Requires businesses that allow automatic renewals, continuous service offers, and automatic subscription renewals to provide notice regarding cancelling such renewals, services, or subscriptions.
A03928, the “click to cancel act,” amends New York’s General Business Law section 527-a to strengthen consumer protections for automatic renewals, continuous service offers, and automatic subscription renewals. The bill requires businesses to provide clearer and more conspicuous renewal and cancellation disclosures, including the terms of the automatic renewal, the cancellation policy, and instructions on how to cancel in a form the consumer can retain. It also expands notice requirements for free trials and gifts, requiring businesses to disclose the post-trial price and, in certain longer trial situations, to send advance notice before the cancellation deadline and allow cancellation before the consumer is charged.
The bill further broadens advance notice requirements for renewals of one-year-or-longer paid terms, requiring notice of upcoming charges between 15 and 45 days before the cancellation deadline. It also requires businesses to let consumers cancel in the same medium used to enroll, including online cancellation for online sign-ups and a toll-free phone number for subscriptions accepted by phone. In addition, if a business changes the fee on an existing automatic renewal or continuous service offer, it must give notice of the fee change and cancellation instructions 7 to 30 days before the change takes effect.
The bill’s impact would be to impose more detailed disclosure, notice, and cancellation obligations on businesses that use subscription or auto-renewal billing models, while giving consumers more direct and accessible ways to stop recurring charges. It would amend state law governing automatic renewal and continuous service offers and likely affect a wide range of industries that rely on recurring billing, including media, software, memberships, fitness, and other subscription-based services.
The available voting history shows strong, unanimous support in the Assembly committees and on final passage, with no recorded opposition in the votes provided. That suggests the bill was broadly viewed as a consumer-protection measure rather than a controversial regulatory change. No committee transcript is available, so the record does not show detailed debate, but the unanimous votes indicate general agreement on the need for clearer cancellation rights and better notice to consumers.
The main point of contention, based on the bill text itself, is the added compliance burden on businesses that use automatic renewals and subscriptions, especially the requirement to permit cancellation in the same medium used to enroll and to provide more frequent and specific notices. Supporters would likely frame these provisions as preventing surprise charges and making cancellation easier, while businesses may view them as increasing administrative and operational requirements.
This bill amends General Business Law section 527-a to expand disclosure, notice, and cancellation requirements for automatic renewals, continuous service offers, and automatic subscription renewals. It would require businesses to provide more detailed acknowledgments, advance notices of upcoming charges and fee changes, and cancellation options in the same medium used to enroll, including online and telephone cancellation pathways. The measure would affect businesses across subscription-based sectors and strengthen consumer rights to avoid unwanted recurring charges.
The recorded legislative sentiment is strongly favorable. The bill advanced unanimously through the Assembly Consumer Affairs and Protection Committee, the Assembly Codes Committee, the Assembly Rules Committee, and final passage on the Assembly floor, with no recorded nays in the provided votes. That voting pattern indicates broad bipartisan support for the bill’s consumer-protection goals and little visible opposition in the available record.
The bill’s likely area of contention is between consumer advocates and subscription-based businesses. Supporters would favor clearer disclosures, advance warning before charges, and easier cancellation to prevent consumers from being trapped in recurring billing. Businesses may object to the added compliance obligations, especially the requirement to allow cancellation in the same medium used to sign up, the toll-free cancellation requirement for phone enrollments, and the expanded notice rules for fee changes and trial conversions.