BILL NUMBER: AB 1219 AMENDED
BILL TEXT
AMENDED IN ASSEMBLY APRIL 25, 2011
AMENDED IN ASSEMBLY MARCH 29, 2011
INTRODUCED BY Assembly Member Perea
FEBRUARY 18, 2011
An act to amend Section 1747.01 1747.08
of the Civil Code, relating to credit cards.
LEGISLATIVE COUNSEL'S DIGEST
AB 1219, as amended, Perea. Credit cards: federal
conformance personal information .
Existing state and federal law regulate the provision of credit
and the use of credit cards. Existing state law prohibits a person,
firm, partnership, association, or corporation that accepts credit
cards for the transaction of business from requesting or requiring
the cardholder to provide personal identification information, which
is then recorded, as a condition to accepting the credit card as
payment in full or in part for goods or services, but provides
various exceptions to this prohibition.
This bill would condition the prohibition described above upon the
cardholder physically presenting a credit card with a properly
functioning magnetic stripe or other electronically readable device.
Existing law declares the intent of the Legislature that specified
state laws regulating credit cards that are similar to the federal
Truth in Lending Act be interpreted to essentially conform to the
Truth in Lending Act and any rule, regulation, or interpretation
promulgated under that act by the Board of Governors of the Federal
Reserve System. Existing federal law creates the Bureau of Consumer
Financial Protection, which is charged with implementing and
enforcing federal consumer financial laws.
This bill would delete the reference to the intent of the
Legislature, described above, and instead provide that specified
state law regulating credit cards shall be interpreted to conform
with the Truth in Lending Act and any rule, regulation, or
interpretation promulgated under that act by the Board of Governors
of the Federal Reserve System. The bill would also provide that these
provisions shall be interpreted to be in conformance with any rule,
regulation, or interpretation of the Truth in Lending Act promulgated
by the Bureau of Consumer Financial Protection.
Vote: majority. Appropriation: no. Fiscal committee: no.
State-mandated local program: no.
THE PEOPLE OF THE STATE OF CALIFORNIA DO ENACT AS FOLLOWS:
SECTION 1. Section 1747.08 of the Civil
Code is amended to read:
1747.08. (a) Except as provided in subdivision (c), no
if a cardholder physically presents a credit card to
an employee, authorized agent, or representative of a person, firm,
partnership, association, or corporation as payment , and
the credit card has a properly functioning magnetic stripe or other
electronically readable device, the person, firm, partnership,
association, or corporation that accepts credit cards for the
transaction of business shall not do any of the following:
(1) Request, or require as a condition to accepting the credit
card as payment in full or in part for goods or services, the
cardholder to write any personal identification information upon the
credit card transaction form or otherwise.
(2) Request, or require as a condition to accepting the credit
card as payment in full or in part for goods or services, the
cardholder to provide personal identification information, which the
person, firm, partnership, association, or corporation accepting the
credit card writes, causes to be written, or otherwise records upon
the credit card transaction form or otherwise.
(3) Utilize, in any credit card transaction, a credit card form
which contains preprinted spaces specifically designated for filling
in any personal identification information of the cardholder.
(b) For purposes of this section "personal identification
information," means information concerning the cardholder, other than
information set forth on the credit card, and including, but not
limited to, the cardholder's address and telephone number.
(c) Subdivision (a) does not apply in the following instances:
(1) If the credit card is being used as a deposit to secure
payment in the event of default, loss, damage, or other similar
occurrence.
(2) Cash advance transactions.
(3) If the person, firm, partnership, association, or corporation
accepting the credit card is contractually obligated to provide
personal identification information in order to complete the credit
card transaction or is obligated to collect and record the personal
identification information by federal law or regulation.
(4) If personal identification information is required for a
special purpose incidental but related to the individual credit card
transaction, including, but not limited to, information relating to
shipping, delivery, servicing, or installation of the purchased
merchandise, or for special orders.
(d) This section does not prohibit any person, firm, partnership,
association, or corporation from requiring the cardholder, as a
condition to accepting the credit card as payment in full or in part
for goods or services, to provide reasonable forms of positive
identification, which may include a driver's license or a California
state identification card, or where one of these is not available,
another form of photo identification, provided that none of the
information contained thereon is written or recorded on the credit
card transaction form or otherwise. If the cardholder pays for the
transaction with a credit card number and does not make the credit
card available upon request to verify the number, the cardholder's
driver's license number or identification card number may be recorded
on the credit card transaction form or otherwise.
(e) Any person who violates this section shall be subject to a
civil penalty not to exceed two hundred fifty dollars ($250) for the
first violation and one thousand dollars ($1,000) for each subsequent
violation, to be assessed and collected in a civil action brought by
the person paying with a credit card, by the Attorney General, or by
the district attorney or city attorney of the county or city in
which the violation occurred. However, no civil penalty shall be
assessed for a violation of this section if the defendant shows by a
preponderance of the evidence that the violation was not intentional
and resulted from a bona fide error made notwithstanding the
defendant's maintenance of procedures reasonably adopted to avoid
that error. When collected, the civil penalty shall be payable, as
appropriate, to the person paying with a credit card who brought the
action, or to the general fund of whichever governmental entity
brought the action to assess the civil penalty.
(f) The Attorney General, or any district attorney or city
attorney within his or her respective jurisdiction, may bring an
action in the superior court in the name of the people of the State
of California to enjoin violation of subdivision (a) and, upon notice
to the defendant of not less than five days, to temporarily restrain
and enjoin the violation. If it appears to the satisfaction of the
court that the defendant has, in fact, violated subdivision (a), the
court may issue an injunction restraining further violations, without
requiring proof that any person has been damaged by the violation.
In these proceedings, if the court finds that the defendant has
violated subdivision (a), the court may direct the defendant to pay
any or all costs incurred by the Attorney General, district attorney,
or city attorney in seeking or obtaining injunctive relief pursuant
to this subdivision.
(g) Actions for collection of civil penalties under subdivision
(e) and for injunctive relief under subdivision (f) may be
consolidated.
(h) The changes made to this section by Chapter 458 of the
Statutes of 1995 apply only to credit card transactions entered into
on and after January 1, 1996. Nothing in those changes shall be
construed to affect any civil action which was filed before January
1, 1996.
SECTION 1. Section 1747.01 of the Civil Code is
amended to read:
1747.01. The provisions of this title as to which there are
similar provisions in the federal Truth in Lending Act, as amended
(15 U.S.C. 1601, et seq.), shall be interpreted by anyone construing
them to conform with the Truth in Lending Act and any rule,
regulation, or interpretation promulgated thereunder by the Board of
Governors of the Federal Reserve System, or any rule, regulation, or
interpretation of the act promulgated by the Bureau of Consumer
Financial Protection, and any interpretation issued by an official or
employee of the Federal Reserve System or the Bureau of Consumer
Financial Protection duly authorized to issue that interpretation.