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Michigan Senate Votes To End Item Pricing Mandate

LANSING (WWJ/AP) - Michigan's law requiring individual price tags on most retail items appears headed for extinction. The Republican-led state Senate on Tuesday approved a bill by a 24-13 vote that would repeal the item pricing requirement.

The House already has approved the bill so it could soon be headed to Governor Rick Snyder, who called for the change in his Jan. 19 State of the State address, saying the 1978 item pricing law is outdated.

Retail trade groups support the change, saying the current law results in higher prices. The revised regulations would require retailers to post an item's price where it can be clearly seen but would not require price tags on individual items.

The bill's sponsor, Representative Lisa Posthumus Lyons, R-Alto, said the bill scraps the original law, but still requires retailers to post the item's price where it can be clearly seen nearby.

Unions say grocery store jobs would be lost if item pricing is repealed. Some Democrats oppose repeal, saying it would do away with consumer protections.

Poll numbers have shown that Michigan residents are split on the issue.
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The legislation is House Bill 4158. 
  
The Associated Press contributed to this report.

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