Introduced By: Senators Breene and Irons
Date Introduced : June 26, 1998
It is enacted by the General Assembly as follows:
SECTION 1. Sections 5-50-2 and 5-50-3 of the General Laws in Chapter 5-50 entitled "Health Clubs" are hereby amended to read as follows:
5-50-2. Registration -- Fees -- Renewals -- Suspension or revocation. -- (A) No person, firm, corporation or other entity shall operate or cause to be operated a health club unless duly registered as provided in this chapter.
(B) Each health club shall be registered with the Department.
A health club shall file a registration statement in accordance with subsection (C) of this section before entering into a health club contract with a buyer. All contracts entered into when a health club does not have a current registration statement filed shall be void. A nonrefundable registration fee of one hundred dollars ($100) is required of all health clubs. Registration shall be valid for one year from the effective date thereof and may be annually renewed with the Department by making the filing required by subsection (C) of this section and paying a renewal fee of fifty ($50) dollars. Whenever, prior to expiration of a seller's annual registration, there is material change in the information required by subsection (C) of this section, the seller shall, within ten (10) days, file an addendum updating the information with the Department.
(C) The registration forms to be provided by the Consumer Protection
Unit of the Department shall include: (1) name and address of
the health club and any multiple location operations; (2) names
and residential addresses of officers, directors and majority
stockholders of the health club; (3) parent company if any; (4)
approximate square footage of the health club; (5) type of available
facilities; (6) type of membership plans offered and their cost;
(7) copy of the contract for health club services; (8) a full
and complete disclosure of any pending or completed litigation,
or any complaint filed with governmental authority against the
health club or any of its officers or directors within the last
three years; (9) proof of bonding {ADD if applicable ADD} as required
by section 5-50-3; (10) appropriate certification or documentation
from the municipality where the health club is located that the
facility {DEL is in DEL} {ADD has not been cited as being
in violation of ADD}compliance with applicable zoning and planning
regulations, fire regulations and building codes. It shall be
the responsibility of the applicant to provide such documentation
to the Department. The Department may waive this requirement for
applicants from municipalities without such codes or regulations;
and (11) the names and locations of any health club in which any
of the principals may have been associated in the last three (3)
years.
The principals who leave a health club will remain subject to the provisions of this section and chapter until such time that notice is given to the Department that they are no longer associated with the registered health club. Any replacement principal shall file with the Department a notice which shall be made in the form of an updated registration application. Any changes in physical locations within Rhode Island must be made in writing to the Department within ten (10) days of the move.
(D) No health club shall engage in any act or practice which is in violation of the provisions of this chapter or any regulation adopted to carry out the provisions of this chapter, or engage in conduct likely to mislead, deceive or defraud the buyer, the public or the local authority. The Department may refuse to grant or renew a registration or may suspend or revoke the registration of any health club which engages in any conduct prohibited by this chapter or does not comply with the statutory requirements set forth in sections 5-50-3 and 5-50-7.
5-50-3. Bonding. -- (a) Prior to the execution of any contract for health club services, every seller which sells contracts for health club services, except (1) non-profit organizations, weight loss and control services which do not provide physical exercise facilities and classes, and which do not obligate the customer for more than thirty (30) days, and which do not require an initiation fee as a condition of said contract, and (2) a seller which does not require an initiation fee as a condition of a health club contract and whose only type of membership does not exceed thirty (30) days and which posts a conspicuous notice, placed with or near its schedule of rates posted pursuant to section 5-50-8(B) or at its entrances, that the seller is not subject to the bonding requirements of this section, shall for each individual health club location or facility obtain a surety bond in the amount of ten thousand dollars ($10,000) for a facility with less than ten thousand (10,000) square feet of permanently covered non-court sport exercise/aerobic/fitness area; twenty thousand ($20,000) for facilities between ten thousand (10,000) square feet and twenty-five thousand (25,000) square feet of permanently covered non-court sport exercise/aerobic/fitness area; and thirty thousand dollars ($30,000) for facilities with greater than twenty-five thousand (25,000) square feet of permanently covered non-court sport exercise/aerobic/fitness area. Proof of bonding must be presented at the time of registration or re-registration. {ADD This section shall not apply to any owner/operator in continuous operation in the same location for five (5) years as of January 1, 1998. ADD}
SECTION 2. This act shall take effect upon passage.
