New Mexico rejects RFID privacy bills

Lobbying by the Grocery Manufacturers of America persuaded New Mexico’s House Judiciary Committee to table HB215, a bill from Rep. Mimi Stewart (D-Albuquerque) that would have required stores to remove or disable RFID tags on merchandise before consumer purchase.

Rep. Stewart’s bill would also have required retailers to post notices that the business carried products with RFID labels and that the store was required to disable or remove them before the package left the store. It would also have compelled the business to provide consumers with any personal information the store gathered about them through the use of the RFID tags, if consumers so requested.

Rep. Stewart said she intends to reintroduce the bill next year, much like California State Sen. Debra Bowen (D-Redondo Beach), who had a similar bill that passed the state senate, but was later rejected by the assembly’s Committee on Business and Professions. Similar bills have been debated in UT, MO, VA, and MA, but none have passed.

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