Retail’s 6 most important policy priorities for 2026

The dog days of Congress are in full swing and with just 124 days (as of July 2) until the midterm elections, Capitol Hill might be running short on time, but not on priorities. 

The legislative calendar continues to shrink as lawmakers juggle campaign pressures, appropriations deadlines and a growing list of unresolved policy issues. Despite the crowded agenda, retail industry priorities are picking up steam and becoming more likely to shape the remainder of the 119th Congress. 

Opposing the Faster Labor Contracts Act 

On June 9, the House of Representatives passed the Faster Labor Contracts Act by a vote of 230-193, sending the legislation to the Senate. The bill would establish a mandatory timeline for negotiating first collective bargaining agreements and, if the parties fail to reach an agreement within 120 days, require mediation followed by binding arbitration. 

Under the proposal, government-appointed arbitrators could impose the terms of a first contract that would remain in effect for two years without the approval of either employees or employers. 

The legislation reached the House floor through a discharge petition, allowing its supporters to bypass the House Education and Workforce Committee and force consideration of the bill. 

NRF strongly opposed the legislation, arguing that it would significantly expand the federal government's role in private-sector labor negotiations by allowing government-appointed arbitrators to dictate the terms of first contracts without the consent of either employers or employees. 

In a coalition letter, NRF and nearly 400 other employer organizations argued that the proposal "runs counter to President Trump's effort to rein in the federal bureaucracy, threatens the economic viability of businesses, forces contract terms without the consent of employees or employers, and amounts to an unconstitutional taking." 

The FLCA's mandatory arbitration framework closely mirrors provisions previously included in the Employee Free Choice Act and, more recently, the Protecting the Right to Organize Act — both pieces of legislation that repeatedly failed to become law. 

Following House passage, NRF is expanding its engagement in the Senate, working with coalition partners and congressional offices to communicate the retail industry's concerns with the legislation.  

Enacting the Combating Organized Retail Crime Act 

Organized retail crime remains one of the retail industry's top public policy priorities. ORC is not everyday shoplifting. These are sophisticated criminal enterprises that steal merchandise through coordinated shoplifting operations, cargo theft, return fraud, gift card fraud and other schemes before reselling stolen goods to generate illicit profits to fund other criminal activity.

Beyond the financial losses retailers incur, ORC has fueled an alarming increase in violence and aggression, putting store associates and customers at greater risk. 

The push for federal action got a boost on June 10, when the House of Representatives overwhelmingly passed the Combating Organized Retail Crime Act (H.R. 2853) by a bipartisan vote of 348-60. The legislation is now before the Senate, where lawmakers will determine whether to advance one of the retail industry's highest legislative priorities to the president’s desk for signature. 

CORCA would sharpen the ability to combat organized retail crime by strengthening coordination among federal, state and local law enforcement agencies and, consequently, better protect retail workers, consumers and supply chains. 

NRF strongly supported House passage of CORCA, issuing a key vote letter in favor of the legislation and applauding the bipartisan vote as a significant step toward addressing one of the industry's most pressing challenges. 

NRF has consistently advocated for a comprehensive federal response that provides law enforcement with the tools and resources needed to investigate, prosecute, and dismantle organized retail crime networks. We urge the Senate to act swiftly and send the legislation to President Trump for signature. 

Reforming the credit card market 

Momentum behind legislation to increase competition in the credit card market continues to grow, following President Trump’s call to “stop the out of control Swipe Fee ripoff.” The Credit Card Competition Act, reintroduced in the House and Senate shortly after the president’s endorsement, would bring greater competition to the credit card marketplace and help reduce costs for merchants and consumers alike. 

Credit and debit card swipe fees have ballooned 80% since the pandemic, reaching a record $198.25 billion last year. Swipe fees are one of retailers' largest operating expenses and contribute to higher prices throughout the economy. 

American merchants continue to pay the highest credit card swipe fees in the industrialized world, despite rapid advances in payments technology and increasing consumer adoption of digital payments. 

