HOUSE DOCKET, NO. 1702 FILED ON: 1/12/2009
HOUSE .
. . . . . . . . . . . . . No. 238
The Commonwealth of Massachusetts
_______________
PRESENTED BY:
Joseph R. Driscoll, Jr.
_______________
To the Honorable Senate and House of
Representatives of the Commonwealth of Massachusetts in General
Court assembled:
The undersigned legislators and/or citizens respectfully petition for the passage of the accompanying bill:
An Act relative to credit card fees.
_______________
PETITION OF:
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Name:
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District/Address:
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Joseph R. Driscoll, Jr.
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5th Norfolk
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Christine E.
Canavan
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10th Plymouth
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Barbara A.
L'Italien
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18th Essex
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Stephen R.
Canessa
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12th Bristol
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Anne M. Gobi
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5th Worcester
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Robert M.
Koczera
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11th Bristol
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Allen J. McCarthy
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7th Plymouth
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Richard J. Ross
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9th Norfolk
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Michael F. Rush
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10th Suffolk
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Robert L.
Hedlund
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Plymouth and Norfolk
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David B. Sullivan
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6th Bristol
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Kathi
-Anne
Reinstein
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16th Suffolk
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The Commonwealth of Massachusetts
_______________
In the Year Two Thousand and Nine
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An Act relative to credit card fees.
Be it enacted by the Senate and House of Representatives in General Court assembled, and by the authority of the same, as follows:
Section 1.
Chapter
140D
of the General Laws is hereby amended
by inserting after section
28B
the following section:-
Section
28C
. As used in this section the following terms shall have the following meanings unless the context requires otherwise:
(1)
“account” the account between a card issuer and 1 or more cardholders
reflecting the outstanding balance of card transactions;
(2)
“account agreement” means the contract between the card issuer and the cardholder governing the parties respective rights and obligations respecting the account and transactions effected
thereunder
;
(3)
“cardholder” a natural person residing in the commonwealth who has agreed with a card issuer to pay debts arising from card transactions, whether the card used in such transactions has been issued to the cardholder or to another person;
(4)
“card issuer” or “
issuer” a person doing business in the commonwealth issues a credit card or that person’s agent or assignee with respect to the card;
(5)
“card transaction” or “transaction” a cash advance, purchase, or other extension of credit effected or obtained by means o
f a credit card or account number;
(6)
“debit card” any real or forged instrument, writing or other evidence known by any name issued with or without a fee by an issuer for the use of a depositor in obtaining money, goods, services or anything else of value, p
ayment of which is made against funds previously deposited in an account with the issuer; and
(7)
“
retail
merchant” a business with at least eighty percent (80%) of its credit card transactions conducted through a credit card terminal.
(a)
no
card issuer shall cha
rge to any retail merchant more than seventy-five hundredths of 1 percent 0.75% per transaction for all processing fees involving the use of a credit or debit card.
(b)
each
violation of a subsection (a) constitutes an unfair and deceptive act and shall be sub
ject to the procedures and penalties prescribed by section 31.
Section
2.The
provision of this section shall not be construed to impair any existing contract between a credit card issuer and a retail merchant. This section shall apply only to new contract
s between a credit card issuer and a retail merchant and upon the expiration or termination of existing contracts.
Section 3.
This act shall take effect on
July 1, 2009
.
