Organized Retail Crime Bill Clears House Committee as Industry Pushes for Federal Response

The federal legislative response to organized retail crime took a significant step forward when the House Judiciary Committee marked up and advanced the Combating Organized Retail Crime Act on January 14, 2026. The bipartisan bill, introduced as H.R. 2853, would establish an Organized Retail and Supply Chain Crime Coordination Center within Homeland Security Investigations at the Department of Homeland Security, creating a centralized hub for federal, state, and local law enforcement to share intelligence and coordinate investigations.

The bill's provisions are tailored to address the increasingly sophisticated nature of retail crime networks. As the Congressional Budget Office analysis details, the center would coordinate federal activities related to organized theft of cargo, shipments, and goods, as well as the transport of counterfeit products. It would assist state and local law enforcement with investigations, facilitate information sharing, and track trends — a capability that retailers have long argued is missing from the current enforcement landscape. A companion Senate bill, S.1404, has also been introduced, giving the measure a bicameral path forward.

The legislative push is backed by alarming industry data. The National Retail Federation's most recent survey found that retailers lost an estimated $45 billion to shoplifting in 2024, with an 18 percent increase in average shoplifting incidents year over year. More concerning to the industry is the growing role of organized networks: 67 percent of retailers reported involvement of transnational organized retail crime groups, and more than half reported increases in phone scams, digital fraud, cargo theft, and supply chain theft conducted by ORC operations.

The violence dimension is also escalating. The NRF's 2025 theft and violence report found that threats and acts of violence during shoplifting events increased 17 percent, and 83 percent of respondents said aggression levels are the same or higher compared with the prior year. Congressman David Valadao, who introduced related legislation targeting supply chain theft, has cited these statistics in arguing that the problem has outgrown the capacity of local law enforcement to address independently.

Despite bipartisan support, the bill's path to the House floor is not guaranteed. As Retail Insight Network reported, lawmakers face competing legislative priorities and pressure from civil liberties groups who have raised concerns about the scope of federal enforcement authority. Still, the NRF and other industry groups continue to push aggressively for passage, arguing that the scale of organized retail crime — with its links to fencing operations, online marketplaces, and cross-border smuggling — demands a coordinated federal response that individual states cannot mount alone.