Rhode Island Bill Regulating Automatic Charges Made by Health Clubs Held by Committee

Rhode Island Bill Regulating Automatic Charges Made by Health Clubs Held by Committee

S.B.7242, a bill to regulate the auto-billing of members by health clubs recently filed in Rhode Island which we previously alerted you on, was recently held for further study by the Senate Commerce Committee. This means that the bill is not slated to proceed out of the committee at this time. However, the bill could be brought back into consideration this session.

The bill would require health clubs which automatically deduct from a checking or savings account, a credit card, or a similar device on a regular schedule to do the following:

Cease charging the consumer within 30 calendar days of receiving notice from the consumer that they would like the automatic charge to be stopped
Provide the consumer with notice of rate increases or substantial changes of service in writing within 60 days prior to the rate increase or service changes taking effect

If the health club is found guilty of violations, the consumer would not be responsible for any further charges and may terminate their contractual agreement from the date of the violation. In addition to a fine of up to $1,000 to the health club.

IHRSA opposes this bill as the effect would be to allow for cancellation of membership contracts for any reason with 30 days notice. Thank you to those who submitted testimony for the hearing on this bill last week. We will continue to work with our contacts in the Rhode Island State Senate to oppose the bill should it be brought back up for consideration.

If you have questions about this or other legislative issues affecting the health club industry in Rhode Island, please contact Jake Landry, IHRSA’s public policy assistant.