SB 351: Credit sales; requiring certain actions from sellers when imposing a surcharge on certain transactions. Effective date. - Oklahoma

Floor (House) → Floor (Senate) · 4 edits

MODERATE

The bill transitions from a House version to a Senate floor version, incorporating committee amendments that clarify definitions and add specific exemptions for private educational institutions and public trusts. The Senate version also reorganizes subsections and adds language allowing different pricing for funds transmission services based on the mode of transmission.

Scope change

The bill's scope remains focused on credit sales and surcharges, but the Senate version adds specific exemptions for private educational institutions and public trusts to charge service fees, and clarifies rules for money transmitters.

DEFINITION

Added specific definitions for 'debit card' and 'surcharge' to clarify what constitutes a surcharge and how debit cards are defined under the law.

ELIGIBILITY

Added an exemption allowing private educational institutions, private schools, municipalities, and public trusts to charge service fees limited to bank processing and transaction costs.

REQUIREMENT

Added provisions allowing money transmitters to charge different prices for funds transmission based on the mode of transmission, provided credit card prices are not higher than cash prices.

TECHNICAL

Reorganized subsections and added page headers and committee amendment notation to reflect Senate floor version formatting.

Committee Substitute → Floor (House) · 4 edits

MODERATE

The bill was updated from a Committee Substitute version to the House Floor version, incorporating additional sponsors and formatting changes. The substantive policy content regarding credit card surcharges and discounts remains unchanged.

Scope change

No substantive change to the bill's scope or applicability; only formatting and sponsorship information were updated.

TECHNICAL

Added 'House of Representatives - Floor Version' header and updated sponsor names to include 'Hill and Hays of the House'

Changed document title from 'Committee Substitute' to 'Engrossed Senate Bill No. 351'

Removed 'Committee Substitute' designation and page footer references to 'Req. No. 1701'

Added 'BOLD FACE denotes Committee Amendments' note to floor version pages

Engrossed → Committee Substitute · 5 edits

MODERATE

This bill updates Oklahoma's credit card surcharge and discount rules to align with federal regulations and modernize language. The main changes allow sellers to charge different prices for electronic funds transmission services based on payment method, clarify that surcharges must not exceed actual processing costs, and update definitions of debit cards and surcharges. These changes expand seller flexibility while maintaining consumer protections against excessive fees.

Scope change

The bill's scope remains focused on credit sales transactions but now explicitly includes electronic funds transmission services, broadening applicability to digital payment scenarios.

REQUIREMENT

Added explicit language allowing sellers to charge different prices for funds transmission services based on payment method, provided card-based prices are not higher than cash-based prices.

Clarified that surcharges must be listed as separate line items and cannot exceed actual bank processing fees, transaction fees, secure transaction costs, portal fees, and bandwidth costs.

DEFINITION

Updated definitions of debit cards and surcharges to reflect current payment processing terminology and include electronic funds transmission services.

TECHNICAL

Reorganized bill structure from 'Engrossed' to 'Committee Substitute' format with updated page numbering and formatting conventions.

ELIGIBILITY

Expanded eligibility for service fees to include both online and in-person transactions for private educational institutions, municipalities, and public trusts.

Introduced → Engrossed · 5 edits · Mar 13, 2025

MODERATE

SB 351 was significantly modified to reverse its original intent. The introduced version prohibited sellers from charging surcharges on credit/debit card transactions, but the engrossed version now allows sellers to pass on processing fees or impose surcharges, provided they are listed separately on receipts and do not exceed actual transaction costs.

Scope change

The bill's scope expanded from prohibiting surcharges to permitting them under specific conditions, fundamentally changing how merchants can charge for payment methods.

REQUIREMENT

Changed from prohibiting surcharges to allowing sellers to pass on credit card processing fees or impose surcharges if listed separately on receipts and not exceeding actual transaction costs.

Added requirement that sellers who provide discounts not in accordance with regulations must disclose this information to the Consumer Affairs Administrator.

DEFINITION

Modified the definition of 'surcharge' to include increasing regular or advertised prices, and clarified that service fees can apply to both online and in-person transactions.

ENFORCEMENT

Added enforcement mechanism requiring sellers to make disclosures to the Administrator when providing non-compliant discounts.

TECHNICAL

Minor formatting changes including page number reorganization and some text cleanup throughout the document.

Credit sales; requiring certain actions from sellers when imposing a surcharge on certain transactions. Effective date.

What changed between versions

How they voted

Actions timeline

Sponsors