Washington, D.C. — The American Economic Liberties Project released the following statement after the Pennsylvania House voted to approve HB 636, a ban on so-called “junk fees” in the ticketing, food delivery, and lodging industries.

“Americans know that junk fees — those ubiquitous fees tacked onto purchases from concert tickets to hotel rooms — are unfair, and they want elected leaders to rein them in. HB 636 does just that,” said Pat Garofalo, Director of State and Local Policy at the American Economic Liberties Project. “By mandating that corporations abide by all-in pricing, disclosing the full price of a product at the beginning of the transaction, this bill would benefit consumers and local businesses, eliminating an anticompetitive tactic used to nickel and dime customers. We applaud Rep. Nick Pisciottano for his steadfast commitment to this issue, hope the bill swiftly becomes law, and that lawmakers at all levels of government act to eliminate junk fees all across the economy.”

Junk fees are extra fees that corporations add, often at the end of the purchasing process, that correspond to no additional service or benefit to the consumer. They have proliferated across the economy, costing consumers billions of dollars a year and causing a race to the bottom amongst businesses.

Rep. Pisciottano’s bill comes alongside sweeping momentum to take on junk fees at the federal and state level. Just in the past few weeks, the Federal Trade Commission proposed a flat out ban on hidden and bogus fees across the economy, the Consumer Financial Protection Bureau issued new guidance to stop big banks from charging excessive fees for basic services, and the state of California passed a law outlawing hidden charges on purchases.

Read “How States Can Take on Junk Fees,” to learn more.

Learn more about Economic Liberties here.

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The American Economic Liberties Project works to ensure America’s system of commerce is structured to advance, rather than undermine, economic liberty, fair commerce, and a secure, inclusive democracy. Economic Liberties believes true economic liberty means entrepreneurs and businesses large and small succeed on the merits of their ideas and hard work; commerce empowers consumers, workers, farmers, and engineers instead of subjecting them to discrimination and abuse from financiers and monopolists; foreign trade arrangements support domestic security and democracy; and wealth is broadly distributed to support equitable political power.