Consumer-protection measure passes despite limited opposition
Patrons will be able to shop-till-they-drop using plastic on every purchase if Gov. Arnold Schwarzenegger approves a plan introduced by Jenny Oropeza (D-28th District) that will ban retailers from imposing surcharges on those who use debit cards. The Assembly approved the plan and sent it to the governor last week. Schwarzenegger now has approximately one week to either sign the measure, veto it, or allow it to become law without his signature. To date, the governor has made no comment on Oropeza’s plan.
“Senate Bill 933 would close a loophole in current law by prohibiting a retailer from imposing a surcharge on consumers who elect to use their debit card or prepaid cards when making a purchase,” Oropeza said after the bipartisan vote was presented by Assemblyperson Fiona Ma (D-San Francisco). “A 1985 statue prohibits a retailer from charging a surcharge on a consumer who elects to use their credit card when making a purchase. Had debit or prepaid cards been in existence when the law passed, those forms of payment would have been included in the statute.”
Oropeza cited figures showing that, since 2005, more than half of total transactions nationwide have been paid with a credit or debit card. More people use debit cards than cash, check or credit cards, she added.
Support for Oropeza’s SB 933 includes members in the Senate, where it also received bipartisan support, 22-9, on June 3. Supporters also include numerous consumer groups, chambers of commerce, the American Association of Retired Persons and the editorial board of the San Francisco Chronicle. Opinion pieces supporting the measure have run in the San Jose Mercury News, the Orange-County Register and more than a dozen other newspapers. ER