New polling released earlier this month by the Merchants Payments Coalition found that most Americans feel the burden of high swipe fees, with 75% of voters saying Congress should act to reduce them. 

The CCCA would introduce competition into the credit card routing market by requiring the nation's largest card-issuing banks to enable at least two unaffiliated payment networks on credit cards. Greater competition would provide merchants with routing choice, encourage innovation and help reduce the costs associated with processing electronic payments. 

While states have explored ways to address swipe fees, a consistent federal solution is needed to create meaningful competition across the payments marketplace. 

With Congress increasingly focused on lowering costs for consumers and promoting competition, NRF will continue urging lawmakers to seize this opportunity to modernize the payments marketplace and bring long-overdue competition to the credit card industry. 

Adopting a consumer-centric, national data privacy standard 

The current patchwork of state data privacy laws has become increasingly difficult to navigate as states continue to enact their own privacy laws with differing definitions, compliance obligations and consumer protections. 

A uniform national framework is needed to ensure consistent privacy protections for consumers and greater regulatory certainty for businesses. 

After more than a year of stakeholder engagement, the House Energy and Commerce Committee’s Data Privacy Working Group introduced the SECURE Data Act (H.R. 8413) in April. This comprehensive consumer privacy legislation is intended to establish a single national framework, built upon state privacy frameworks with strong consumer protections developed on a bipartisan basis. 

NRF joined the Main Street Privacy Coalition and dozens of national business organizations in support of the SECURE Data Act. In a joint statement, the coalition welcomed the bill as an important first step. 

As Congress continues its work on comprehensive privacy legislation, NRF will continue working with lawmakers and coalition partners to establish a clear, workable national privacy standard that protects consumers’ data, promotes innovation and gives retailers the certainty they need to serve customers across state lines. 

Advancing the Common Cents Act 

The U.S. Treasury placed its final order for penny blanks in May 2025 after President Trump directed the government to cease production of the one-cent coin as a cost-saving measure. Since then, retailers, banks and other cash-handling businesses have reported growing penny shortages, making it increasingly difficult to provide exact change. 

Retailers' responses to the shortage vary based on geography, customer demographics and the availability of pennies. However, the industry aligns on one point: the need for federal legislation to ensure businesses can adapt to this shift in cash transactions without creating confusion for consumers or exposing themselves to unnecessary legal risk. 

To that end, NRF is working with the sponsors of the Common Cents Act (H.R. 3074/S. 1525) to ensure the legislation addresses key implementation issues, including federal preemption of conflicting state cash-payment laws, guidance on cash rounding practices and SNAP/EBT considerations. 

Protecting critical retail technologies 

The Federal Communications Commission continues to evaluate NextNav's proposal to reconfigure the Lower 900 MHz band for a terrestrial positioning, navigation and timing network. While NRF strongly supports efforts to identify and evaluate complementary technologies that can create a resilient backup to the Global Positioning System, it is essential that policymakers carefully evaluate the costs, tradeoffs and unintended consequences associated with any proposed solution. 

A wide range of industries have raised concerns that NextNav’s proposal could interfere with existing technologies that rely on the 902-928 MHz band. The Lower 900 MHz band supports a wide range of technologies used throughout the retail industry, including RFID inventory management systems, point-of-sale peripherals, IoT devices and store security systems. 

Retailers are concerned that reconfiguring the Lower 900 MHz band in the manner proposed by NextNav will disrupt critical business operations, increase costs and require the replacement of existing equipment across a vast ecosystem of technologies. 

NRF has been working with retailers and coalition partners across all parts of the supply chain to protect this critical spectrum band and preserve the reliability of existing retail technologies. In a statement for the record submitted to the House Energy & Commerce Subcommittee on Communications & Technology, NRF urged policymakers to “ensure that any future PNT policies are grounded in sound engineering, rigorous technical analysis and a full understanding of the consequences for American businesses and consumers.” 

As the FCC continues evaluating the proposal, NRF will advocate for an approach that protects incumbent users and minimizes disruption to the retail industry's operations by preserving the technologies retailers rely on every day.