PA House passes ‘negative options’ bill to prevent automatic enrollment into paid subscription plans
H.B. 129 would save Pennsylvanians millions of dollars each year
Rep. Lisa Borowski July 1, 2025 | 3:09 PM
HARRISBURG, July 1 – Legislation passed today in a bipartisan vote by the PA House would prevent Pennsylvanians from paying for unwanted paid subscription services they didn’t intend to sign up for, said the bill’s author, state Rep. Lisa Borowski, by requiring companies to provide more transparency to consumers on how to cancel a subscription before they’re automatically charged.
Borowski is one of many state lawmakers across the country who have proposed legislation to protect consumers from unintentionally signing up for a paid subscription via a practice known as “negative options” – when a company automatically enrolls a consumer in a paid subscription plan after accepting a free trial or introductory offer, then forcing them through a convoluted process to cancel it.
House Bill 129 would modernize Pennsylvania’s Unfair Trade Practices and Consumer Protection Law to require a company to clearly and conspicuously provide a customer who signs up for a free or discounted trial period with the option to opt into, rather than opt out of, subscribing to the service at full price – turning “negative options” into “positive options.”
The legislation would also require companies to:
- Explain in transparent language the terms, pricing, and cancellation policy for any automatically renewing subscription;
- Allow the customer to cancel the subscription in the same way they signed up, i.e. if you signed up by clicking a button on the company’s website, they cannot require you to call by phone to cancel;
- Send reminders to a customer prior to an automatic renewal via the communication method selected by the customer, ensuring they see the message and are aware of what they’ve signed up for, and;
- Obtain express consent from the customer before charging their payment method on file.
“This policy is designed to protect people from a sneaky way of doing business. The companies that made this legislation necessary know the average consumer is stressed and has a million things to keep track of and worry about. They take advantage of this, banking on you forgetting to cancel a subscription after your free trial or lower rate expires,” Borowski said. “This is a way I can work with my fellow lawmakers to give power back to consumers.
“Companies that truly aim to provide value to their customers won’t be inconvenienced by this policy,” Borowski continued. “We’re taking aim at businesses who bet on quietly siphoning money from customers who aren’t even using the service they’re unwittingly paying for.”
The bill will now head to the state Senate for consideration.
Watch Borowski talk about the bill after its approval by the House Consumer Protection, Technology & Utilities Committee in September 2024: www.youtube.com/watch?v=akFMog3F_F8.