Consumer Protection
| Bills | Committee | Last action | Date |
| HB 228 - Cole - Virginia Consumer Protection Act; recycling information on products. | (H) Committee on Labor and Commerce | (H) Continued to 2025 in Labor and Commerce | 01/30/24 |
| notes: Prohibits the sale or offering for sale of any product that indicates on the product's container or packaging that such container or packaging is recyclable unless such container or packaging is made out of a material that is recyclable under a majority of regional and local waste management plans. The bill requires the Virginia Waste Management Board to maintain a list of all materials that are recyclable under a majority of regional and local waste management plans adopted and to make such list available on the Department of Environmental Quality's website. | |||
| HB 277 - Helmer - Consumer protection; transparency in ticket fees, civil penalties. | (H) Committee on Labor and Commerce (S) Committee on Finance and Appropriations | (S) Failed to pass in Senate | 03/09/24 |
| notes: Provides that every ticket of admission or other evidence of right of entry for admission to a professional concert, professional sporting event, or professional theatrical production, to which a price is charged, shall bear on its face the price charged for such ticket or other evidence of right of entry by the person issuing the same or causing the same to be issued. The bill allows for a civil penalty of not less than $1,000 nor more than $5,000 for each violation. | |||
| HB 313 - Hope - State Inspector General, Office of the; investigations of abuse/neglect at state psychiatric hosp. | (H) Committee on Health and Human Services (S) Committee on Education and Health | (G) Approved by Governor-Chapter 638 (effective 7/1/24) | 04/08/24 |
| notes: Directs the Office of the State Inspector General to (i) develop a plan to fulfill its statutory obligation to fully investigate all complaints it receives alleging abuse, neglect, or inadequate care at a state psychiatric hospital and (ii) submit such plan to the Chairmen of the House Committee on Health, Welfare and Institutions and the Senate Committee on Education and Health by November 1, 2024. The bill also requires the Office to submit an annual report to the General Assembly on or before December 1 regarding the number of such complaints received and the number of complaints that were fully investigated by the Office. | |||
| HB 692 - Maldonado - Financial institutions; reporting financial exploitation of elderly or vulnerable adults. | (H) Committee on Labor and Commerce (S) Committee on Commerce and Labor | (G) Approved by Governor-Chapter 530 (effective 7/1/24) | 04/05/24 |
| notes: Requires each financial institution with more than 20 employees to conduct a training to instruct the employees and officers of such financial institution on how to identify and report the suspected financial exploitation of a senior citizen, as defined in the bill, internally at such financial institution, to a designated trusted contact, as defined in the bill, and to the Federal Bureau of Investigation (FBI), the Department of Aging and Rehabilitative Services, and local law-enforcement authorities. The bill permits financial institutions with fewer than 20 employees to opt to provide such training in accordance with the bill's provisions. The bill requires an employee or officer of a financial institution who has received such training and reasonably believes that the financial exploitation of a senior citizen has occurred to promptly report such suspected financial exploitation to the FBI, the Department, and local law-enforcement authorities and permits such employee or officer to report such financial exploitation to any designated trusted contact unless such employee or officer reasonably believes that such trusted contact is involved in financial exploitation or other abuse of such senior citizen. The bill provides that no employees or officers who have received training pursuant to the bill's provisions shall be liable for disclosures pursuant to the bill's provisions if such disclosure was made in good faith and with reasonable care. The bill states that no financial institution that has provided training pursuant to the bill's provisions shall be liable for disclosures made by employees or officers of such financial institution pursuant to the bill's provisions. | |||
| HB 744 - Maldonado - Consumer protection; automatic renewal or continuous service offers. | (H) Committee on Labor and Commerce (S) Committee on Commerce and Labor | (G) Approved by Governor-Chapter 452 (effective 7/1/24) | 04/04/24 |
| notes: Requires a supplier making automatic renewal or continuous service offers that automatically renew after more than 30 days and extend the automatic renewal or continuous service offer for more than a period of 12 months to notify the consumer of the option to cancel no less than 30 days and no more than 60 days before the cancellation deadline or the end of the current contract term. | |||
| HB 1280 - Hernandez - Consumer protection; failure to honor service warranty. | (H) Committee on Labor and Commerce | (H) Continued to 2025 in Labor and Commerce | 02/08/24 |
| notes: Prohibits a supplier in connection with a consumer transaction from failing to honor a service warranty of another supplier after acquiring the business of such other supplier. A violation of the provisions of the bill constitutes a violation of the Virginia Consumer Protection Act. | |||
| HB 1320 - McClure - Virginia Consumer Protection Act; prohibited practices, mandatory fees disclosure. | (H) Committee on Labor and Commerce | (H) Continued to 2025 in Labor and Commerce | 02/08/24 |
| notes: Prohibits a supplier in connection with a consumer transaction from advertising, displaying, or offering any pricing information for goods or services without prominently displaying the total price, which shall include all mandatory fees or charges other than taxes imposed. | |||
