STATE OF NEW YORK ________________________________________________________________________ 5941--B 2023-2024 Regular Sessions IN SENATE March 23, 2023 ___________ Introduced by Sen. KAVANAGH -- read twice and ordered printed, and when printed to be committed to the Committee on Consumer Protection -- committee discharged, bill amended, ordered reprinted as amended and recommitted to said committee -- committee discharged, bill amended, ordered reprinted as amended and recommitted to said committee AN ACT to amend the general business law, in relation to requiring busi- nesses to notify consumers of an upcoming automatic renewal or contin- uous service charge forty-five days prior to such charge The People of the State of New York, represented in Senate and Assem- bly, do enact as follows: 1 Section 1. Subdivisions 3 and 8 of section 527-a of the general busi- 2 ness law, as added by chapter 267 of the laws of 2020, are amended to 3 read as follows: 4 3. a. In addition to the requirements of subdivision two of this 5 section, a consumer who accepts an automatic renewal or continuous 6 service offer online shall be allowed to terminate the automatic renewal 7 or continuous service exclusively online, which may include a termi- 8 nation email formatted and provided by the business that a consumer can 9 send to the business without additional information. 10 b. A business that allows a consumer to accept an automatic renewal or 11 continuous service offer for an initial paid term of one year or longer, 12 provided that such automatic renewal or continuous service renews for a 13 paid term of six months or longer, shall notify such consumer of such 14 upcoming automatic renewal or continuous service charge to such consum- 15 er's account at least fifteen days before, but not more than forty-five 16 days before, the cancellation deadline for such automatic renewal. Such 17 notice shall include instructions on how to cancel such renewal charge. 18 c. The provisions of paragraph b of this subdivision shall not apply 19 to any business, or subsidiary or affiliate thereof, regulated by the 20 public service commission or the federal communications commission. 21 8. The following are exempt from the requirements of this article: EXPLANATION--Matter in italics (underscored) is new; matter in brackets [] is old law to be omitted. LBD03135-08-3S. 5941--B 2 1 a. any service provided by a business or its affiliate where either 2 the business or its affiliate is doing business pursuant to a franchise 3 issued by a political subdivision of the state; 4 b. any entity, or subsidiary or affiliate thereof, regulated by the 5 department of financial services; 6 c. security system alarm operators; 7 d. banks, bank holding companies, or the subsidiary or affiliate of 8 either, or credit unions or other financial institutions, licensed under 9 state or federal law; and 10 e. sellers and administrators of a service contract, as defined pursu- 11 ant to section seven thousand nine hundred two of the insurance law. 12 § 2. This act shall take effect immediately.