Governor Gavin Newsom has signed California’s “click to cancel” Assembly Bill 286 into law to make it easier for consumers to opt out of subscriptions. The bill, introduced in April 2024, forces companies that permit online or in-app sign-ups to allow for online or in-app unsubscribing as well.
"AB 2863 is the most comprehensive ‘Click to Cancel’ legislation in the nation, ensuring Californians can cancel unwanted automatic subscription renewals just as easily as they signed up — with just a click or two,” said California Assemblymember Pilar Schiavo.
Is the company in question national or local to CA only? This is the defining line for laws like this. If a company cannot be distinguished from the services it provides in CA vs any other state then the laws of one state should influence all others since the company is not different between states. Unless they create a different website for each state then they will have a hard time verifying if a user really is from CA and be able to apply the law.
I could be visiting CA and sign up for something while there. My address is not CA, my billing address is not CA, I could be using a VPN connected to my home. But I am physically in CA and signed up for Planet fitness online. Now whose laws protect me? CA or my home state?
Reading the law, it looks like it applies if either the business or consumer is in California.
Ok but in a new situation, I signed up online while in CA. Now I am back home and forgot to cancel. How does one go about using the CA law to cancel? The website might have a link that says “CA residents click here” but what if it does a check and you can’t prove by one click you were there in CA when you signed up? These laws then get really tricky to implement. Hence why these kinds of laws that affect national companies should be national laws. Interstate commerce makes it almost impossible to have state laws for this kind of thing.
If neither you nor the business are in California, the law does not apply.
That’s not what I said. My original scenario applies. You sign up while physically in CA but you are not a CA citizen and used a VPN. But forgot to cancel while physically in CA. The company is national.
Your original scenario was that you were in CA when you signed up. Now you are not in California, right? If neither you nor the business are in California, the law does not apply.
Why is that? If you get stabbed in one state but end up in another before reporting the crime the jurisdiction of the crime falls to where the crime was committed not reported.
When you leave the state, you are no longer a consumer in CA, therefore they do not have to offer you the CA cancellation.
Also, I’m pretty sure this is a civil matter, not criminal.
for things to work out that way, the states would have to mutually accept such arrangements as valid. california cannot directly impose such laws vs other states but only can influence companies to apply it company wide.
basically some agreement has to be made in order to universally do it elsewhere, for example drivers licenses and marriage agreements are automatically acknowledged between states, even if a requirment for them or something related to it were to be illegal(e. g gay marriage) in a state. this mutual agreement doesnt apply to all laws.