| HB 1370 - Delaney - Health care providers, certain; reporting of medical debt to consumer reporting agencies prohibited. | (H) Committee on Labor and Commerce (S) Committee on General Laws and Technology | (G) Approved by Governor-Chapter 751 (effective 7/1/24) | 04/08/24 |
| notes: Prohibits certain medical care facilities, certain health care professionals, and emergency medical services agencies from reporting any portion of a medical debt, defined in the bill, to a consumer reporting agency. The bill requires such facilities, professionals, and agencies to include a provision in any contract entered into with a collection entity, defined in the bill, for the purchase or collection of medical debt that prohibits the reporting of any portion of such medical debt to a consumer reporting agency. The bill provides that any portion of a medical debt reported to a consumer reporting agency in violation of such prohibition or requirement is void. | |||
| SB 164 - Reeves - Virginia Consumer Protection Act; prohibited practices, artificial intelligence disclosure. | (S) Committee on General Laws and Technology | (S) Continued to 2025 in General Laws and Technology (15-Y 0-N) | 02/07/24 |
| notes: Prohibits the dissemination or sale of an item created with artificial intelligence technology that contains a videographic or still image intending to depict an actual person or an audio or audio-visual recording intending to depict the voice of an actual person where the creator has not disclosed the use of artificial intelligence technology. | |||
| SB 174 - Favola - Financial institutions; reporting financial exploitation of elderly or vulnerable adults. | (H) Committee on Labor and Commerce (S) Committee on Commerce and Labor | (G) Approved by Governor-Chapter 578 (effective 7/1/24) | 04/05/24 |
| notes: Permits a financial institution, as defined in the bill, to allow an elderly or vulnerable adult, as defined in the bill, to submit and periodically update a list of trusted persons whom such financial institution or financial institution staff, as defined in the bill, may contact in the case of suspected financial exploitation of such adult. In such a case, the bill also allows a financial institution or financial institution staff to convey such suspicion to one or more certain individuals, provided that the recipient of such conveyance is not the suspected perpetrator of financial exploitation. The bill provides that a financial institution or financial institution staff shall be immune from any criminal, civil, or administrative liability for any act taken or omission made in accordance with the bill's provisions. | |||
| SB 252 - McDougle - Consumer Data Protection Act; controller privacy notice, consumer consent. | (S) Committee on General Laws and Technology | (S) Continued to 2025 in General Laws and Technology (15-Y 0-N) | 01/31/24 |
| notes: Requires the privacy notice that a controller must provide to consumers to include a method by which a consumer may opt out of the automatic placement of a data file, commonly referred to as a "cookie," on the consumer's computer or web browser and a disclosure of the purposes for which the data files are used. The bill prohibits controllers from using cookies, except those that are strictly necessary, without the prior express consent of the consumer and prohibits controllers from preventing access to their services if such consent is not granted. The bill also requires controllers to document and store proof of such consent and make available an easily accessible method by which consumers may withdraw such consent. | |||
| SB 388 - Pekarsky - Virginia Consumer Protection Act; prohibited practices, mandatory fees disclosure. | (H) Committee on Labor and Commerce (S) Committee on General Laws and Technology | (H) Failed to pass in House | 03/09/24 |
| notes: Prohibits a supplier in connection with a consumer transaction from advertising, displaying, or offering any pricing information for goods or services without prominently displaying the total price, which shall include all mandatory fees or charges other than taxes imposed. | |||
| SB 425 - Favola - Health insurance; ethics and fairness in carrier business practices. | (H) Committee on Labor and Commerce (S) Committee on Commerce and Labor | (G) Acts of Assembly Chapter text (CHAP0244) | 03/28/24 |
| notes: Makes various changes to requirements governing the business practices of health carriers in the processing and payment of claims. The bill prescribes criteria for what constitutes a "clean claim". The bill provides that the time limit for a retroactive denial is 12 months; however, a provider and a carrier may agree in writing that recoupment of overpayments by withholding or offsetting against future payments may occur after such 12 month-limit. The bill requires carriers, beginning July 1, 2025, to make available an electronic means for providers to determine whether an enrollee is covered by a health plan. The bill provides that the ethics and fairness requirements apply to the carrier and provider, regardless of any vendors, subcontractors, or other entities that have been contracted by the carrier or the provider to perform their duties. The bill provides that if a carrier's claim denial is overturned following completion of a dispute review, the carrier is required to consider the claims impacted by such decision as clean claims and all applicable laws related to the payment of a clean claim apply. The bill prohibits a provider from filing a complaint with the State Corporation Commission for failure to pay claims unless such provider has made a reasonable effort to confer with the carrier in order to resolve the issues related to all claims that are under dispute. Finally, the bill requires all provider contracts, amendments, and notices and certain other communications to be delivered electronically. | |||