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As September begins, most state legislatures have either adjourned or are in the process of finishing their sessions. As of this week, only eight states — California, Massachusetts, Michigan, New Jersey, North Carolina, Ohio, Pennsylvania and Wisconsin — are currently in session, with California and North Carolina expecting to adjourn in the coming weeks.
The 2025 legislative season saw some significant wins for the Marketplaces Industry related to organized retail crime, gift card fraud, EV charging, climate emissions disclosure and brownfield redevelopment.
Organized retail theft continues to be a priority for state lawmakers and law enforcement
Since 2022, there has been a steady pace of legislative activity on preventing the spread of organized retail crime, with over 80 bills signed into law that broadly increase penalties for ORC offenses. This year, 17 bills have been enacted in 13 states that target organized crime networks and equip law enforcement with more tools to prosecute offenders. Highlights include:
Ten states strengthen legal language on gift card fraud
States have taken swift action in 2025 to combat a growing trend of thieves accessing and using money from stolen gift cards. Lawmakers in ten states – Arizona, Arkansas, Florida, Iowa, Kentucky, Louisiana, New Hampshire, North Carolina, Texas and Utah — enacted bills modeled after Ohio’s 2024 legislation, which creates the offense of gift card fraud and allows prosecutors to charge thieves who use money from stolen gift cards, even before they have value. Retailers in Michigan are hopeful that two gift card fraud bills (MI HB 4599 and MI HB 4598) will be enacted before adjournment.
Idaho lawmakers enacted legislation to preempt local rules on EV charging stations
The rise of electric vehicles on roadways has spurred discussions on ways to create uniform standards for charging infrastructure. Several states have enacted measures to preempt local authority by making the state solely responsible for creating EV charging station rules. This year, Idaho became the fourth state to enact legislation (ID HB 86) that prohibits local governments from setting their own standards for EV charging station spaces in building plans.
No further state action on climate emissions disclosure bills
Climate advocates have recently pushed for laws requiring companies to disclose their greenhouse gas emissions as part of their annual financial reporting. California’s 2023 landmark climate disclosure law has been the model for lawmakers looking to require companies with over $1 billion in annual revenues to annually report their Scope 1, 2, and 3 GHG emissions. As the politics on corporate sustainability have shifted, though, no corporate disclosure bill introduced this year — specifically, Colorado (CO HB 1119), Illinois (IL HB 3673), New Jersey (NJ SB 4117) and New York (NY AB 4282 and SB 3456) — received a floor vote.
Brownfield redevelopment remains a key focus for economic development
Revitalizing abandoned or brownfield properties has been a popular bipartisan economic issue for lawmakers. Lawmakers introduced 22 bills across 12 states — Florida, Illinois, Iowa, Massachusetts, Maryland, Missouri, New Mexico, New York, North Carolina, Oregon, Pennsylvania and West Virginia – that incentivize the redevelopment of abandoned or brownfield properties. Oregon lawmakers enacted legislation (OR SB 99) extending the sunset for property tax credits for brownfield properties. A measure in North Carolina (NC SB 387) creates an additional tax benefit for brownfield properties already receiving the current partial exclusion for an earlier qualified improvement. And in Florida, two bills were signed into law (FL HB 733 and FL SB 736) that streamline the environmental review process for brownfield properties, broaden requirements for receiving credits and allow larger brownfield properties to be subdivided into smaller units for rehabilitation efforts.
For more information contact gpp@icsc.com.