Senate committee approves earned-wage-access bill with consumer-protection amendments, 7-1

Senator Walker presented an amendment to House Bill 11 25 that he described as "pretty substantial," saying it "changes the effective date, to oneonetwenty 26 to give DFI time to implement, clarifies that an EWA cannot report consumer activity to a consumer reporting agency." He told the committee the amendment also "adds caps to the provider licensing fees and penalties," and contains multiple in-app consumer protections.

Key provisions Walker described in committee include: a prohibition on reporting consumer activity to consumer reporting agencies; caps on provider licensing fees and penalties; a requirement that any no-cost option be displayed in the same color, font size and general location as expedited (fee) options; a prohibition on making a fee-bearing delivery option the default within an app; a requirement that providers initiate delivery within one business day when a consumer selects the no-cost option; limits on expedited-service fees to the greater of $5 or 5%; a ban on selling or sharing location data and a prohibition on selling or sharing consumer data with payday lenders; an interface requirement that tip options default to zero; and restrictions on unsolicited ads, surveys and notifications tied to user behavior or location. Walker said penalties for noncompliance were aligned with existing code.

Committee members asked technical questions about ownership and control thresholds and the bill's passive-investor definitions. Senator Randolph and others sought clarification about the difference between a 25% ownership threshold and a 10% threshold for managerial or policy influence; committee discussion noted the bill uses a rebuttable presumption for passive investors and that the language is consistent with other licensing code. Senator Cadore, explaining his vote, thanked Walker and said the amendment "brought the bill to a much better place by including consumer protections" and said consumer advocates were neutral on the bill as amended.

The committee adopted the amendment by consent, then voted 7–1 to move the bill as amended to the floor. Senator Freeman cast the only recorded no vote; one senator was excused. The transcript records no further changes to the bill during the session.