LANSING – A bill repealing the requirement that price tags appear on nearly all items sold in Michigan stores will likely see some tweaks before a House committee votes on it next week.

In introducing her bill (HB 4158 ), Rep. Lisa Posthumus Lyons (R-Alto) said it will not repeal the state’s item-pricing law entirely, but will remove the burden that every item come with a price sticker.

As a mother of four, Posthumus Lyons said it would be easier to shop with a hand-held scanner that totals the items and accepts credit card payments, similar to some stores in Virginia, but Michigan’s law isn’t flexible to new technologies.

But interest groups said the bill gets rid of more than just the sticker requirement and they urged lawmakers to protect consumers more from price fluctuations they argued could be facilitated by the use of technology.

And unions said they oppose the bill because it will mean fewer hours for workers or workers outright losing their jobs. Christos Michalakis with United Food and Commercial Workers said big-box retailers would likely cut one to three employees if the bill as it stands passes, meaning those people will go on public assistance to make ends meet.

But business groups hailed the legislation as removing a burden on their industry. Governor Rick Snyder called for repeal of the state’s item-pricing law in his State of the State Address last month.

James Hallan, president and CEO of the Michigan Retailers Association, told lawmakers the state’s item-pricing law was enacted in 1976, the same time Sony launched its unsuccessful Betamax, and it’s time to modernize the law.

Scott Watkins, director of market and industry analysis for the Anderson Economic Group, which recently performed a study on the cost of the state’s item-pricing law, said its repeal will mean lower prices for some consumers while other businesses will use the money to invest in new technologies and improve customer service.

But Democrats on the committee expressed concern retailers could more easily switch their prices throughout the day based on customer volume, meaning shoppers would essentially be subject to wide price fluctuations. Hallan said what the bill proposes works in 49 other states and retailers will be more likely to put items on sale than they are now because they won’t have to go to every shelf and change the price sticker.

“It behooves our industry to get the information out to the customer,” said Linda Gobler, president and CEO of the Michigan Grocers Association.

But the legislation doesn’t provide a “paper audit trail” so customers can check and see whether the item they took home is what was charged on the receipt, Michalakis said. And, while the bill incorporates several provisions of the current law including the penalty for retailers who charge the wrong price, he questioned why the bill lifts the ban on discriminatory advertising.

AARP Michigan State President Eric Schneidewind said the current law allows consumers to instantly check the prices between brand name and generic products, and at minimum, the bill should require the price of an item be listed in the area immediately adjacent to where the product is sold, similar to how grocery stores display prices for frozen food items.

Posthumus Lyons said she will work with the various interest groups to address some of the concerns that have been raised about the bill.

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