AL
Alabama House Bill HB389

Alabama 2024 Regular Session

Alabama House Bill HB389 Compare Versions

Only one version of the bill is available at this time.
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33 HB389
44 GRD9CC2-1
55 By Representatives Stringer, Lipscomb, Robertson, Harrison,
66 Rigsby, Colvin, Moore (P), Estes, Kirkland, Woods, Smith,
77 Marques, Rehm, Sorrells, Hammett, Paramore, Yarbrough, Ingram,
88 Underwood, Shedd, Stadthagen, Kiel, Wilcox, Pettus, Paschal,
99 Oliver, Crawford, Bolton, Starnes, Fincher, Carns, Standridge,
1010 Shirey, Lamb, Gidley, Brown, Whorton, Treadaway, Ellis, Wood
1111 (R), Mooney, Fidler, Hulsey, Easterbrook
1212 RFD: Public Safety and Homeland Security
1313 First Read: 02-Apr-24
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2424 11 GRD9CC2-1 04/02/2024 TRP (L)tgw 2024-597
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2626 First Read: 02-Apr-24
2727 SYNOPSIS:
2828 This bill would prohibit a financial institution
2929 from requiring merchants to use a merchant category
3030 code (MCC) to distinguish a firearms retailer from a
3131 general merchandise retailer or a sporting goods
3232 retailer during a firearms transaction amounting to
3333 financial surveillance and from disclosing financial
3434 information regarding the transaction.
3535 This bill would provide for definitions.
3636 This bill would prohibit a state agency or other
3737 political subdivision of the state, or any other
3838 person, public or private, from keeping any record of
3939 privately owned firearms or registry of the owner of
4040 those firearms.
4141 This bill would prohibit a financial institution
4242 from using a firearms code to engage in certain
4343 discriminatory conduct in the state.
4444 This bill would also authorize the Attorney
4545 General to investigate alleged violations of this act,
4646 to enforce this act by bringing an action to recover
4747 civil penalties, and to restrain and enjoin an
4848 individual or entity from violating this act.
4949 A BILL
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7979 A BILL
8080 TO BE ENTITLED
8181 AN ACT
8282 Relating to financial institutions; to provide
8383 definitions; to prohibit a financial institution from using a
8484 merchant category code to compile and disclose data tracking
8585 firearms transactions; and to authorize the Attorney General
8686 to enforce this act.
8787 BE IT ENACTED BY THE LEGISLATURE OF ALABAMA:
8888 Section 1. This act may be cited as the Second
8989 Amendment Financial Privacy Act.
9090 Section 2. For the purposes of this act, the following
9191 words have the following meaning:
9292 (1) CUSTOMER. Any resident of this state engaged in a
9393 payment card transaction that a financial institution
9494 facilitates or processes.
9595 (2) DISCLOSURE. The transfer, publication, or
9696 distribution of protected financial information to another
9797 person or entity for any purpose other than:
9898 a. To process or facilitate a payment card transaction.
9999 b. To take any actions related to dispute processing,
100100 fraud management, or protection of transaction integrity from
101101 concerns related to illegal activities, breach, or cyber
102102 risks.
103103 (3) FINANCIAL INSTITUTION. An entity involved in
104104 facilitating or processing a payment card transaction,
105105 including, but not limited to, a bank, savings institution, or
106106 credit union authorized to do business in this state under
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136136 credit union authorized to do business in this state under
137137 federal or state law.
138138 (4) FINANCIAL RECORD. A record held by a financial
139139 institution related to a payment card transaction that the
140140 financial institution has processed or facilitated.
141141 (5) FIREARMS CODE. Any code or other indicator a
142142 financial institution assigns to a merchant or to a payment
143143 card transaction that identifies whether a merchant is a
144144 firearms retailer or whether the payment card transaction
145145 involves the purchase of a firearm, firearm accessories or
146146 components, or ammunition. The term includes, but is not
147147 limited to, a merchant category code assigned to a retailer by
148148 a payment card network or other financial institution.
149149 (6) FIREARMS RETAILER. Any person or entity engaged in
150150 the lawful sale or transfer of a firearm, firearm accessories
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152152 (7) PAYMENT CARD. A credit card, debit card, check
153153 card, or other card that is issued to an authorized user to
154154 purchase or obtain goods, services, money, or any other thing
155155 of value.
156156 (8) PAYMENT CARD NETWORK. An entity that directly or
157157 through a licensed member, processor, or agent provides the
158158 proprietary services, infrastructure, and software that route
159159 information and data to conduct debit card or credit card
160160 transaction authorization, clearance, and settlement, and
161161 which an entity uses in order to accept as a form of payment a
162162 brand of debit card, credit card, or other device that may be
163163 used to carry out debit or credit transactions.
164164 (9) PROTECTED FINANCIAL INFORMATION. Any record of
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194194 (9) PROTECTED FINANCIAL INFORMATION. Any record of
195195 sale, purchase, return, or refund involving a payment card
196196 that is retrieved, characterized, generated, labeled, sorted,
197197 or grouped based on the assignment of a firearms code.
198198 Section 3. (a) An individual or entity involved in
199199 facilitating or processing an electronic payment transaction
200200 and licensed to do business in this state, including, but not
201201 limited to, a financial institution, payment card issuer, or
202202 payment card network, shall not assign to a merchant or
203203 require a merchant to use a firearms code in a way that
204204 distinguishes a firearms retailer physically located in the
205205 State of Alabama from general merchandise retailers or
206206 sporting goods retailers.
207207 (b)(1) For the purposes of the sale or transfer of
208208 firearms, ammunition for use in firearms, and firearm
209209 accessories, a firearms retailer shall not provide a firearms
210210 code to a payment card issuer or payment network and may only
211211 use or be assigned a merchant category code for general
212212 merchandise retailers or sporting goods retailers.
213213 (2) A financial institution shall not discriminate
214214 against a firearms retailer by declining a lawful payment card
215215 transaction based solely on the assignment or non-assignment
