AUGUSTA – The Maine Senate has unanimously voted to advance legislation from State Senator Tim Nangle, D–Windham, that would make it easier for Mainers to cancel subscription services and gym memberships they no longer want.
Nangle’s LD 1642, “An Act to Protect Maine Consumers by Simplifying Subscription and Health Club Membership Cancellations,” ensures that if a consumer can sign up for a subscription or gym membership online, they must also be allowed to cancel it online. The bill targets a growing problem in consumer protection: businesses that make enrollment easy, but cancellation deliberately difficult.
“Too many Mainers are getting stuck in subscriptions they no longer want — usually not because they forgot, but because companies purposefully make it hard to cancel,” Nangle said. “This bill is about basic fairness. It should be just as easy to get out of a subscription as it was to get into it. And that includes for-profit gyms that rely on obstacles to keep charging people who aren't even using the service.”
The bill strengthens Maine’s consumer protection law by requiring:
Clear disclosure of subscription or membership terms before enrollment
Affirmative consent before charging for automatic renewals
Online cancellation using the same method as sign-up
Advance notice before long-term renewals.
Recent federal action by the Federal Trade Commission has imposed similar requirements nationally. Nangle’s LD 1642 would enshrine those protections in state law, making them permanent and enforceable regardless of future changes at the federal level.
As amended on the floor by Nangle, the bill would also expand protections to cover health club memberships – particularly those offered by for-profit gyms which are among the most difficult subscriptions for consumers to cancel. Some gyms allow consumers to sign up in minutes online or through a convenient app but then require them to go to a physical gym location in person to cancel. LD 1642 would end this practice by requiring that if someone can sign up online, they must be able to cancel online too.
The LD 1642 legislation now faces additional votes in the House and Senate.
Nangle is serving his second term in the Maine Senate, representing Casco, Frye Island, Raymond, Windham and part of Westbrook. He serves as Senate Chair of the Transportation Committee and sits on the Health and Human Services Committee. <
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