[Congressional Bills 118th Congress]
[From the U.S. Government Publishing Office]
[S. 4075 Introduced in Senate (IS)]

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118th CONGRESS
  2d Session
                                S. 4075

 To prohibit payment card networks and covered entities from requiring 
  the use of or assigning merchant category codes that distinguish a 
firearms retailer from a general merchandise retailer or sporting goods 
                   retailer, and for other purposes.


_______________________________________________________________________


                   IN THE SENATE OF THE UNITED STATES

                             April 8, 2024

  Mr. Hagerty introduced the following bill; which was read twice and 
    referred to the Committee on Banking, Housing, and Urban Affairs

_______________________________________________________________________

                                 A BILL


 
 To prohibit payment card networks and covered entities from requiring 
  the use of or assigning merchant category codes that distinguish a 
firearms retailer from a general merchandise retailer or sporting goods 
                   retailer, and for other purposes.

    Be it enacted by the Senate and House of Representatives of the 
United States of America in Congress assembled,

SECTION 1. SHORT TITLE.

    This Act may be cited as the ``Protecting Privacy in Purchases 
Act''.

SEC. 2. DISTINGUISHING FIREARMS SALES.

    (a) Definitions.--In this section:
            (1) Ammunition.--The term ``ammunition'' has the meaning 
        given the term in section 921(a)(17)(A) of title 18, United 
        States Code, as applied to a firearm, as defined in paragraph 
        (3).
            (2) Covered entity.--The term ``covered entity'' means any 
        entity that establishes a relationship with--
                    (A) a merchant for the purposes of processing 
                credit, debit, or prepaid transactions; or
                    (B) another entity that establishes a relationship 
                with a merchant for the purposes of processing credit, 
                debit, or prepaid transactions.
            (3) Firearm.--The term ``firearm'' means an item described 
        in paragraph (3), (5), (7), (16), (29), or (30) of section 
        921(a) of title 18, United States Code.
            (4) Firearms retailer.--The term ``firearms retailer'' 
        means a person or entity engaged in the lawful business of 
        selling or trading--
                    (A) firearms; or
                    (B) ammunition to be used in firearms.
            (5) Merchant category code.--The term ``merchant category 
        code'' means a multi-digit code that is issued by the 
        International Organization for Standardization for the purposes 
        of enabling the classification of merchants into specific 
        categories based on the type of business or trade of the 
        merchant or the services supplied by the merchant.
            (6) Payment card network.--The term ``payment card 
        network'' means an entity that, directly or through a licensed 
        member, processor, or agent, provides a proprietary service, 
        infrastructure, software, or hardware that routes information 
        used to authorize, clear, and settle credit card and debit card 
        transactions.
    (b) Prohibitions Relating to Merchant Category Codes.--
            (1) Payment card networks.--A payment card network may not 
        require a firearms retailer to use, nor require a covered 
        entity to assign to a firearms retailer, a merchant category 
        code that distinguishes the firearms retailer from a general 
        merchandise retailer or a sporting goods retailer.
            (2) Covered entities.--Neither a covered entity, nor any 
        agent of a covered entity, may assign to a firearms retailer 
        any merchant category code that distinguishes the firearms 
        retailer from a general merchandise retailer or a sporting 
        goods retailer.
    (c) Enforcement.--
            (1) In general.--The Attorney General shall--
                    (A) enforce this section, including by conducting 
                investigations of potential violations of this section; 
                and
                    (B) not later than 90 days after the date of 
                enactment of this Act, establish a process for a 
                person, including a firearms retailer, to submit to the 
                Attorney General a complaint relating to an alleged 
                violation of this section.
            (2) Investigation.--The Attorney General shall investigate 
        each complaint received through the processes established under 
        paragraph (1)(B).
            (3) Written notice.--If the Attorney General determines 
        after conducting an investigation (whether initiated by the 
        Attorney General or through a complaint received through the 
        process established under paragraph (1)(B)) that a payment card 
        network or a covered entity has violated this section, the 
        Attorney General shall send to that payment card network or 
        covered entity, as applicable, written notice of that violation 
        that requires the payment card network or covered entity to 
        remedy the violation not later than 30 days after the date on 
        which the payment card network or covered entity receives that 
        notice.
            (4) Injunction.--
                    (A) In general.--If a payment card network or 
                covered entity does not remedy a violation of this 
                section within 30 days of receiving written notice 
                under paragraph (3), the Attorney General may bring an 
                action in an appropriate district court of the United 
                States to enjoin the violating behavior.
                    (B) No private right of action.--Nothing in this 
                section may be construed as establishing a private 
                right of action.
    (d) Preemption.--Any law of a State or local government regulating 
merchant category codes for firearm retailers is hereby preempted by 
this section.
    (e) Report.--Not later than 1 year after the date of enactment of 
this Act, and annually thereafter, the Attorney General shall submit to 
Congress a report that--
            (1) for the year covered by the report, identifies the 
        total number of investigations undertaken by the Attorney 
        General under this section, whether initiated by the Attorney 
        General or through a complaint received through the process 
        established under subsection (c)(1)(B);
            (2) includes a summary of each investigation described in 
        paragraph (1), including the disposition of each such 
        investigation; and
            (3) provides any available data and analysis regarding the 
        effectiveness of this Act.
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