Auto-Renewal Laws by State: How the Rules Differ on Notices, Cancellation and Who Can Sue

The figures in the table come from a client alert published by Benesch on 14 August 2026. They are one firm's count on one date. Other trackers may count differently depending on whether they include regulations, industry-specific statutes and laws limited to long-term contracts.

The Restore Online Shoppers' Confidence Act, at 15 U.S.C. 8403, applies to goods or services sold over the internet through a negative option feature. It makes it unlawful to charge a consumer unless the seller clearly and conspicuously discloses all material terms of the transaction before obtaining billing information, obtains the consumer's express informed consent before charging, and provides simple mechanisms for a consumer to stop recurring charges.

The FTC's attempt to add detail did not survive. Its amended negative option rule was vacated by the Eighth Circuit in the summer of 2025 on procedural grounds. Covington reports that the older rule is limited to prenotification plans such as product-of-the-month clubs and does not cover automatic renewals or free-to-pay conversions. The FTC announced an advance notice of proposed rulemaking on 11 March 2026, with comments due by 13 April 2026. The research notes behind this post found no proposed rule after that.

The statutes we read share a structure, and several use nearly the same words. Oregon's section 646A.295 is a compact example. It bars failing to present the offer terms in a clear and conspicuous manner before the agreement is fulfilled and near the request for consent. It bars charging the consumer without first obtaining affirmative consent. It requires an acknowledgment that includes the terms and cancellation information in a form the consumer can keep.

The same statute requires a toll-free telephone number, an email address, a postal address where the seller bills directly, or another cost-effective, timely and easy-to-use mechanism for cancellation. A material change to the terms needs a clear and conspicuous notice before it takes effect, with cancellation information.

California, New York, Virginia, Colorado and Minnesota each contain those elements in some form. The differences come in what each state added on top.

This is where one template stops fitting. California asks for a notice 15 to 45 days before renewal when the initial term is one year or longer. New York asks for a notice 15 to 45 days before the cancellation deadline when the initial paid term is one year or longer and the renewal is for six months or longer. Those look alike, but they count from different dates.

Colorado's window is 25 to 40 days before the first automatic renewal and each later one, and for terms shorter than a year the notice is tied to renewals that carry the contract past each 12-month period. Virginia's applies when an offer renews after more than 30 days and extends for more than 12 months, and the notice is due 30 to 60 days before the cancellation deadline or the end of the contract. Benesch reports the same 30 to 60 day window in Illinois for contracts of 12 months or more. Minnesota takes a different route and requires a written notice at least once per calendar year for continuous service agreements.

Free trials have their own notices. California requires one 3 to 21 days before a free trial or promotion longer than 31 days ends. New York requires one 3 to 21 days before the cancellation deadline for the first paid period when a trial lasts more than a month. Minnesota requires one no fewer than 5 and no more than 30 days before the end of a trial longer than 30 days. Virginia also has a notice for trials longer than 30 days; check the section for its timing.

California requires that a consumer who accepted online be allowed to terminate exclusively online, at will, without further steps that obstruct or delay. New York requires cancellation to be as easy as the mechanism used to consent and available through the same medium, and says that if consent was given online, cancellation must be available online at least as easily.

Virginia's 2026 text requires a cancellation mechanism at least as easy as the sign-up method and available through each method used to start the offer. It adds that a consumer cannot be required to speak with a live or virtual agent unless sign-up required one, and that telephone cancellation must be free of charge. Benesch notes the 2026 amendments also removed a good-faith compliance defense.

Colorado describes a one-step online cancellation link as one way to meet its requirement for a simple, cost-effective, timely, easy-to-use and readily accessible mechanism. Minnesota requires a seller whose website has profile or subscription management features to include a 'termination election' on the site, in the form of a checkbox, button or similar simple mechanism that asks only for the information needed to process it.

California requires notice of a fee change no less than 7 and no more than 30 days before it takes effect. New York requires notice of material changes, including price increases, at least five business days and no more than 30 days beforehand. New York goes further for increases: the text requires either new affirmative consent or a chance to cancel within at least 14 days with a pro rata refund.

Colorado, Virginia and Oregon do not set a separate window for prices in the sections we read. Each requires clear and conspicuous notice of a material change with instructions for cancelling. Minnesota's text adds a consequence: a material change made without the required notice is 'void and unenforceable'.

Colorado gives the attorney general and district attorneys exclusive authority to enforce its section. New York's section is enforced by the attorney general, with civil penalties of up to 100 dollars per violation, or 500 dollars for a knowing violation, and higher caps for multiple violations from a single act. It also provides a defense for an unintentional, bona fide error made despite reasonable procedures.

Other states route claims through their general consumer protection statutes. Benesch reports that Illinois treats a violation as an unlawful practice under its Consumer Fraud Act, which carries a private right of action and attorneys' fees, with a safe harbor for a business that has established and implemented written procedures. It reports that Virginia allows private actions for damages or civil penalties of up to 5,000 dollars per violation. In California, per Benesch, the renewal law has no direct private right of action and plaintiffs sue under other consumer statutes.

Benesch's list of at least 17 jurisdictions that allow a class claim names Arkansas, California, Connecticut, Delaware, Hawaii, Idaho, Illinois, Maine, Massachusetts, Nevada, New Hampshire, New Mexico, North Dakota, Oregon, Tennessee, Vermont and Virginia. The firm calls California and Illinois the primary terrain of private class action filings. Among its examples are a 7.5 million dollar class settlement over YouTube TV renewals in California, announced in July 2026, and a 1.55 million dollar settlement with FloSports in Illinois approved in February 2024.

Benesch lists Louisiana (Act 830 of 2026), Maryland (2025), Minnesota (2024) and Virginia (2026 amendments) as recent additions. The history line on Virginia's section confirms chapters enacted in 2026, and Minnesota's sections cite a 2024 session law. We did not open the Louisiana or Maryland texts.

Pending bills on Benesch's list were Massachusetts HB 389, Michigan HB 4826, New Jersey A5395, New York S4391 and Pennsylvania HB 45. We have not checked whether any of them moved after August 2026. Massachusetts already has a regulation on Benesch's list, 940 CMR 38.00.

A vendor tracker published by Chargebee adds a New York City click-to-cancel rule shown as in effect from 1 October 2026 and a Louisiana click-to-cancel act expected on 1 January 2027. Those dates come from a billing vendor's page and should be confirmed against the official texts.

The statutes we read are each written around that state's consumers, so a seller with customers across the country may have several texts to read. The list below collects the features that recur in the stricter statutes we read. It is a reading aid for a conversation with counsel and is not a compliance standard.

• Renewal terms next to the consent control, with the post-trial price
• A consent action specific to the renewal terms
• A confirmation message with the terms and a cancel link
• Online cancellation for anyone who signed up online, with no required conversation
• A cancel control visible alongside any save offer
• Dated notices before a long trial ends, before a yearly term renews and before a price change
• A yearly reminder for ongoing subscriptions
• A per-subscriber log of what was shown, sent and agreed to