Retail Lobby Presses Senate on $5,000 Crime Bill as Civil Liberty Groups Warn of DHS Overreach
Updated
Updated · POLITICO · Sep 1
Retail Lobby Presses Senate on $5,000 Crime Bill as Civil Liberty Groups Warn of DHS Overreach
1 articles · Updated · POLITICO · Sep 1
Summary
Senators returning later this month will have just three weeks before the midterm recess to decide whether to attach the Combating Organized Retail Crime Act to the annual defense bill.
The House passed CORCA 348-60 in May, and the measure would let federal prosecutors aggregate thefts totaling $5,000 over a year while giving DHS authority to coordinate organized retail crime enforcement.
Retail, shipping, rail and trucking groups are intensifying their push, arguing theft crosses jurisdictions, feeds cargo crime and threatens supply chains in ways local police cannot handle alone.
The ACLU, NAACP and Legal Defense Fund are urging the Senate to reject the bill, saying its vague definition of organized retail crime could expand surveillance and pull ordinary shoplifting into federal cases.
Polling has split the politics: FTI found three-in-four Americans back tougher federal action, while a Vera Institute survey found 82% oppose folding CORCA into the NDAA without a separate vote.