Fiscal impact reports (FIRs) are prepared by the Legislative Finance Committee (LFC) for standing finance
committees of the Legislature. LFC does not assume responsibility for the accuracy of these reports if they
are used for other purposes.
F I S C A L I M P A C T R E P O R T
SPONSOR Trujillo
LAST UPDATED
ORIGINAL DATE 02/14/2025
SHORT TITLE
Electronic Disclosure for Rental
Agreements
BILL
NUMBER Senate Bill 179
ANALYST Gygi
ESTIMATED ADDITIONAL OPERATING BUDGET IMPACT*
(dollars in thousands)
Agency/Program
FY25 FY26 FY27
3 Year
Total Cost
Recurring or
Nonrecurring
Fund
Affected
NMAG
No fiscal
impact
No fiscal
impact
No fiscal
impact
Parentheses ( ) indicate expenditure decreases.
*Amounts reflect most recent analysis of this legislation.
Sources of Information
LFC Files
Agency Analysis Received From
New Mexico Attorney General (NMAG) New Mexico Mortgage Finance Authority (MFA)
SUMMARY
Synopsis of Senate Bill 179
Senate Bill 179 (SB179) amends the New Mexico Rental Purchase Agreement Act (Sections 57-
26-1 through 57-26-12 NMSA 1978) allowing certain required disclosures to be made
electronically for property displayed or offered online. The bill would add a new Subsection E to
existing statute, which requires the following disclosures for “rent-to-own” or rental purchase
agreements: (1) the cash price of the item; (2) the amount of the periodic payment; and (3) the
total number and total amount of periodic payments necessary to acquire ownership.
SB179 allows these disclosures to be made electronically for e-commerce transactions, so long
as these three disclosures are made “clearly and conspicuously” and prior to the additional, more
extensive disclosures required by a different section of the Act (Section 57-26-5).
The bill also ensures that if an advertisement is in a language other than English, the required
disclosures must also be in that same non-English language.
This bill does not contain an effective date and, as a result, would go into effect 90 days after the
Legislature adjourns if enacted, or June 20, 2025.
Senate Bill 179 – Page 2
FISCAL IMPLICATIONS
This bill would have no fiscal impact.
SIGNIFICANT ISSUES
Rent-to-own arrangements provide consumers an alternative to paying for merchandise upfront.
These items are often high-cost household products such as furniture, large appliances, media,
and computers. However, there is a downside: the final purchase price is much greater than the
retail price of the same item or the cost of financing over time.
According to a U.S. Congressional Research Service report:
1
The rent-to-own industry attracts consumers who may have a hard time qualifying for
credit, do not have enough cash for a purchase, and are unable or unwilling to wait and
save for an item…. The total of the installment payments can be two to three
times (sometimes more) the retail price of the item. Consumer advocates state one way
to clearly see the high final cost of a rental purchase item is by calculating what the
effective annual percentage rate (APR) for the transaction would be.
As of 2007, 47 states had rent-to-own laws; the majority regulate rent-to-own transactions
similar to leases. The industry supports these laws, but consumer advocates oppose them arguing
that rent-to-own transactions should be treated instead as credit sales.
The New Mexico Rental-Purchase Agreement Act includes the following definition in Section
57-26-2 NMSA 1978.
"Rental-purchase agreement" means an agreement for the use of goods by an individual
for personal, family or household purposes, for an initial period of four months or less,
that is automatically renewable with each payment after the initial period, that does not
obligate or require the consumer to continue renting or using the goods beyond the initial
period and that permits the consumer to become the owner of the goods.
The act governs the information that must be included in rental-purchase agreements and sets
rules for how to advertise and disclose information about these agreements. Currently, statute
requires this information be declared on a tag or card physically attached to the item. SB179
allows for electronic disclosure of required information for property displayed or offered online
provided it is clearly and conspicuously displayed. The New Mexico Attorney General (NMAG)
comments that typically means by bolded or large font text.
SB179 would modernize disclosure requirements to accommodate online and electronic rental-
purchase transactions while maintaining consumer protection standards. As noted by the New
Mexico Mortgage Finance Authority (MFA), this amendment would align digital advertising
regulation of rent-to-own property with print advertising regulation.
It is not clear whether these disclosures apply to rent-to-purchase agreements regarding housing.
1
The federal government does not regulate rent-to-own agreements although Congress has made several attempts to
do so, see 2007 https://www.everycrsreport.com/reports/RS21467.html.
Senate Bill 179 – Page 3
KG/hj/SL2