AR
Arkansas Senate Bill SB302

Arkansas 2025 Regular Session

Arkansas Senate Bill SB302 Compare Versions

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11 Stricken language would be deleted from and underlined language would be added to present law.
2-Act 659 of the Regular Session
3-*CEB191* 03-11-2025 14:53:01 CEB191
4-
5-State of Arkansas As Engrossed: S3/11/25 1
2+*CEB191* 02/25/2025 1:16:25 PM CEB191
3+State of Arkansas 1
64 95th General Assembly A Bill 2
75 Regular Session, 2025 SENATE BILL 302 3
86 4
97 By: Senator Gilmore 5
108 By: Representative Beaty Jr. 6
119 7
1210 For An Act To Be Entitled 8
1311 AN ACT TO CREATE THE CRIMINAL OFFENSE OF GIFT CARD 9
1412 FRAUD; TO DECLARE AN EMERGENCY; AND FOR OTHER 10
1513 PURPOSES. 11
1614 12
1715 13
1816 Subtitle 14
1917 TO CREATE THE CRIMINAL OFFENSE OF GIFT 15
2018 CARD FRAUD; AND TO DECLARE AN EMERGENCY. 16
2119 17
2220 BE IT ENACTED BY THE GENERAL ASSEMBLY OF THE STATE OF ARKANSAS: 18
2321 19
2422 SECTION 1. Arkansas Code Title 5, Chapter 37, Subchapter 2, is amended to 20
2523 add an additional section to read as follows: 21
2624 5-37-229. Gift card fraud — Definitions. 22
2725 (a) As used in this section: 23
2826 (1) "Card holder" means a person who receives a gift card 24
2927 through a purchase or a gift; 25
3028 (2) "Card issuer" means a person or agent of the person that 26
3129 issues a gift card; 27
3230 (3) "Gift card" means a physical or electronic payment device 28
3331 that is: 29
3432 (A) Usable at a single merchant or affiliated group of 30
3533 merchants that share the same name, mark, or logo; 31
3634 (B) Issued in a specified amount and may be increased in 32
3735 value or reloaded; 33
3836 (C) Purchased on a prepaid basis in exchange for payment; 34
3937 and 35
40- (D) Honored upon presentation by the card holder to a 36 As Engrossed: S3/11/25 SB302
38+ (D) Honored upon presentation by the card holder to a 36 SB302
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44-
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4541 single merchant or affiliated group of merchants for goods or services; 1
4642 (4) "Gift card redemption information" means any numeric codes 2
4743 specific to the activation or redemption of a gift card ; and 3
4844 (5) "Value" means the greatest amount of economic loss the owner 4
4945 of a gift card could reasonably suffer including without limitation the full 5
5046 monetary face value or potential value for a variable load gift card . 6
5147 (b) A person commits the offense of gift card fraud if he or she: 7
5248 (1) With purpose to defraud, acquires or retains possession of a 8
53-gift card or gift card redemption information with the purpose of depriving 9
54-the owner of property; 10
55- (2) Obtains by deception a gift card or gift card redemption 11
56-information from a card holder or card issuer with the purpose of depriving 12
57-the owner of property; 13
58- (3) Knowingly uses a gift card or gift card redemption 14
59-information that has been obtained in violation of subdivision (b)(1) or 15
60-(b)(2) of this section for the purpose of obtaining money, goods, services, 16
61-or anything else of value. 17
62- (c) Gift card fraud is a: 18
63- (1) Class B felony if: 19
64- (A) The value of a gift card or gift card redemption 20
65-information is twenty -five thousand dollars ($25,000) or more; or 21
66- (B) The aggregate value of one (1) or more gift cards or 22
67-gift card redemption information obtained through multiple violations of 23
68-subsection (b) of this section within one hundred twenty (120) days is 24
69-twenty-five thousand dollars ($25,000) or more; 25
70- (2) Class C felony if: 26
71- (A) The value of a gift card or gift card redemption 27
72-information is less than twenty -five thousand dollars ($25,000) but more than 28
73-five thousand dollars ($5,000); or 29
74- (B) The aggregate value of one (1) or more gift cards or 30
75-gift card redemption information acquired, retained, obtained, or used in 31
76-violation of subsection (b) of this section within one hundred twenty (120) 32
77-days is less than twenty -five thousand dollars ($25,000) but more than five 33
78-thousand dollars ($5,000); 34
79- (3) Class D felony if: 35
80- (A) The value of a gift card or gift card redemption 36 As Engrossed: S3/11/25 SB302
49+gift card or gift card redemption information; 9
50+ (2) Obtains by deception a gift card or gift card redemption 10
51+information from a card holder or card issuer; or 11
52+ (3) Knowingly uses a gift card or gift card redemption 12
53+information that has been obtained in violation of subdivision (b)(1) or 13
54+(b)(2) of this section for the purpose of obtaining money, goods, services, 14
55+or anything else of value. 15
56+ (c) Gift card fraud is a: 16
57+ (1) Class B felony if: 17
58+ (A) The value of a gift card or gift card redemption 18
