As many states enter the halfway point of their legislative sessions, lawmakers in eight states have quickly advanced legislation to stop the spread of organized retail crime (ORC). Last week, South Carolina Governor Henry McMaster (R) signed the first ORC bill of the 2025 session (SC HB 352) into law. The legislation, introduced by a lawmaker in the minority party, strengthens penalties for misdemeanor and felony theft counts and allows prosecutors to aggregate the total value of thefts committed across different jurisdictions within a 90-day period.
This year, more states have expanded the scope of their proposals to include provisions that target leaders of criminal networks. In New Jersey, lawmakers sent Governor Phil Murphy (D) a sweeping ORC legislative package (NJ SB 3587 and NJ AB 4755) that includes increased penalties for leaders of organized theft enterprises, repeat theft offenders and assaulting store workers during a robbery. The bill, which passed unanimously in both chambers, also allows for theft aggregation up to a year and requires the Attorney General to establish a unit or office to combat organized retail theft.
And on the last day of their session, the Utah Legislature passed a bill (UT HB 38) creating tougher penalties for repeat theft offenders and individuals who invite minors to be part of criminal organizations. The bill also includes prosecutorial language to address gift card fraud. Governor Spencer Cox (R) has until March 27 to either sign or veto the legislation.
So far this session, lawmakers across 30 states have introduced 68 bills addressing ORC. As in previous years, most of the proposals seek to increase penalties for thefts, allow prosecutors to aggregate multiple thefts committed across different jurisdictions, or provide funding for law enforcement to investigate more ORC cases. Several states have bills on the verge of passing or being enacted. For example, bills to increase penalties for retail theft have passed one legislative chamber in Maryland (MD SB 11 and MD HB 179), Montana (MT SB 19), North Dakota (ND SB 2257), Oklahoma (OK HB 1592) and Tennessee (TN HB 207 and TN SB 240).
State Attorneys General have also played a key role this year in the fight against organized retail crime, not only as chief prosecutors but also as advocates. A bipartisan group of 38 state AGs sent a letter to Congress urging action to combat the nationwide rise of organized retail theft. The letter signaled support for federal lawmakers to reintroduce the Combating Organized Retail Crime Act (HR 895 and S 140) and the Organized Retail Crime Center Authorization Act (S 139) in the 119th Congress.
Organized retail crime continues to be a major threat to communities throughout the country. Retailers have reported financial losses of over $121 billion and three out of four retail asset protection managers say employees have been harmed from retail crime, according to the letter sent by the National Association of Attorneys General (NAAG).
