This bill proposes the addition of a new article to the Code of West Virginia, specifically addressing credit card surcharge fees. It includes definitions for key terms such as "credit card," "debit card," "electronic payment transaction," and "interchange fee." The bill clarifies that state or local taxes and fees, including sales and use taxes, hotel occupancy taxes, alcoholic beverage taxes, and rental vehicle surcharge taxes, must be excluded from the amount on which interchange fees are calculated for electronic payment transactions.

Additionally, the bill mandates that payment card networks either deduct the amount of any tax imposed from interchange fee calculations at the time of settlement or rebate a proportionate amount of the interchange fee. If merchants cannot capture and transmit tax amounts at the time of sale, the payment card network must accept proof of tax amounts collected and credit the merchant's settlement account accordingly. A civil penalty of up to $1,000 per violation is established for payment card networks that fail to comply, along with a requirement to refund the surcharge to affected merchants.

Statutes affected:
Introduced Version: 11-13NN-1, 11-13NN-2, 11-13NN-3, 11-13NN-4