59+information is twenty -five thousand dollars ($25,000) or more; or 19
60+ (B) The aggregate value of one (1) or more gift cards or 20
61+gift card redemption information obtained through multiple violations of 21
62+subsection (b) of this section within one hundred twenty (120) days is 22
63+twenty-five thousand dollars ($25,000) or more; 23
64+ (2) Class C felony if: 24
65+ (A) The value of a gift card or gift card redemption 25
66+information is less than twenty -five thousand dollars ($25,000) but more than 26
67+five thousand dollars ($5,000); or 27
68+ (B) The aggregate value of one (1) or more gift cards or 28
69+gift card redemption information acquired, retained, obtained, or used in 29
70+violation of subsection (b) of this section within one hundred twenty (120) 30
71+days is less than twenty -five thousand dollars ($25,000) but more than five 31
72+thousand dollars ($5,000); 32
73+ (3) Class D felony if: 33
74+ (A) The value of a gift card or gift card redemption 34
75+information is less than five thousand dollars ($5,000) but more than one 35
76+thousand dollars ($1,000); or 36 SB302
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83-
84-
85-information is less than five thousand dollars ($5,000) but more than one 1
86-thousand dollars ($1,000); or 2
87- (B) The aggregate value of one (1) or more gift cards or 3
88-gift card information acquired, retained, obtained, or used in violation of 4
89-subsection (b) of this section within one hundred twenty (120) days is less 5
90-than five thousand dollars ($5,000) but more than one thousand dollars 6
91-($1,000); or 7
92- (4) Class A misdemeanor if: 8
93- (A) The value of a gift card or gift card information is 9
94-less than one thousand dollars ($1,000); or 10
95- (B) The aggregate value of one (1) or more gift cards or 11
96-gift card information acquired, retained, obtained, or used in violation of 12
97-subsection (b) of this section within one hundred twenty (120) days is less 13
98-than one thousand dollars ($1,000). 14
99- 15
100- SECTION 2. EMERGENCY CLAUSE. It is found and determined by the 16
101-General Assembly of the State of Arkansas that gift card fraud is a pervasive 17
102-problem in the state; that businesses and consumers suffer the economic 18
103-consequences of such crimes; and that this act is immediately necessary to 19
104-provide a deterrent against gift card fraud and protect the economy of the 20
105-state. Therefore, an emergency is declared to exist, and this act being 21
106-immediately necessary for the preservation of the public peace, health, and 22
107-safety shall become effective on: 23
108- (1) The date of its approval by the Governor; 24
109- (2) If the bill is neither approved nor vetoed by the Governor, 25
110-the expiration of the period of time during which the Governor may veto the 26
111-bill; or 27
112- (3) If the bill is vetoed by the Governor and the veto is 28
113-overridden, the date the last house overrides the veto. 29
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79+ (B) The aggregate value of one (1) or more gift cards or 1
80+gift card information acquired, retained, obtained, or used in violation of 2
81+subsection (b) of this section within one hundred twenty (120) days is less 3
82+than five thousand dollars ($5,000) but more than one thousand dollars 4
83+($1,000); or 5
84+ (4) Class A misdemeanor if: 6
85+ (A) The value of a gift card or gift card information is 7
86+less than one thousand dollars ($1,000); or 8
87+ (B) The aggregate value of one (1) or more gift cards or 9
88+gift card information acquired, retained, obtained, or used in violation of 10
89+subsection (b) of this section within one hundred twenty (120) days is less 11
90+than one thousand dollars ($1,000). 12
91+ 13
92+ SECTION 2. EMERGENCY CLAUSE. It is found and determined by the 14
93+General Assembly of the State of Arkansas that gift card fraud is a pervasive 15
94+problem in the state; that businesses and consumers suffer the economic 16
95+consequences of such crimes; and that this act is immediately necessary to 17
96+provide a deterrent against gift card fraud and protect the economy of the 18
97+state. Therefore, an emergency is declared to exist, and this act being 19
98+immediately necessary for the preservation of the public peace, health, and 20
99+safety shall become effective on: 21
100+ (1) The date of its approval by the Governor; 22
101+ (2) If the bill is neither approved nor vetoed by the Governor, 23
102+the expiration of the period of time during which the Governor may veto the 24
103+bill; or 25
104+ (3) If the bill is vetoed by the Governor and the veto is 26
105+overridden, the date the last house overrides the veto. 27
106+ 28
107+ 29
114108 30
115-/s/Gilmore 31
109+ 31
116110 32
117111 33
118-APPROVED: 4/16/25 34
112+ 34
119113 35
120114 36