Right Idea, Wrong Bill: Don’t Take Away the Coupons, Colorado!
Colorado’s lawmakers have said affordability is a top priority for the 2026 legislative session. This is the right instinct, but HB 1210, the so-called "surveillance pricing" ban that headed to the governor's desk last week, would push the needle in the exact opposite direction.
The bill was designed as a way to stop companies from charging you more based on your data. That makes sense.
But in practice, the bill’s overly broad text would prohibit local businesses from offering any personalized discount, deal, or promotion based on a consumer’s preference — in the height of an affordability crisis — unintentionally driving up costs of everyday goods and services for Colorado consumers.
The personalized deals that residents take for granted would all be legally risky or outright banned under this bill:
That 15% off email from your favorite clothing store after you bought a shirt last week? Gone. Your purchase history counts as "surveillance data," and the offer doesn't fit any of the bill's narrow exceptions.
The $2 off coupon from your grocery app for the milk you buy every week? Banned. The loyalty exception only covers discounts published as blanket rules for every member — not ones tailored to what you actually buy.
The abandoned cart email with a 10% off code? Not allowed. First-time visitors aren't loyalty members, so no exception applies.
Bargains are a primary way that families stretch an already tight budget, and the people this ban would impact most are those already strapped for cash: working families, seniors, and Coloradans on tight budgets.
Why This Matters Beyond Coupons
HB 1210 wouldn’t just take discounts away – it would tell businesses and innovators that Colorado is becoming a harder place to build a business and a riskier place to invest.
The problem isn’t the intent behind the bill, but its reach.
Its vague language sweeps far beyond pricing tools, creating uncertainty for virtually any automated or data-informed system that businesses across the economy rely on every day. This includes recruiting software that helps reduce salary bias, retail tools that help families find relevant savings, and new consumer technologies still in development. In trying to target one practice, the bill risks catching other helpful tools in the crossfire.
That kind of overreach makes it harder for employers, retailers, and innovators to know where the legal line is.
And when companies can't predict whether a product feature will trigger regulatory liability, they won't build it in Colorado. They’ll build it somewhere else.
The result is a policy that risks raising costs, reducing convenience, and pushing innovation to other states.
Coloradans Don't Want This
This isn’t the win lawmakers are looking for — and it isn't what Colorado voters are asking for, either.
A Chamber of Progress/Morning Consult survey of 525 Colorado adults conducted in April 2026 found:
70% oppose banning personalized discounts — even when told algorithms are involved,
76% oppose banning loyalty rewards, and
73% oppose banning personalized coupons.
The Bottom Line
Affordability is a significant issue right now, and lawmakers are right to look for solutions — but legislation needs to address real harms, not conjure up new ones. HB 1210 would do exactly that. It wouldn’t protect Colorado families from higher costs; it would take away common ways they save money, while casting a much wider legal cloud over the kinds of tools businesses across the economy use to hire, compete, and innovate.
Governor Polis should veto this bill and instead focus on pushing forward the wins lawmakers are already delivering — like the Measures to Reduce Administrative Burdens Act (featured in our last Building the Era highlight), which cuts outdated and costly regulations that hold Colorado businesses back.
There's no shortage of real affordability problems in Colorado worth solving. There is still time to shelve this proposal and put that energy toward solutions that will help Colorado families.