The Electronic Payments Coalition (EPC) has urged the Pennsylvania legislature to reject a bill (H.B. 2394) passed by the House Finance Committee, which aims to change how credit and debit card transactions are processed in the state. The proposed legislation seeks to exempt interchange fees on the sales tax portion of transactions. Interchange fees are paid for transmitting payments over card payment networks.
"Pennsylvania should not follow Illinois by passing a provision to drive up operational costs for small businesses and reduce consumers’ privacy," EPC Executive Chairman Richard Hunt stated. "If this experimental bill becomes law, Pennsylvania small businesses will foot the bill for upgraded payment processing systems and be forced to transmit additional information about consumers’ purchases. This is a loss for small businesses and a loss for consumers – but a windfall for the largest convenience store chains and corporate mega-stores."
The Pennsylvania House Finance Committee's proposal mirrors recent legislation in Illinois, where a similar measure was incorporated into the state budget and passed over Memorial Day Weekend. The Illinois law is scheduled to take effect in July 2025. No other states or countries have implemented such a program due to technical challenges, costs to small businesses, and consumer privacy concerns. An editorial from the Chicago Tribune has called for repealing the provision to avoid "credit card chaos in Illinois."
For more information, visit www.guardyourcard.com/pennsylvania.
"We believe investing in new technologies and legislating national data security standards will create a stronger payment system," Hunt added.