Have you ever signed up for a subscription, then struggled to find the cancel plan button? In Harrisburg, lawmakers are looking for solutions—though businesses do have concerns about government overreach.

“We kept hearing from constituents that 'I've been trying to cancel.' 'How do I cancel?' 'I was easy to go on, but I can't get off’,” said Rep. Joe Ciresi (D-146). He is the sponsor of House Bill 116, which tries to make canceling a subscription more transparent.

“We said, ok, well, if it's this big to subscribe, then it has to be this big to cancel, in the same type of place where you subscribe,” said Ciresi.

Many constituents- especially senior citizens— are frustrated with unclear policies around subscriptions.

“We're talking about things that they're seeing on their phones, or things that are coming through that they're signing up for,” said Rep. Lisa Borowski (D-168), who is sponsoring House Bill 2557.

“A lot of times they aren't aware that they've opted into some sort of long term plan.”

Right now, the status quo for many subscription services is ‘negative options’. A person might subscribe to a service for a year, and then the subscription renews, without informing the person. Or they might subscribe to a service with a discount, but the discount ends and the subscription reverts to the normal price— without informing the person.

HB 2557 would require businesses to alert customers if their subscription is being renewed or changed.

“Before their credit card is charged for something they would get an email or some sort of a notification that would inform them that this is going to be happening,” said Borowski.

Business advocates have concerns with how the law would be enforced because of a private right of action— compared to the Attorney General being the only one to bring litigation. The PA Chamber of Commerce has said they do not support expanding business’ legal liability, and that businesses should be left to innovate how they navigate subscriber transparency.

Technet, who submitted testimony in a policy hearing on the bills, gave a statement that “We have concerns that HB 2557 in its current form will impede the ability to provide Pennsylvanians with convenient, easy-to-use, hassle-free options to continue services that they value.”

Lawmakers maintain that the bills provide consumer protection.

“People would come concerned, ‘what if subscribers cancel?’ I wouldn't cancel a service that I liked or I wanted to continue,” said Ciresi. “But if I want to cancel, I don't want to have to go through 700 questions, 33 pages and tell you what day my dog died in order to get this canceled.”

If the bills were passed, there would be the question of enforcing this law on out of state businesses that provide services in state.

The bills are set to be voted on in the House in the coming weeks. They did pass out of committee with bipartisan support.