Lifetime Citizen Portal Access — AI Briefings, Alerts & Unlimited Follows
Consumer advocates, retailers debate automatic-renewal protections and private right of action
Loading...
Summary
Delegate Andrew Pruski said HB 107 would require clearer disclosures and an easy cancellation process for automatic renewal offers, with supporters urging stronger protections and industry groups asking for technology-neutral drafting.
Delegate Andrew Pruski presented HB 107 to the House Economic Matters Committee as a consumer-protection measure to govern "automatic renewal" offers — subscription or purchase agreements that automatically renew for subsequent terms unless canceled.
Pruski said the bill would require clear, conspicuous presentation of renewal terms, the post‑trial price, and a cost-effective means to cancel using the same mechanism used to make the purchase. The measure would also require a phone number be made available during normal business hours and a notice-window (15–45 days) before a contract renews automatically after an initial term of one month or longer.
Consumer advocates and the Maryland Attorney General’s Consumer Protection Division supported the bill. Franz Schneiderman said the measure would increase transparency and protect consumers from so-called dark-pattern marketing. Steve Sakamoto Wengle of the attorney general’s office recommended a favorable report "with one amendment": restoring a private right of action under the Maryland Consumer Protection Act so individual victims could seek remedies if the attorney general could not pursue every enforcement case.
Industry witnesses including TechNet and the Maryland Retailers Alliance said they supported the bill’s intent but asked for amendments to make its language less prescriptive and more technology-neutral — for example replacing a list of permitted cancellation mechanisms with a standard such as "cost-effective, timely and easy to use" to accommodate changing interfaces. Trade witnesses also urged narrowing scope to consumer (personal, family, household) transactions to avoid unintended effects on business‑to‑business contracts.
Committee members discussed enforcement trade-offs: the attorney general's office said it could mediate and pursue pattern-and-practice enforcement but lacked resources to bring every individual claim. The AG argued a private right of action would help individuals who suffer uncompensated harm.
No formal vote was taken; sponsors and stakeholders signaled willingness to negotiate amended language.