216216 of a firearms code; provided, that a financial entity may
217217 decline or otherwise refuse to process the transaction on the
218218 basis of the firearms code only if necessary to comply with
219219 this section or if requested by the customer or due to fraud
220220 controls or merchant category exclusions offered by a
221221 financial entity for the purpose of expenditure control or
222222 corporate card control.
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252252 corporate card control.
253253 (c) Except for those records kept during the regular
254254 course of a criminal investigation and prosecution or as
255255 otherwise required by law, a state governmental agency or
256256 local government, special district or other political
257257 subdivision, or any official, agent, or employee of the state
258258 or other governmental entity, or any other individual, public
259259 or private, other than the owner or owner's representative,
260260 shall not knowingly and willingly keep or cause to be kept any
261261 list, record, or registry of privately owned firearms or any
262262 list, record, or registry of the owners of those firearms.
263263 (d) Except for those records kept in the regular course
264264 of business required by order of the civil court issued during
265265 civil court proceedings, a financial institution shall not
266266 disclose a financial record, including a firearms code that
267267 was collected in violation of this act.
268268 (e) Except as otherwise required by law or rule, or
269269 pursuant to the Attorney General's power to examine witnesses
270270 and documents for the purpose of enforcing the provisions of
271271 this chapter, a financial institution shall not disclose a
272272 financial record, including a firearms code that was collected
273273 in violation of this act, unless the disclosure of the
274274 financial record or firearms code was based on a good-faith
275275 conclusion that the entity's action was required by applicable
276276 law or rule, or pursuant to the Attorney General's power to
277277 examine witnesses and documents.
278278 (f) Nothing in this section shall limit the ability of
279279 a financial institution to negotiate with responsible parties
280280 or otherwise impair the financial institution's actions
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310310 or otherwise impair the financial institution's actions
311311 related to dispute processing, fraud management, protection of
312312 transaction integrity from concerns related to illegal
313313 activities, breach, or cyber risks.
314314 Section 4. (a) If the Attorney General has reasonable
315315 cause to believe that an individual or entity has engaged in
316316 or is about to engage in a violation of this chapter, the
317317 Attorney General may examine witnesses and documents for the
318318 purpose of enforcing the provisions of this chapter.
319319 (b) Either a firearms retailer physically located in
320320 the State of Alabama whose business was the subject of an
321321 alleged violation of this act or a customer who transacted at
322322 a firearms retailer physically located in Alabama whose
323323 business was the subject of an alleged violation of this act,
324324 may petition the Attorney General to investigate the alleged
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326326 (c) If the Attorney General believes an individual or
327327 entity under investigation for violation of this act may have
328328 information or be in possession, custody, or control of any
329329 document or other tangible object relevant to the
330330 investigation, before the institution of any court proceeding,
331331 the Attorney General may serve upon the individual or entity a
332332 written demand in the form of a subpoena, or subpoena duces
333333 tecum, to appear and be examined under oath and to produce the
334334 documents or objects for inspection and copying.
335335 (1) Upon a finding by the Attorney General that there
336336 has been a violation of this act, the Attorney General shall
337337 give written notice to the individual or entity identifying
338338 the specifics of the provisions of this act which were
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368368 the specifics of the provisions of this act which were
369369 violated.
370370 (2) The Attorney General may not bring an action
371371 against the individual or entity if the individual or entity
372372 does all of the following:
373373 a. Cures the identified violation within 30 days or
374374 establishes to the Attorney General's satisfaction that a
375375 suspected violation never occurred.
376376 b. Provides the Attorney General a written statement
377377 affirming that the individual or entity has:
378378 1. Provided supporting documentation to show how the
379379 violation was cured or establishes to the Attorney General's
380380 satisfaction that a suspected violation never occurred.
381381 2. Made changes to internal policies to prevent the
382382 recurrence of any similar violation in the future.
383383 (3) The Attorney General has exclusive authority to
384384 enforce this act if the individual or entity fails to cure the
385385 violation or breaches a written statement provided to the
386386 Attorney General under this section.
387387 (4) An individual or entity shall be liable for a civil
388388 penalty in the amount of ten thousand dollars ($10,000) for
389389 each violation.
390390 (5) The Attorney General may bring an action to:
391391 a. Recover a civil penalty under this section.
392392 b. Restrain or enjoin a person or entity from violating
393393 this chapter.
394394 c. Request an order directing a financial institution,
395395 individual, or entity to destroy all illegal registry records
396396 and all copies.
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427427 d. Request that the court enter any other orders the
428428 court deems appropriate.
429429 (6) The Attorney General may recover reasonable
430430 attorney fees and other reasonable expenses incurred in
431431 investigating and bringing an action under this section.
432432 Section 5. The remedies set forth in this act shall be
433433 exclusive remedies for violation of this act.
434434 Section 6. It shall be a defense to a proceeding
435435 initiated pursuant to this act that the firearms code was
436436 required to be used based on a good-faith conclusion that the
437437 individual or entity's disclosure or action was required by
438438 applicable law or regulation.
439439 Section 7. This act shall become effective on October
440440 1, 2024.
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