FOR IMMEDIATE RELEASE
December 20, 2023
PHOENIX — Representative Analise Ortiz will introduce legislation for the 2024 session to ban businesses from charging misleading and deceptive junk fees, such as the “processing” or “convenience” fees charged by large corporations such as Ticketmaster.
These fees have become ubiquitous across the economy — in sectors as diverse as live event tickets, rental lodging, food delivery, cell phones, and rental housing — and collectively cost consumers billions of dollars annually, while providing them no actual benefits or services. Research has shown that junk fees can add as much as 20 percent to the total cost of a product. Junk fees also unfairly disadvantage local business owners who want to deal honestly with customers, and whose products appear artificially more expensive by comparison.
“Large corporations unfairly charge Arizona consumers loads of bogus junk fees, nickel and diming those who can least afford it,” said Ortiz, who will formally introduce the measure in early January. “Under my bill, the price you see is the price you pay — period. Businesses should compete on providing the best service at the lowest price, not on coming up with new ways to trick and frustrate consumers with deceptive fees.”
Rep. Ortiz’s legislation would require businesses to list the full price of a product, including all mandatory fees, up-front, so consumers could fairly compare actual prices from the beginning of each transaction. There is a growing movement across the country, from the Biden Administration to legislators in several states, to ban junk fees.
“Bogus, deceptive junk fees are an unfair and anti-competitive business practice, and banning them would benefit all Arizonans,” said Pat Garofalo, director of state and local policy at the American Economic Liberties Project. “We applaud Rep. Ortiz for her leadership on this issue and urge the legislature to pass her bill ASAP.”
-30-
