Government Relations

CBD-Infused Foods Remain Caught in A Patchwork of State and Local Laws

State cannabidiol (CBD) laws are joining the likes of plastic bag and minimum wage bills as a patchwork of differing state and local laws flood the country. But, what makes the issue of CBD drastically different is whether a state or locality is ...

Are You Ready for Barry?

As we collaborate on this post, the current storm in the Gulf of Mexico has just been deemed Tropical Storm Barry by the National Weather Service. That classification may change, and the potential impact of the storm is shifting rapidly; however, we ...

Proclaiming Family Meals Month in Every State: A College Student’s Perspective

State resolutions/proclamations are an excellent way to support the National Family Meals Month™ programs that are being implemented by the retailers and suppliers across the country....

Are You In or Out: Payment Card Interchange Fee Settlement?

In addition to our regulatory and legislative work, FMI has been monitoring and reporting on an antitrust case filed fourteen years ago by a number of retailers against Visa and MasterCard and the largest issuing ...

Congress Weighs In As DIR Fees Threaten Supermarket Pharmacies

FMI united with a diverse coalition of pharmacy groups to continue urging the Trump Administration, while also lauding the recent, bipartisan emphasis by Congress on closing the loophole that inflates drug costs for patients and Medicare, and ...

Answering the Call: FMI Wins Landmark U.S. Supreme Court Decision

The Food Marketing Institute on behalf of the food retail industry did just that by achieving a landmark U.S. Supreme Court victory (6-3) in its fight to protect retailer and shopper privacy. As FMI’s counsel stated soon after the Court issued its ...

What is “RTGS” And Why Is It Needed?

Last year, the Federal Reserve issued a request for comment on a proposal to establish a real time gross settlement system here in the United States. FMI enthusiastically submitted comments strongly supporting the FED moving forward with the ...

Cannabis and Hemp and CBD, Oh My! A Breakdown for Food Retailers

Whether you are walking through the aisles of your local supermarket, convenience store, pharmacy or simply perusing a health magazine, you have probably seen an increase in the number of products and advertisements promoting ingredients such as ...

Beyond the Grocery Store: The Need to Protect Confidential Business Data

The Retail Litigation Center was one of these industry groups to step forward and explain how its members rely on Exemption 4 of the Freedom of Information Act to ensure that the confidential information their members disclose to the government will ...

For Food Retailers Infrastructure Isn’t Just About Reliable Roads

This week kicked-off the seventh-annual Infrastructure Week, with hundreds of organizations and companies coming together to stress the importance of a reliable, well-managed national infrastructure. This year’s iteration comes at a particularly ...

Three Local Issues Rising to The State Level in 2019

A consistent theme we see in the lawmaking process is that absent state preemption, localities often take matters into their own hands when legislation they think is crucial is blocked at the state or federal level. As the wheel of government turns, ...

The Historic Possibilities of the Landmark Supreme Case that Examines the term “Confidential”

To date, the Court has decided 19 cases involving the Freedom of Information Act (FOIA), cases involving a wide array of FOIA issues and critical procedural concerns. Not one of those cases, however, has involved the interpretation of FOIA’s ...

The Promise of Confidentiality: FMI Presents Oral Arguments at U.S. Supreme Court

The Food Marketing Institute presented oral arguments at the U.S. Supreme Court in a case with broad implications for large and small commercial enterprises. We have asked the U.S. Supreme Court to clarify the appropriate standard for exempting ...

Have You Had Your Fill of Increased Card Processing Fees?

According to The Nilson Report, U.S. retailers paid almost $100 billion to process card transactions last year. American retailers pay the highest fees to process credit cards in the world, while many other countries are limiting the fees networks ...

Freedom of Information Act Wasn't Created to Shine a Light on Private Parties

The nation’s grocery stores have long kept confidential the amount consumers spend at individual stores with cash, credit and the Supplemental Nutrition Assistance Program, or SNAP. To business owners large and small, this store-level sales data is ...