(The Center Square) – Proposed legislation related to credit and debits cards, potentially impacting 6 in 10 North Carolinians, is on the agenda Tuesday for a legislative committee.
Five bills are listed for the House of Representatives’ Committee on Commerce and Economic Development. Included is one restricting businesses from profiting on electronic transaction fees they are assessed, and another bans hostile governments from acquiring agricultural land near military installations.
Charges for Payments by Credit or Debit Card, known also as House Bill 13, says a merchant “shall not impose a charge for payments by credit card or debit card that is more than the charge that the merchant pays to a payment card entity to facilitate or process these payments.”
Most analyses, with a caveat there are no sure numbers, say more than 60% of the state’s estimated 11 million residents do business with debit or credit cards.
The proposal says merchants, if they impose charges for the payments, “shall conspicuously disclose the amount of the charge in the advertisement.”
The civil penalty would be $2,500 for first violation, $5,000 for each after that. The enactment date if the bill becomes law is Oct. 1.
The proposal would next go to the Finance Committee, then the Rules Committee to await a floor vote.
The N.C. Farmland and Military Protection Act, or House Bill 133, would bar governments designated by the U.S. State Department as hostile from “purchasing, acquiring, leasing or holding any interest in agricultural land or land situated within a 75-mile radius of a military installation.” A companion piece is known as Senate Bill 504.
The committee also has on its agenda Social Media Protections for Minors Under 16, known also as House Bill 301; Fin. Exploit. Prevention/Savings Bank Updates, HB754; and Modernize NC S.A.F.E. Act, HB762.
