OAKLAND — California Attorney General Rob Bonta today issued a statement in response to Senate Bill 478 (SB 478), a bill that he sponsored, being signed into law by Governor Gavin Newsom. Coauthored by Senator Bill Dodd (D-Napa) and Senator Nancy Skinner (D-Berkeley), the legislation will prohibit hidden fees (also called ‘junk fees’) in California beginning on July 1, 2024.
This law does not ban hidden fees. There are plenty of hidden fees that this law does nothing about.
This law makes it illegal to advertise a price that doesn’t account for included fees. If a concert ticket is $40 with a $20 “service” fee, this law would require the tickets to be listed as $60 tickets. This law does not require taxes to be included in advertised prices, sales tax is added after the advertised price.
This law only prohibits misleading advertising of pricing, it however does not require disclosure of pricing.
The biggest source of hidden fees is the medical billing. Healthcare costs are nearly all hidden fees because healthcare providers rarely disclose prices in advance. This bill does nothing about that, because if a price is not advertised, this bill does not effect it, and this bill does not require disclosure of pricing in advance.
This bill is an improvement. This bill will reduce misrepresentation of pricing, but it does not actually ban hidden fees outright.
What about pricing like at my local Kroger store where in the list 99 cents with digital coupon and a QR code and then teeny teeny tiny text that says $3.99 regular price.
This law does not ban hidden fees. There are plenty of hidden fees that this law does nothing about.
This law makes it illegal to advertise a price that doesn’t account for included fees. If a concert ticket is $40 with a $20 “service” fee, this law would require the tickets to be listed as $60 tickets. This law does not require taxes to be included in advertised prices, sales tax is added after the advertised price.
This law only prohibits misleading advertising of pricing, it however does not require disclosure of pricing.
The biggest source of hidden fees is the medical billing. Healthcare costs are nearly all hidden fees because healthcare providers rarely disclose prices in advance. This bill does nothing about that, because if a price is not advertised, this bill does not effect it, and this bill does not require disclosure of pricing in advance.
This bill is an improvement. This bill will reduce misrepresentation of pricing, but it does not actually ban hidden fees outright.
What about pricing like at my local Kroger store where in the list 99 cents with digital coupon and a QR code and then teeny teeny tiny text that says $3.99 regular price.