Committee debates Ortega bill to bar swipe fees on sales-tax portion of card purchases; initial vote fails, reconsideration approved

Assemblymember Ortega introduced AB 10 65 before the Assembly Committee on Banking and Finance, asking the panel to prohibit credit-card swipe fees on the sales-tax portion of card transactions.

Ortega told the committee the bill targets fees that “double dip” on taxes that merchants collect on the state's behalf, arguing the measure would provide relief to small businesses. Jasmine Thundel, a Sacramento restaurant owner, testified she pays "$6,000, 6 to 7 thousand dollars every month" in processing fees and urged lawmakers to pass the bill.

Dan Swanson, a payments-policy attorney and former counsel to U.S. Senate staff, described the bill as a targeted reform that would stop Visa and Mastercard from applying interchange fee formulas to the tax portion of purchases. "Visa and Mastercard fix interchange fee rates on behalf of all their banks," Swanson said, adding that…