carved out discount and loyalty programs, but Polis said he “found little comfort” in those exemptions. So the legislature said, “Trust us, we wrote guardrails,” and Polis said, “I have seen your guardrails.” Frankly, both statements can be true.
My Bottom Line
This is Colorado government in miniature: Democrats promise to save consumers from corporate black boxes, then operate like a black box with a press office. Nobody outside the Capitol gets a clean answer. Are we protecting families from algorithmic pickpocketing, or are we staging another hearing-room morality play so everyone can update their campaign mailers?
Polis deserves heat here because his rationale sounds awfully cozy with the innovation-at-all-costs crowd. “Free functioning of markets” is a fine phrase, but it gets a little less charming when regular Coloradans are wondering whether the price they see is based on the product, or based on what some data model thinks they can be talked into paying.
Legislative Democrats deserve heat too. If HB 1210 was so broad that it risked catching normal discounts and harmless technology, then maybe the bill was more regulatory theater than consumer protection. Passing a giant net and calling it a scalpel is how the Capitol keeps proving it should not be trusted around sharp objects.
So here is the question: are Colorado consumers actually being protected, or are they just props in another Capitol food fight between algorithm panic and tech worship? Because right now, the people paying the bills are watching one-party government argue over which expert gets to define fairness while the cash register keeps ringing.
Source: The Denver Post
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