OAKLAND — California Attorney General Rob Bonta today issued a statement in response to Senate Bill 478 (SB 478), a bill that he sponsored, being signed into law by Governor Gavin Newsom.
Coauthored by Senator Bill Dodd (D-Napa) and Senator Nancy Skinner (D-Berkeley), the legislation will prohibit hidden fees (also called ‘junk fees’) in California beginning on July 1, 2024.
Hidden fees are fees in which a seller uses an artificially low headline price to attract a customer and usually either discloses additional required fees in smaller print, or reveals additional unavoidable charges later in the buying process.
“Today, California is eliminating hidden fees,” said Attorney General Rob Bonta.
“These deceptive fees prevent us from knowing how much we will be charged at the outset.
Hidden required fees are now charged for a variety of goods and services, such as lodging, tickets for live events, and restaurants and food delivery.
These fees, when mandatory, are a deceptive way of hiding the true price of a good or service. »