Please ensure Javascript is enabled for purposes of website accessibility House Communications & Technology Committee approves bills to strengthen consumer protections in Pennsylvania

House Communications & Technology Committee approves bills to strengthen consumer protections in Pennsylvania

Pennsylvania House Democratic Caucus    June 10, 2025 | 1:47 PM

HARRISBURG, June 10– The newly formed House Communications & Technology Committee approved two bills that would strengthen consumer protections for automatically renewing subscriptions in Pennsylvania and sent them to the full House for further consideration, Majority Chair State Rep. Joe Ciresi announced today.

The bills would protect Pennsylvanians by creating consumer protection requirements for automatically renewing (negative option) subscription plans and by providing notifications before each automatic renewal, requiring transparency about renewal terms and allowing subscribers to cancel subscription services online, also known as click to cancel.  

“These bills demonstrate the committee’s continued fulfillment of its mission to empowering the public with clear and accurate communications, ensuring consumers can make informed decisions and companies can’t rely on misleading terms and conditions or making it difficult to cancel a subscription,” said Ciresi, D-Montgomery. “By requiring transparency in companies’ communications about their subscriptions, consumers will save money by being aware of the ‘strings attached’ to certain subscriptions and having adequate time to cancel subscriptions they no longer want prior to automatic renewals.”

The following bills were approved:

House Bill 129 (Rep. Lisa Borowski) would help inform and empower consumers by requiring pre-renewal reminders and clearly and conspicuously stating subscription renewal terms, cancellation policies and instructions about how to cancel so that unwanted subscriptions do not keep silently adding charges to people’s credit cards.

House Bill 1299 (Rep. Joe Ciresi) would create a “click to cancel” rule to make it easy for consumers to cancel subscriptions online and avoid lengthy sales pitches when they try to cancel on the phone, as well as require transparency for free gift and trial periods so that consumers are aware of charges and have the opportunity to cancel.