Sean Dengler.

It has been a while since I have written about it, but the Robinson-Patman Act is one of my favorite laws. It prevents price discrimination. This means a truckload of potatoes that is being delivered to the grocery store in Traer is the same price as the truckload of potatoes being delivered to the Walmart in Waterloo. Unfortunately, until the end of the Biden administration, it has not been enforced since the 1980s.

Other states like Rhode Island and Minnesota have introduced legislation which would ban price discrimination in the grocery industry. This legislation will help put local, independent grocery stores on the same playing field as larger grocery chains. Market power will not be the only determinant factor as to why a certain business always has low prices.

It is important to protect local grocery stores because members of the community run them. These folks participate in the community and partner with other organizations in the community. The wealth stays in town. This is unlike stores like Dollar General or Walmart where the wealth leaves the town and the state for corporate offices and faraway shareholders.

When these discount stores beat out the local grocery stores due to price discrimination, they can raise their prices to suck more wealth from the community. When the community has given all it can give, these stores can leave town. This creates a larger food desert and due to the lack of enforcement of price discrimination laws, it is much harder for a local grocer to open a new store. Instead of attacking the problem head on with sound laws to protect rural communities, more people continue to suffer.

A quick sidebar, I have clerked this session at the Iowa State Capitol for my representative, Larry McBurney (D-Urbandale). It has been an interesting experience seeing how the bills become laws, and I would be more than happy to talk to people about my experience in person. It is vital knowledge to know.

I am giving you this context because I would not know about this recent development regarding a price discrimination amendment at the capitol. During a recent debate about House File 1032, which creates a grocer reinvestment and a local food processing grant programs and which would help existing or new grocery stores apply for funds to expand capacity, upgrade utilities, purchase equipment or technology and cover professional costs, and this would also create a program for local food processing grants that would expand the availability, access, efficiency and capacity of local food processing in a community. Sorry if this was confusing, I do not want to misrepresent what the bill does.

Without the amendment, this is a great bill, but the amendment would have made this bill even better. The amendment, H-1283, reads, “A person shall not, directly or indirectly, discriminate in price offered to different grocery store purchasers of commodities of like grade and quality based on a grocery store purchaser’s participation in the program where the effect of the discrimination in price between a grocery store that participates in the program, and a grocery store that does not participate in the program, may substantially lessen competition between the grocery stores, or tend to create a monopoly among the grocery store. This subsection shall not prohibit a price differential that accounts for difference in the cost of manufacture, sale, or delivery resulting from the differing methods or quantities in which commodities are sold or delivered to a specific grocery store.”

This language is like the Robinson-Patman Act to where it prevents price discrimination. The amendment failed 31-58 along party lines after the floor manager, Rep. Shannon Latham (R-Sheffield), recommended a “no” vote. She stated she did not have an opportunity to speak with the office of the attorney general or other noted offices in the amendment, according to the Iowa Capital Dispatch. While Rep. Derek Wulf (R-Hudson) was absent, Rep. Dean Fisher (R-Montour) and Rep. Thomas Gerhold (R-Atkins) both voted against this amendment. Despite this amendment not passing, the bill unanimously passed the House and hopefully, the Senate will take it up before session ends.

This is why the state legislature plays a vital role in how they shape our communities, and it is important to see how they can impact what is happening on our main streets. If this bill or another version of a bill about preventing price discrimination comes up in the future, hopefully, the legislators and politicians will be more informed to decide to better protect the locally owned grocery stores in their communities. These local grocers choose to stay in the community and help it thrive. There is no need to give any advantage to companies whose wealth does not stay in the Hawkeye State.

Sean Dengler is a writer, comedian, farmer, and host of the Pandaring Talk podcast who grew up on a farm between Traer and Dysart. You can reach him at sean.h.dengler@gmail.com.