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HB 49PENNSYLVANIASession 2025-2026State Billin committee

High Impact

Pennsylvania Bill 49 voids unenforced standardized contract terms that alter consumer legal rights

Original title: An Act amending the act of June 23, 1993 (P.L.128, No.29), known as the Plain Language Consumer Contract Act, further providing for definitions and providing for standardized terms in form contracts.

Last action · January 14, 2025: Referred to COMMUNICATIONS AND TECHNOLOGY, Jan. 14, 2025Sponsors: Kristine Howard and 10 others

Bill progressHistory & official text ↓

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Floor Vote

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What This Bill Would Do

Pennsylvania House Bill 49 invalidates standardized terms in merchant s that materially alter a consumer's legal rights or obligations without proper awareness, applying to electronic and paper contracts executed 60 days after enactment.

Who It Would Affect

Groups the bill's text would affect if enacted, as described in the record. Being affected is not a position for or against it.

Directly affected

Consumers

Consumers gain protection from unenforced hidden or unnegotiated standardized contract terms that restrict legal rights.

Directly affected

Merchants

Merchants must ensure standardized form contract terms meet statutory notice and materiality requirements to remain enforceable.

Key Facts

You don't have to trust us. Each fact below is taken straight from the official document - click any one to see the exact passage, highlighted in the original.

Frequently Asked Questions

What happens if a form contract contains a hidden clause limiting a merchant's liability?

Under House Bill 49, such terms carry a of materially altering the contract and are unenforceable unless the consumer was expressly aware and had reasonable notice.

Does signing an electronic or paper contract mean I am automatically bound by all its standardized terms?

No. The bill explicitly states that a printed, typed, or electronic signature shall not be regarded as evidence of awareness of a standardized term.

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Where This Stands

Currently in committee. The next step in the legislative lifecycle is Floor Vote.

Procedural history

1 action

Jan 14, 2025HouseCommittee
Referred to COMMUNICATIONS AND TECHNOLOGY, Jan. 14, 2025

Version history

Only one version on file - nothing to compare yet. As later stages (committee substitute, engrossed, enrolled) are captured, the redline appears here.

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Lobbying Activity

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Full breakdown

Who this bill affects and the strongest case for and against it, written only from the bill’s own text.

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