New York State Assembly

 
•  Summary 
 
•  Actions 
 
•  Committee Votes 
 
•  Floor Votes 
 
•  Memo 
 
•  Text 
 
•  LFIN 
 
•  Chamber Video/Transcript 

A02672 Summary:

A02672 Actions:

A02672 Committee Votes:

Committee:CONSUMER AFFAIRS AND PROTECTION   Chair:Rozic      
DATE:05/16/2023AYE/NAY:15/0  Action: Favorable refer to committee Codes        
Rozic
Aye
Mikulin
Aye
Fall
Excused
Miller
Aye
Burgos
Aye
Blumencranz
Aye
Gallagher
Aye
Beephan
Aye
Rajkumar
Aye
Maher
Aye
Forrest
Aye
Wallace
Aye
Bores
Aye
Lee
Aye
Alvarez
Aye
Simone
Aye

Committee:CODES   Chair:Dinowitz      
DATE:05/31/2023AYE/NAY:21/0  Action: Favorable refer to committee Rules        
Dinowitz
Aye
Morinello
Aye
Pretlow
Aye
Reilly
Aye
Cook
Aye
Mikulin
Aye
O'Donnell
Excused
Tannousis
Aye
Lavine
Aye
Curran
Aye
Weprin
Aye
Angelino
Aye
Hevesi
Aye
Flood
Aye
Seawright
Aye
Rosenthal
Aye
Walker
Aye
Vanel
Aye
Cruz
Aye
Carroll
Aye
Simon
Aye
Epstein
Aye

Committee:RULES   Chair:Pretlow      
DATE:06/05/2023AYE/NAY:28/0  Action: Favorable         
Heastie
Excused
Barclay
Aye
Weinstein
Aye
Hawley
Aye
Pretlow
Aye
Giglio
Aye
Cook
Aye
Blankenbush
Excused
Glick
Aye
Norris
Aye
Aubry
Aye
Ra
Aye
Dinowitz
Aye
Brabenec
Aye
Colton
Aye
Palmesano
Aye
Magnarelli
Aye
Reilly
Aye
Paulin
Aye
Peoples-Stokes
Aye
Benedetto
Aye
Lavine
Aye
Lupardo
Aye
Zebrowski
Aye
Thiele
Aye
Braunstein
Aye
Dickens
Aye
Davila
Aye
Hyndman
Excused
Rozic
Aye
Bronson
Aye

A02672 Floor Votes:

A02672 Memo:

NEW YORK STATE ASSEMBLY
MEMORANDUM IN SUPPORT OF LEGISLATION
 submitted in accordance with Assembly Rule III, Sec 1(f)



 
BILL NUMBER: A2672B
 
SPONSOR: Paulin

 
TITLE OF BILL:
 
An act to amend the general business law, in relation to requiring sell-
ers to clearly post the price of a credit card surcharge
 
 
PURPOSE OR GENERAL IDEA OF BILL:
 
To clarify that sellers, may impose a surcharge on customers who pay by
credit card, so long as the seller clearly posts the credit card price,
inclusive of the surcharge, and as long as the final sales price does
not amount to a price that is higher than the posted price.
 
 
SUMMARY OF SPECIFIC PROVISIONS:

Section one amends section 518 of the General Business Law to provide
that no seller .in any sales transaction may impose a surcharge on a
holder who elects to use a credit card,in lieu of payment by cash,
check, or similar means unless such seller clearly posts the credit card
price, inclusive of such surcharge and provided further that the final
sales price of any such sales transaction, inclusive of surcharge, shall
not amount to a price greater than the posted price for such sales tran-
saction.
 
 
JUSTIFICATION:
 
In 2018, the New York Court of Appeals heard a challenge to section 518
of the General Business Law (GBL), which provides that merchants may not
impose a surcharge on a customer who pays by credit card.  The Court
ruled that the statute as it reads is incorrect and that merchants may
in fact charge a surcharge to customers paying by credit card. Sellers
do not run afoul of the statute; so long as they post the total dollars
and cents price that customers will be charged (See Expressions Hair
Design, et al. v. Schneiderman, 32 N.Y. 3d 382, 2018). This means that
the total price, inclusive of the surcharge, must be clearly presented
to the customer.
 
