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Rep. Achilles introduces RS to bar algorithmic price‑fixing in rental markets
Summary
Representative Todd Achilles introduced RS32044C1 to clarify that sharing confidential pricing data with third‑party platforms that then produce pricing recommendations constitutes illegal price fixing; the committee voted to introduce the RS for printing.
Representative Todd Achilles of District 16 introduced a legislative request (RS32044C1) to the House State Affairs Committee seeking to clarify that the sharing of competitors' confidential pricing data with third‑party service providers that generate pricing recommendations can amount to illegal price‑fixing.
"This RS in front of you is intended to fix a growing problem in markets where companies are sharing data and using that data to price fix," Representative Achilles said, citing reports of repeated, similar rent increases across different apartment buildings in Boise and Coeur d'Alene.
The RS, Achilles told the committee, targets a “hub‑and‑spoke” pattern in which competitors (the spokes) supply confidential information to a third‑party service (the hub). Achilles said the hub can aggregate that private data, run it through an algorithm and produce pricing guidance that leads to coordinated pricing behavior similar to traditional price‑fixing.
The bill sponsor emphasized urgency in the rental‑housing market, where he said rents in Boise and Coeur d'Alene have been rising fastest. Representative Achilles framed the RS as modernizing existing antitrust and monopoly statutes to account for algorithmic facilitation of coordination.
Committee members asked clarifying questions. Representative Barbieri requested that, if the RS is printed for formal consideration, the sponsor explain distinctions between the RS and sales‑listing services and how the RS would affect that segment of the market. Representative Dygert asked the sponsor to return at the full hearing with details on enforcement, noting that data and servers may be located “in the cloud” or on third‑party servers.
Representative Alfieri moved to introduce RS32044C1. Committee members approved the motion by voice vote; the chair announced the motion carried and that the RS was properly before the committee for future action.
No formal bill text was taken up for amendment or voting today; the committee’s action was limited to introducing (printing) the RS. The sponsor said he would provide more detail at a subsequent hearing about how the proposal would be enforced and how it interacts with existing sales‑listing services.
Why it matters: The RS attempts to update antitrust language to address contemporary algorithmic practices industry participants and some attorneys general have challenged in other states, and the sponsor singled out the rental housing market as a sector where lawmakers are seeing patterns that resemble coordinated pricing.
