ICSC and Rep. Ivey Hold Press Conference in Support of ORC Legislation

Earlier this month ICSC joined U.S. Representative Glenn Ivey (D-MD), community leaders and stakeholders for a store walk and press conference at Rivertowne Commons Marketplace in Oxon Hill, MD to highlight the need to enact legislation to combat organized retail crime (ORC).

Ivey, who serves on the House Judiciary Committee, is a cosponsor and champion of the ICSC-supported H.R. 895/S. 140, Combating Organized Retail Crime Act (CORCA).The press conference followed a store walk of Target led by members of its loss prevention and operations teams. Representatives of ICSC, the Maryland Retail Alliance, state and local law enforcement and community leaders attended the store walk and participated in the press conference.

At the event ICSC Vice President of Public Policy Abby Jagoda addressed the ongoing need for Congress to enact CORCA or other federal legislation to address the growing number of ORC incidents.

“Retailers and property owners have invested billions of dollars in the fight against ORC, but more help is needed,” Jagoda said. “The time is now for Congress to pass CORCA and provide prosecutors and investigators with the resources they need to better combat organized retail crime.” 

In addition to CORCA, Rep. Ivey highlighted two more bills in his remarks:

• The Recruit and Retain Act (H.R. 3325/S. 546), designed to help police departments hire and keep new officers, which was recently signed into law by President Biden.
• The Safe Access to Cash Act (H.R. 3398), introduced by Ivey and Rep. John Rose (R-TN) would provide users, servicers and owners of nonbank ATMs—a majority of the ATMs in the nation—the same federal protections that are provided to bank-owned ATMs.

“We want to make sure we’re doing everything we can to address that, to protect people, to protect their funds, to protect employees at those stores,” Ivey said.

Ivey recently attended ICSC LAS VEGAS, where he met with ICSC members and learned about the impact of ORC on businesses in his Congressional district and throughout the country. 

“Elected officials depend on hearing from constituents and subject matter experts to shape their policy decisions,” Jagoda said. “Attending ICSC LAS VEGAS gave Rep. Ivey a meaningful illustration of our industry’s issues and impact, which will help him achieve our shared goals of preventing ORC and supporting our communities.”

Want to get involved in the fight against ORC? CLICK HERE to tell your Member of Congress to pass legislation to combat ORC.