The Court noted that the type of surcharge that is expressly prohibited
by GBL § 518 is posting a,cash price and stating that the credit price
is the cash price, plus an additional percentage; for example, adding a
3% charge for a credit transaction. Per the Court, customers must not be
expected to do the math to figure out the total price that they will be
paying.
 
This legislation provides much needed clarification to GBL § 518, by
codifying the Court's ruling in Expressions Hair Design. The bill amends
this section of law by providing that merchants may not impose a
surcharge on customers paying by credit card, unless they clearly post
the credit card price, inclusive of the surcharge, and as long as the
final price ofthe transaction, including the surcharge, does not amount
to a price that is higher than the posted price. This bill is necessary
to prevent consumers from being misled when making a purchase using
their credits cards.
 
 
PRIOR LEGISLATIVE HISTORY:
 
 
A.9679 of 2021 and 2022, referred, to consumer affairs and protection /
S.8774 referred to consumer protection
 
 
FISCAL IMPLICATIONS:
 
None.
 
 
EFFECTIVE DATE:
This act shall take effect on the sixtieth day after it shall have
become a law.

A02672 Text:

 
                STATE OF NEW YORK
        ________________________________________________________________________
 
                                         2672--B
 
                               2023-2024 Regular Sessions
 
                   IN ASSEMBLY
 
                                    January 26, 2023
                                       ___________
 
        Introduced by M. of A. PAULIN, DINOWITZ, REYES -- read once and referred
          to  the  Committee  on  Consumer  Affairs  and Protection -- committee
          discharged, bill amended, ordered reprinted as amended and recommitted
          to said committee -- reported and referred to the Committee  on  Codes
          --  committee  discharged,  bill amended, ordered reprinted as amended
          and recommitted to said committee
 
        AN ACT to amend the general business law, in relation to requiring sell-
          ers to clearly post the price of a credit card surcharge
 
          The People of the State of New York, represented in Senate and  Assem-
        bly, do enact as follows:
 
     1    Section  1. Section 518 of the general business law, as added by chap-
     2  ter 160 of the laws of 1984, is amended to read as follows:
     3    § 518. 1. Credit card surcharge [prohibited] notice requirement.  [No]
     4  Any seller in any sales transaction [may impose] imposing a surcharge on
     5  a [holder] customer who elects to use a credit card in lieu  of  payment
     6  by  cash,  check,  or similar means shall clearly and conspicuously post
     7  the total price for using a credit card in such  transaction,  inclusive
     8  of  surcharge,  provided  however, any such surcharge may not exceed the
     9  amount of the surcharge charged to  the  business  by  the  credit  card
    10  company  for  such  credit card use.   The final sales price of any such
    11  sales transaction, inclusive of such surcharge, shall not  amount  to  a
    12  price greater than the posted price for such sales transaction.  Nothing
    13  in  this subdivision shall be deemed to prohibit merchants from offering
    14  a two-tier pricing system. For the purposes of this  section,  "two-tier
    15  pricing system" shall mean the tagging or posting of two different pric-
    16  es in which the credit card price, inclusive of any surcharge, is posted
    17  alongside the cash price.
    18    2.  Any  seller  who  violates the provisions of this section shall be
    19  [guilty of a misdemeanor punishable by a fine] liable for a civil penal-
    20  ty, recoverable in an action or proceeding brought in a court of  compe-
    21  tent  jurisdiction  not  to  exceed  five  hundred dollars [or a term of

         EXPLANATION--Matter in italics (underscored) is new; matter in brackets
                              [ ] is old law to be omitted.
                                                                   LBD02683-06-3
        A. 2672--B                          2

     1  imprisonment up to one year, or both] for  each  such  violation.    The
     2  provisions  of  this  subdivision  may  be  enforced concurrently by the
     3  director or commissioner of a municipal consumer affairs office,  or  by
     4  the town attorney, city corporation counsel, or other lawful designee of
     5  a  municipality or local government, and all moneys collected thereunder
     6  shall be retained by such municipality or local government.
     7    § 2. This act shall take effect on the sixtieth  day  after  it  shall
     8  have become a law.

A02672 LFIN:

 
NO LFIN

A02672 Chamber Video/Transcript: