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ADventures in Law

2025 Year-in-Review: Junk Fee Laws

It’s been a busy year for junk fees. In December 2024, the FTC <a href="https://www.adventures-in-law.com/blogs/the-ftc-provides-a-december-surprise-with-a-final-but-greatly-narrowed-junk-fees-rule/" target="_blank" rel="noreferrer noopener">announced its final Junk Fees Rule</a>. The rule generally requires that the total price be disclosed up front more prominently than any other pricing information, but it is limited to two specific industries: live event ticketing and short-term lodging. This scope is much narrower than that of the proposed rule, which would have applied to all industries with limited exceptions. While that would have imposed restrictions on more sellers, it also would have established a clear, national standard. Potentially due in part to the absence of that standard, we’ve seen an uptick in state laws, creating a patchwork of compliance requirements across the country. Several laws regulate specific industries, such as ticketing and lodging, but many others broadly apply to all advertised prices for consumer goods and services. These laws typically require that the advertised price include all mandatory fees, excluding shipping and taxes.

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With respect to those broadly applicable laws, we’ve blogged previously about the <a href="https://www.adventures-in-law.com/blogs/minnesota-passes-junk-fee-law-and-california-issues-faqs/" target="_blank" rel="noreferrer noopener">California and Minnesota statutes</a>, passed in 2023 and 2024, respectively, as well as the <a href="https://www.adventures-in-law.com/blogs/massachusetts-finalizes-junk-fee-regulation/" target="_blank" rel="noreferrer noopener">Massachusetts regulation</a> released earlier this year. In addition to these states, Colorado, Connecticut, Oregon, and Virginia all created broad junk fee laws in 2025. We’ve summarized each of those state’s laws below.

<ul>
<li>Colorado
<ul>
<li>Legislation: <a href="https://s3.us-west-2.amazonaws.com/beta.leg.colorado.gov/c81e11e7fb56fa7dd6f19e7ab40609c2" target="_blank" rel="noopener">HB25-1090</a> goes into effect Jan. 1, 2026.</li>
<li>Standard: Colorado does not require that all advertised prices be the total price, but if advertising a price, then the total price must always be included and be more prominent than any other pricing information. Total price includes all amounts that are not reasonably avoidable. For non-mandatory fees, the seller must identify what is being charged, its refundability, and the recipient of the fee.</li>
<li>Exclusions: The total price excludes government or shipping charges. Government charges are defined as fees imposed on consumers specifically. Shipping charges are defined as fees that reflect the actual cost to send physical goods. Additionally, variable fees that cannot be determined when the price is advertised – for example, because they depend on consumer selections or information – do not need to be included in the total price. If excluding variable fees, the ad must clearly and conspicuously disclose the factors that determine the total price, any mandatory fees, and that the total price of the services may vary.</li>
<li>Exceptions: A food and beverage service establishment may exclude a mandatory service charge so long as it is clearly and conspicuously disclosed. Delivery network companies can comply by including the variable fee disclosure discussed above when the customer selects a vendor, so long as all fees are itemized on a subtotal page. Separately, transactions subject to a federal law regarding price transparency are exempt from these requirements. The statute lists several examples, such as the Truth in Savings Act or broadband consumer label requirements for internet.</li>
</ul>
</li>
<li>Connecticut 
<ul>
<li>Legislation: <a href="https://www.cga.ct.gov/asp/CGABillStatus/cgabillstatus.asp?selBillType=Bill&amp;bill_num=SB3" target="_blank" rel="noopener">SB 3</a> goes into effect July 1, 2026.</li>
<li>Standard: The advertised price must include all mandatory fees.</li>
<li>Exclusions: The advertised price may exclude taxes and mandatory government fees from the total price shown. A mandatory gratuity may also be excluded so long as its existence is clearly and conspicuously disclosed. Similarly, fees that cannot be calculated, such as variable fees, can be excluded, but their existence must be disclosed. Notably, while other states expressly exclude shipping from fees that must be included in the advertised price, Connecticut does not. It instead addresses shipping or delivery through the lens of the variable fee exception – if shipping is dependent on factors like where the customer lives, the shipping rate they choose, and how much they buy, then it can be excluded from the advertised price.</li>
<li>Exceptions: Certain transactions subject to other state and federal laws are expressly exempted.</li>
</ul>
</li>
<li>Oregon
<ul>
<li>Legislation: <a href="https://olis.oregonlegislature.gov/liz/2025R1/Downloads/MeasureDocument/SB430/Enrolled" target="_blank" rel="noopener">SB 430</a> goes into effect Jan. 1, 2026.</li>
<li>Standard: The price for goods or services sold online must include in all ads, not only those online, all fees a consumer must pay to complete a transaction for those goods or services.</li>
<li>Exclusions: The advertised price may exclude taxes, fees imposed by the government on the transaction, and reasonable charges actually incurred to ship the goods or provide the services to the purchaser. The “provide services” language is broader than other states’ language, which typically is expressly limited to shipping. Variable service fees can also be excluded so long as they are prominently disclosed before the purchaser agrees to pay.</li>
<li>Exceptions: There are specific exemptions for financial institutions, mortgage entities, and broadband internet providers to the extent they are complying with specific disclosure requirements for the transaction under applicable law.</li>
</ul>
</li>
<li>Virginia
<ul>
<li>Legislation: Virginia’s law , Virginia Code <a href="https://law.lis.virginia.gov/vacode/title59.1/chapter58/">§ 59.1-607 et seq.</a>, went into effect July 1, 2025.</li>
<li>Standard: Must clearly and conspicuously disclose the total price, which includes all mandatory fees. In comparison to other state laws, this standard is less onerous – it requires that the total price be disclosed whenever a price is advertised, but it does not require the advertised price to be the total price or that the total price be advertised more prominently.</li>
<li>Exclusions: The total price may exclude taxes, government-imposed fees, or reasonable postage or shipping fees. Additionally, variable fees may be excluded if there is a clear and conspicuous disclosure of the factors determining the price, any mandatory fees, and that the total cost of the services may vary.</li>
<li>Exceptions: The statute exempts transactions in which its application would be preempted by federal law and certain fees related to motor vehicles, utilities (including telecommunications), settlement services, and air travel.</li>
</ul>
</li>
</ul>

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The pace of new laws in this area is not slowing down, and legislation is proceeding in several other states. Any seller that applies fees needs to consider what steps it’s taking to comply. We’ll continue to update you here on future developments.

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