If you need any further proof that the wheels of federal legislation move at an excruciatingly slow pace, look no further than the Combatting Organized Retail Crime Act (CORCA).
CORCA is a bipartisan bill with overwhelming support on both sides of the aisle that has died painfully in two prior Congresses. CORCA’s aim—to partner federal, state, and local authorities to combat organized criminal enterprises which act at a national and international scale and cost the American tax payer billions of dollars—seems fairly uncontroversial.
The argument against is that this legislation will have the unintended consequence of inadvertently and disproportionally sweeping poor and minority offenders into harsher federal penalties. This is a similar argument that we hear at the state level, and it is nonsense.
MRA, and our national partners, have made it crystal clear that retail crime exists at two very different levels. The first is the low-level retail theft with the classic example being an individual who steals items from a store for their own personal gain, either out of desperation or criminal proclivity. We have statutes for these crimes and they have been effectively enforced at the local level for years. Organized retail crime on the other hand, as its name suggests, exists on a grand scale, at great taxpayer expense, and in no way implicates the “low level” criminal that opponents fret over.
Fortunately, CORCA may be on the precipice of a breakthrough, having unanimously cleared the House Judiciary Committee in January 2026 and the full House on May 12, 2026 with a vote of 348-60. With passage in the House achieved, the push is now on for swift Senate approval before the midterm elections. As has been the case in prior Congresses, timing will be tight.
MRA has reached out to our full Congressional delegation to encourage movement on CORCA and we encourage you to do the same. If you need assistance with contacting your representatives, email me at tclement@retailers.com.