[Congressional Record Volume 170, Number 50 (Thursday, March 21, 2024)]
[Senate]
[Pages S2522-S2523]
From the Congressional Record Online through the Government Publishing Office [www.gpo.gov]
SA 1695. Mr. MARSHALL (for himself and Mr. Durbin) submitted an
amendment intended to be proposed by him to the bill H.R. 2882, to
reauthorize the Morris K. Udall and Stewart L. Udall Trust Fund, and
for other purposes; which was ordered to lie on the table; as follows:
At the appropriate place, insert the following:
Sec. ___. (a) This section may be cited as the ``Credit
Card Competition Act of 2024''.
(b) Section 921 of the Electronic Fund Transfer Act (15
U.S.C. 1693o-2) is amended--
(1) in subsection (b)--
(A) by redesignating paragraphs (2), (3), and (4) as
paragraphs (3), (4), and (5), respectively; and
(B) by inserting after paragraph (1) the following:
``(2) Competition in credit card transactions.--
``(A) No exclusive network.--
``(i) In general.--Not later than 1 year after the date of
enactment of the Credit Card Competition Act of 2024, the
Board shall prescribe regulations providing that a covered
card issuer or payment card network shall not directly or
through any agent, processor, or licensed member of a payment
card network, by contract, requirement, condition, penalty,
technological specification, or otherwise, restrict the
number of payment card networks on which an electronic credit
transaction may be processed to--
``(I) 1 such network;
``(II) 2 or more such networks, if--
``(aa) each such network is owned, controlled, or otherwise
operated by--
``(AA) affiliated persons; or
``(BB) networks affiliated with such issuer; or
``(bb) any such network is identified on the list
established and updated under subparagraph (D); or
``(III) subject to clause (ii), the 2 such networks that
hold the 2 largest market shares with respect to the number
of credit cards issued in the United States by licensed
members of such networks (and enabled to be processed through
such networks), as determined by the Board on the date on
which the Board prescribes the regulations.
``(ii) Determinations by board.--
``(I) In general.--The Board, not later than 3 years after
the date on which the regulations prescribed under clause (i)
take effect, and not less frequently than once every 3 years
thereafter, shall determine whether the 2 networks identified
under clause (i)(III) have changed, as compared with the most
recent such determination by the Board.
``(II) Effect of determination.--If the Board, under
subclause (I), determines that the 2 networks described in
clause (i)(III) have changed (as compared with the most
recent such determination by the Board), clause (i)(III)
shall no longer have any force or effect.
``(B) No routing restrictions.--Not later than 1 year after
the date of enactment of the Credit Card Competition Act of
2024, the Board shall prescribe regulations providing that a
covered card issuer or payment card network shall not--
``(i) directly or through any agent, processor, or licensed
member of the network, by contract, requirement, condition,
penalty, or otherwise--
``(I) inhibit the ability of any person who accepts credit
cards for payments to direct the routing of electronic credit
transactions for processing over any payment card network
that--
``(aa) may process such transactions; and
[[Page S2523]]
``(bb) is not on the list established and updated by the
Board under subparagraph (D);
``(II) require any person who accepts credit cards for
payments to exclusively use, for transactions associated with
a particular credit card, an authentication, tokenization, or
other security technology that cannot be used by all of the
payment card networks that may process electronic credit
transactions for that particular credit card; or
``(III) inhibit the ability of another payment card network
to handle or process electronic credit transactions using an
authentication, tokenization, or other security technology
for the processing of those electronic credit transactions;
or
``(ii) impose any penalty or disadvantage, financial or
otherwise, on any person for--
``(I) choosing to direct the routing of an electronic
credit transaction over any payment card network on which the
electronic credit transaction may be processed; or
``(II) failing to ensure that a certain number, or
aggregate dollar amount, of electronic credit transactions
are handled by a particular payment card network.
``(C) Applicability.--The regulations prescribed under
subparagraphs (A) and (B) shall not apply to a credit card
issued in a 3-party payment system model.
``(D) Designation of national security risks.--
``(i) In general.--Not later than 1 year after the date of
enactment of the Credit Card Competition Act of 2024, the
Board, in consultation with the Secretary of the Treasury,
shall prescribe regulations to establish a public list of any
payment card network--
``(I) the processing of electronic credit transactions by
which is determined by the Board to pose a risk to the
national security of the United States; or
``(II) that is owned, operated, or sponsored by a foreign
state entity.
``(ii) Updating of list.--Not less frequently than once
every 2 years after the date on which the Board establishes
the public list required under clause (i), the Board, in
consultation with the Secretary of the Treasury, shall update
that list.
``(E) Definitions.--In this paragraph--
``(i) the terms `card issuer' and `creditor' have the
meanings given the terms in section 103 of the Truth in
Lending Act (15 U.S.C. 1602);
``(ii) the term `covered card issuer' means a card issuer
that, together with the affiliates of the card issuer, has
assets of more than $100,000,000,000;
``(iii) the term `credit card issued in a 3-party payment
system model' means a credit card issued by a card issuer
that is--
``(I) the payment card network with respect to the credit
card; or
``(II) under common ownership with the payment card network
with respect to the credit card;
``(iv) the term `electronic credit transaction'--
``(I) means a transaction in which a person uses a credit
card; and
``(II) includes a transaction in which a person does not
physically present a credit card for payment, including a
transaction involving the entry of credit card information
onto, or use of credit card information in conjunction with,
a website interface or a mobile telephone application; and
``(v) the term `licensed member' includes, with respect to
a payment card network--
``(I) a creditor or card issuer that is authorized to issue
credit cards bearing any logo of the payment card network;
and
``(II) any person, including any financial institution and
any person that may be referred to as an `acquirer', that is
authorized to--
``(aa) screen and accept any person into any program under
which that person may accept, for payment for goods or
services, a credit card bearing any logo of the payment card
network;
``(bb) process transactions on behalf of any person who
accepts credit cards for payments; and
``(cc) complete financial settlement of any transaction on
behalf of a person who accepts credit cards for payments.'';
and
(2) in subsection (d)(1), by inserting ``, except that the
Bureau shall not have authority to enforce the requirements
of this section or any regulations prescribed by the Board
under this section'' after ``section 918''.
(c) Each set of regulations prescribed by the Board of
Governors of the Federal Reserve System under paragraph (2)
of section 921(b) of the Electronic Fund Transfer Act (15
U.S.C. 1693o-2(b)), as amended by subsection (b) of this
section, shall take effect on the date that is 180 days after
the date on which the Board prescribes the final version of
that set of regulations.
______