Washington, D.C. — In response to news that Virginia Governor Glenn Youngkin has signed a new junk fee ban into law (Senate Bill 1212/House Bill 2515), the American Economic Liberties Project released the following statement.
“This is a massive win for consumers and businesses alike. Virginia lawmakers made clear that deceptive junk fees will no longer be tolerated in their state, restoring transparency to scores of everyday transactions and leveling the playing field for honest businesses,” said Pat Garofalo, Director of State and Local Policy at the American Economic Liberties Project. “Virginia now joins California, Colorado, Massachusetts, and Minnesota in cracking down on these hidden and mandatory charges across the economy, making the fight for fair and transparent pricing truly a nationwide movement. We commend Senator Pekarsky and Delegate McClure for their persistent leadership on this issue, and are thrilled to see Governor Youngkin recognize the need to sign this commonsense measure into law.”
“Nearly a year ago today, Senator Pekarsky spoke at Economic Liberties’ Anti-Monopoly Summit, where she pledged to pursue the fight against junk fees with vigor,” added Garofalo. “Now, her bill is law across the Old Dominion state.”
Junk fees cost the average American family more than $3,000 per year—amounting to a massive wealth transfer from local communities to corporate profits. While the Biden FTC and CFPB took important regulatory actions to rein in junk fees at the federal level, culminating with the FTC’s finalized rule to ban junk fees in hospitality and live events (which is set to take effect this year), state lawmakers are leading the way with durable legislative solutions to protect their own communities across all industries.
Economic Liberties’ End Junk Fees campaign provides research and model legislation to guide lawmakers through the junk fee issue and possibilities for addressing it, as well as original multi-state polling in collaboration with Lake Research Partners attesting to the broad-based support for legislative action. The campaign also elevates the voices of concerned citizens, soliciting their junk fee stories and connecting them to their state representatives to demand action.
Learn more about the End Junk Fees campaign here.
Learn more about Economic Liberties here.
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The American Economic Liberties Project works to ensure America’s system of commerce is structured to advance, rather than undermine, economic liberty, fair commerce, and a secure, inclusive democracy. Economic Liberties believes true economic liberty means entrepreneurs and businesses large and small succeed on the merits of their ideas and hard work; commerce empowers consumers, workers, farmers, and engineers instead of subjecting them to discrimination and abuse from financiers and monopolists; foreign trade arrangements support domestic security and democracy; and wealth is broadly distributed to support equitable political power.