Expansive Consumer Protection Bill Clears Legislature

SB 3, an expansive consumer protection bill, received final approval from the House of Representatives May 29 and now awaits action by Gov. Ned Lamont.

The bill concludes a multiyear effort by proponents to adopt total price disclosures for products and services and right-to-repair regulations on consumer goods.

It prohibits businesses that offer to sell, lease, or provide any goods or services from advertising, displaying, or offering them for a price that does not include all fees, charges, and costs, excluding applicable taxes.

The bill does not prohibit, however, businesses from imposing or omitting fees, charges, or other costs on the advertised or displayed price of goods or services if the additional cost:

• depends on a person’s selection;
• cannot feasibly be calculated in full when the price is first advertised or displayed, including costs for shipping or delivery or that vary according to a person’s location or the quantity or number of goods purchased, leased, or received;
• is a charge of up to $1 to confirm identity or payment information, if the charge is promptly refunded;
• is disclosed when the good or service is advertised or displayed to the person; or
• is disclosed to the person before they purchase the good or service.

Right-to-Repair

SB 3 also requires electronic or appliance product manufacturers to make available certain resources needed to diagnose, maintain, or repair their products.

The bill’s requirements apply to certain electronic or appliance products that are first manufactured, sold, or used in Connecticut on or after July 1, 2026.

The manufacturer must make the following resources available if it makes them available to an “authorized repair provider:”

• documentation, including product diagrams, manuals, reporting outputs, schematics, service code descriptions, or similar information;
• functional parts, including new or used replacement components;
• tools, including hardware, software, or other apparatus to calibrate or repair a product, including updates

Under the bill, service dealers or service and repair facilities that are not authorized repair providers for a manufacturer must disclose to the consumer that they are not an authorized repair provider.

Price Gouging

The bill also redefines price gouging as charging an unconscionably excessive price during certain declarations of emergency by the President of the United States or the Governor.

It expands the existing price gouging law’s application during these certain declared emergencies beyond the retail sale of consumer goods to the entire chain of distribution, such as wholesalers, and to rental and lease transactions.

The attorney general now has exclusive authority to enforce these price gouging provisions.

The bill establishes requirements for businesses that provide or collect information from a “connected device,” such as an Internet connected home appliance, television, or toy that includes a camera or microphone, by requiring the business to disclose to consumers that the product transmits audio and/or video back to the manufacturer and/or a third party and may be recorded and measures the consumer can take to protect personally identifiable information.

Subscription Renewal Requirements

The bill also prohibits requiring providers to build features that allow law enforcement to monitor communications through the camera or microphone.

The bill requires each business that enters into a consumer agreement that includes an automatic renewal or continuous services provision to send consumers an annual reminder with certain information and enable consumers to stop the renewal or services through a website, email, or telephone.

Businesses will now be required to establish telephone lines for the purpose of canceling a renewal of service.

Companies must now provide for this telephone line during business hours and set a procedure for how to respond to voicemails that consumers leave.