On June 2, Louisiana Governor Jeff Landry signed SB 254 into law as Act 751, prohibiting retail businesses from imposing surcharges on customers who pay with a debit card. The law takes effect August 1, 2026.
Virginia’s New Business Screening Services Program: Key Compliance Obligations
Virginia is implementing a new Business Screening Services (BSS) program that will significantly change how private background screening companies handle Virginia criminal and traffic history records.
Virginia’s New Uniform Consumer Debt Default Judgments Act: What Creditors Need to Know About HB 444
On April 8, Virginia Governor Abigail Spanberger signed HB 444, the Uniform Consumer Debt Default Judgments Act, into law. The Act establishes pleading and notice requirements in certain consumer debt collection actions that must be met for a creditor to obtain a default judgment against a consumer. This Act is based on a model drafted by the Uniform Law Commission, similar versions of which have been enacted in Washington and introduced in Pennsylvania. HB 444 will take effect on July 1, 2027.
President Trump Nominates Brian Johnson to Lead the CFPB
On June 10, President Trump sent to the Senate his nomination of Brian Johnson to serve as Director of the Consumer Financial Protection Bureau (CFPB or Bureau) for a five-year term.The CFPB has been without a confirmed, full-time director since former Director Rohit Chopra was fired on February 1, 2025 (discussed here).
CFPB and FinCEN Sharpen Focus on Non‑Work Authorized Populations, Ability to Repay, and BSA/AML Risk
Federal regulators recently took two coordinated steps that significantly shift expectations for how lenders and banks treat non‑work authorized individuals and their employers. On June 5, the Consumer Financial Protection Bureau (CFPB or Bureau) issued a formal statement on how immigration status should factor into ability‑to‑repay determinations under the Truth in Lending Act (TILA) and Regulation Z. On the same day, the U.S. Department of the Treasury’s Financial Crimes Enforcement Network (FinCEN), jointly with the federal banking agencies and in coordination with the Internal Revenue Service (IRS), released a detailed advisory on fraud, payroll schemes, and money laundering risks associated with the unlawful employment of non-work authorized persons, including specific guidance regarding the use of Individual Taxpayer Identification Numbers (ITINs) and Suspicious Activity Reports (SARs).
April 2026 Consumer Litigation Filings: All Major Statutes Up for the First Time in Over a Year
Statistics for April consumer litigation filings are in, and, for the first time in over a year, all three of the top consumer protection statutes moved up month-over-month. According to a report by WebRecon, court filings under the Telephone Consumer Protection Act (TCPA), Fair Debt Collection Practices Act (FDCPA), and Fair Credit Reporting Act (FCRA) all increased in April compared to March. This is the first time since March 2025 that all three statutes have been up in the same month. Consumer Financial Protection Bureau (CFPB) complaint volume dipped in April, but is still up year-over-year.
The Governor’s Veto of Virginia’s Proposed Class Action Bill: What Businesses Should Know
On May 19, Virginia Governor Abigail Spanberger (D) indicated that she intends to veto SB 229, a pending bill which would have created a Virginia state court class action mechanism and would have modified the Virginia Consumer Protection Act (VCPA) in critical ways. Governor Spanberger initially noted that she “approve[d] the general purpose of this bill,” but returned it to the legislature with proposed amendments.
OCC Finalizes Escrow Rules to Further Strengthen Federal Preemption
On May 15, the Office of the Comptroller of the Currency (OCC) finalized two closely linked rules on mortgage escrow accounts that respond directly to the issues we discussed in our recent post, Second Circuit on Remand in Cantero: New York Escrow-Interest Law Is Preempted, Over a Vigorous Dissent. In that decision, the Second Circuit held that New York’s 2% interest‑on‑escrow statute is preempted as applied to national banks under the Barnett Bank standard, deepening a circuit split with the First and Ninth Circuits. The OCC’s new rules both adopt the Second Circuit’s view of the underlying bank powers and attempt to bring regulatory clarity to the interest‑on‑escrow preemption question for OCC‑regulated institutions nationwide.
New York City Proposed “Click to Cancel” Rule Marks First Municipal Effort to Regulate Automatic Subscription Renewals
Marking the latest development in the trend toward increased regulation of automatically renewing subscription offers, on April 8, the New York City Department of Consumer and Worker Protection (DCWP) proposed what would be the nation’s first municipal “Click to Cancel” rule. This proposed regulation would mirror existing state law requirements providing for consumer rights and protections concerning automatic renewal or continuous service offers. In doing so, the DCWP takes aim at so-called “subscription traps” that it claims unfairly prevent consumers from discontinuing services they no longer wish to pay for. Specifically, the rule would make failure to offer consumers streamlined cancellation methods for continuous service offers a deceptive and unconscionable practice in violation of the New York City Administrative Code. This proposal marks the latest development in New York City’s efforts to prioritize consumer protection initiatives across economic sectors. Important elements of the proposed rule are summarized below.
Maryland Enacts Sweeping Earned Wage Access Reforms, Bans Tipping
On April 28, Governor Wes Moore (D) signed Senate Bill 94 into law, significantly revising Maryland’s earned wage access (EWA) framework and tightening restrictions on tipping practices in both EWA programs and certain consumer loans. The new law amends multiple provisions of the Commercial Law Article and adds new sections governing advertising, anti‑discrimination, and regulatory safe harbors.