Two bills that aim to protect food and grocery consumers from digital price gouging during market disruptions — and are broadly opposed by business advocates — failed to win support from Maine lawmakers this week.

Both bills would limit “dynamic pricing,” which involves rapidly adjusting prices based on fluctuating demand, often in real time. Driving factors can include extreme weather, natural disasters and other crises that cause demand to spike. To set prices, sellers may use digital consumer data, including personal information gathered via artificial intelligence.

The Legislature’s economic development committee decided Thursday that both bills “ought not to pass” when they go before the House and Senate in the coming weeks. Committee members said the proposals are unnecessary and would create hardships for businesses, making it impossible for them to manage risk during challenging times.

LD 1597 would block restaurants, grocery stores and other food sellers from using dynamic pricing more than once in 24 hours. The committee voted it down unanimously.

Sponsored by Rep. Marc Malon, D-Biddeford, the bill would require product prices to remain fixed for at least one business day and be posted or displayed in a manner visible to the public, such as on a menu, menu board, price tag or label. Malon said the law wouldn’t apply to discounts, specials or product pricing traditionally set by market conditions, such as seafood.

LD 1907, sponsored by Senate President Mattie Daughtry, D-Brunswick, would prevent grocery stores from using dynamic pricing to change prices on electronic shelf labels more than once in 48 hours during severe weather, natural disasters, supply chain disruptions or other situations that cause sudden increased demand.

Daughtry’s bill would allow dynamic pricing at other times if stores have prominent signs describing the digital pricing strategy, how it is being used and when it is prohibited under the law. The committee voted 6-5 against the proposal.

Malon and Daughtry acknowledged that dynamic pricing isn’t a problem in Maine yet, but they said it’s happening elsewhere in the U.S. with increasing frequency. It makes sense to put safeguards in place now to prevent prices from being “opportunistically manipulated to the detriment of the consumer,” Malon said in written testimony.

Malon noted that a Federal Trade Commission study last year found data surveillance and artificial intelligence — including a person’s precise location or web browser history — are being used increasingly to target consumers with individualized pricing.

While some industries have legitimately adopted dynamic pricing, Daughtry said, there is “troubling evidence” of its misuse, particularly in grocery retail.

“Reports from states such as California and Virginia indicate that grocery stores are raising prices during peak shopping hours, often after 5 p.m., when families are most likely to be purchasing food after work,” she said.

The Retail Association of Maine and the Maine Grocers & Food Producers Association oppose both bills, saying they appear to target “hypothetical abuses rather than a documented, widespread issue.”

“Maine’s grocers and retailers operate in a transparent pricing environment, with prices posted on shelves, promoted in flyers and matched by competitors,” the groups said in shared written testimony.

Linda Caprara, head of advocacy with the Maine State Chamber of Commerce, said the bills “will have unintended consequences that could ultimately harm both consumers and businesses if passed.” She said Maine already has enforcement mechanisms to investigate, stop and penalize abusive pricing practices under the state’s Unfair Trade Practices Act.

“At its core, dynamic pricing — adjusting prices based on factors like demand, time of day or weather conditions — is simply a modern version of the oldest marketplace principle: supply and demand,” said Harris Van Pate, an analyst with the Maine Policy Institute, a conservative, free-market think tank.