Lizeth GeorgeIn recent years, state legislatures have taken up interchange legislation due to lack of movement at the federal level. This year in Florida, Senate Bill 564 and House Bill 677 were introduced to exclude sales tax and now tips from interchange fees charged for electronic payment transactions. A newly filed amendment would require the card issuer to provide the refund to the consumer for miscalculated charges and would result in a $1,000 fine to the financial institution, despite this being the fault of the merchant. This egregious proposal would increase the cost of maintaining the system and reduce revenues for those who maintain it.
Reduction in this revenue for issuers could lead to certain industries having a greater fraud expense than what they collect in interchange fees, representing an unfair risk to credit unions.
We are fighting this proposal aggressively, and we need to mobilize our grassroots strength in full force to stop this legislation. We have begun running ads that geofence the Florida Capitol explaining the negative implications of these proposals.
Due to the ever-changing perception and messaging around these bills, we have updated our action alert and request that you please contact your State Senator and State Representative asking them to vote “no” on both proposals.
