Last week brought a notable defeat for the swipe fee fight in the states when Colorado Gov. Jared Polis vetoed Senate Bill 26-134, a measure that would have barred payment card networks from applying interchange fees to the separately stated sales-tax portion of credit and debit transactions. The bill would have applied to financial institutions with more than $60 billion in assets.
In his veto letter, Polis said some of the bill’s aims were reasonable but questioned the net benefit, citing risks to the state’s business climate and consumers and pointing to litigation delays surrounding the comparable Illinois statute.
Last week, a federal court upheld the OCC’s claim of preemption in the application of “The Illinois Interchange Fee Prohibition Act,” which was originally scheduled to take effect on July 1. The OCC claimed it has the power under federal law to determine the ways in which national banks charge certain fees, regardless of whether the banks set those fees or a third party. As such, the law would only apply to state-chartered institutions.
Last week, the Illinois legislature voted to push the implementation of the law to 2027.
