KS
Kansas House Bill HB2722

Kansas 2023-2024 Regular Session

Kansas House Bill HB2722 Compare Versions

Only one version of the bill is available at this time.
OldNewDifferences
11 Session of 2024
22 HOUSE BILL No. 2722
33 By Committee on Financial Institutions and Pensions
44 Requested by Representative Bryce
55 2-6
66 AN ACT concerning financial institutions; enacting the second amendment
77 financial privacy act; prohibiting financial institutions from using a
88 firearms code to engage in certain discriminatory conduct and
99 surveilling, reporting or tracking the purchase of firearms and
1010 ammunition; authorizing the attorney general to investigate and enforce
1111 violations of such act; providing a civil penalty for violations of such
1212 act.
1313 WHEREAS, The legislature hereby finds and declares that:
1414 (1) The second amendment to the constitution of the United States
1515 guarantees the people the right to keep and bear arms;
1616 (2) section 4 of the bill of rights of the constitution of the state of
1717 Kansas provides that "a person has the right to keep and bear arms for the
1818 defense of self, family, home and state, for lawful hunting and recreational
1919 use, and for any other lawful purpose";
2020 (3) in September of 2022, the international organization for
2121 standardization, based in Switzerland, approved a new merchant category
2222 code for firearm and ammunition merchants;
2323 (4) in the letter to payment card networks, federal lawmakers stated
2424 that the new merchant category code for firearms retailers would be "...the
2525 first step towards facilitating the collection of valuable financial data that
2626 could help law enforcement in countering the financing of terrorism
2727 efforts," expressing a clear government expectation that networks will
2828 utilize the new merchant category code to conduct mass surveillance of
2929 constitutionally protected firearms and ammunition purchases in
3030 cooperation with law enforcement;
3131 (5) the new merchant category code will allow the banks, payment
3232 card networks, acquirers and other entities involved in payment card
3333 processing to identify and separately track lawful payment card purchases
3434 at firearms retailers in the state of Kansas, paving the way for both
3535 unprecedented surveillance of second amendment activity and
3636 unprecedented information sharing between financial institutions and the
3737 government;
3838 (6) this potential for cooperative surveillance and tracking of lawful
3939 firearms and ammunition purchases will have a significant chilling effect
4040 1
4141 2
4242 3
4343 4
4444 5
4545 6
4646 7
4747 8
4848 9
4949 10
5050 11
5151 12
5252 13
5353 14
5454 15
5555 16
5656 17
5757 18
5858 19
5959 20
6060 21
6161 22
6262 23
6363 24
6464 25
6565 26
6666 27
6767 28
6868 29
6969 30
7070 31
7171 32
7272 33
7373 34
7474 35 HB 2722 2
7575 on citizens wishing to exercise their federal and state constitutional rights
7676 to keep and bear arms in Kansas;
7777 (7) while federal law requires some financial institutions to report
7878 transactions that are highly indicative of money laundering or other
7979 unlawful activities, there is no federal or state law authorizing financial
8080 institutions to surveil and track lawful activities by customers in
8181 cooperation with law enforcement;
8282 (8) the creation or maintenance of records of purchase of firearms or
8383 ammunition or the tracking of sales made by a retailer of firearms or
8484 ammunition by a nongovernmental entity, including a financial institution,
8585 without a substantial and historical business need or requirement imposed
8686 by law, may frustrate the right to keep and bear arms and violate the
8787 reasonable privacy rights of lawful purchasers of firearms or ammunition;
8888 and
8989 WHEREAS, based on the above stated findings, it is the intent of the
9090 legislature to prohibit the misuse of payment card processing systems to
9191 surveil, report or otherwise discourage constitutionally protected firearm
9292 and ammunition purchases within the state of Kansas.
9393 Now, therefore:
9494 Be it enacted by the Legislature of the State of Kansas:
9595 Section 1. The provisions of sections 1 through 4, and amendments
9696 thereto, shall be known and may be cited as the second amendment
9797 financial privacy act.
9898 Sec. 2. As used in this act:
9999 (a) "Act" means the second amendment financial privacy act.
100100 (b) "Ammunition" means any item designed to be a projectile fired
101101 from firearms.
102102 (c) "Customer" means a person who uses, purchases or obtains an
103103 account, extension of credit or product of a financial institution or for
104104 whom a financial institution acts as a fiduciary, agent or custodian or in
105105 another representative capacity.
106106 (d) "Disclosure" means the transfer, publication or distribution of
107107 protected financial information to another person or entity for any purpose
108108 other than to process or facilitate a payment card transaction.
109109 (e) "Financial institution" means a bank, credit union, savings and
110110 loan association or trust company, whether chartered under the laws of this
111111 state, another state, the United States or another country.
112112 (f) "Financial record" means a record held by a financial institution
113113 related to a payment card transaction that such financial institution has
114114 processed or facilitated.
115115 (g) "Firearms" means weapons designed or having the capacity to
116116 propel a projectile by force of an explosion or combustion.
117117 (h) "Firearms accessories" means items that are used in conjunction
118118 1
119119 2
120120 3
121121 4
122122 5
123123 6
124124 7
125125 8
126126 9
127127 10
128128 11
129129 12
130130 13
131131 14
132132 15
133133 16
134134 17
135135 18
136136 19
137137 20
138138 21
139139 22
140140 23
141141 24
142142 25
143143 26
144144 27
145145 28
146146 29
147147 30
148148 31
149149 32
150150 33
151151 34
152152 35
153153 36
154154 37
155155 38
156156 39
157157 40
158158 41
159159 42
160160 43 HB 2722 3
161161 with or mounted upon a firearm but are not essential to the basic function
162162 of a firearm, including, but not limited to, telescopic or laser sights,
163163 magazines, flash or sound suppressors, collapsible or adjustable stocks and
164164 grips, pistol grips, thumbhole stocks, speedloaders, ammunition carriers
165165 and lights for target illumination.
166166 (i) "Firearms code" means the merchant category code 5723,
167167 approved September 7, 2022, by the international organization for
168168 standardization for firearms retailers.
169169 (j) "Firearms components" means items specifically designed for
170170 firearms that are essential to the basic function of firearms.
171171 (k) "Governmental entity" means any:
172172 (1) State agency as defined in K.S.A. 75-3701, and amendments
173173 thereto; or
174174 (2) county, municipality or other political subdivision of the state.
175175 (l) "Payment card" means a credit card, debit card or any other card
176176 that is issued to an authorized user and that allows the user to obtain,
177177 purchase or receive goods, services, money or
178178 anything else of value.
179179 Sec. 3. (a) Except for records kept during the regular course of a
180180 criminal investigation and prosecution or as otherwise required by law, no
181181 governmental entity or person shall knowingly and intentionally keep or
182182 cause to be kept any list, record or registry of privately owned firearms or
183183 any list, record or registry of the owners of such firearms.
184184 (b) A financial institution shall not require the usage of the firearms
185185 code in a way that distinguishes a firearms retailer physically located in
186186 the state of Kansas from general merchandise retailers or sporting goods
187187 retailers in the state of Kansas.
188188 (c) A financial institution shall not discriminate against a firearms
189189 retailer by:
190190 (1) Declining a lawful payment card transaction based solely on the
191191 assignment or non-assignment of a firearms code to the merchant or
192192 transaction;
193193 (2) limiting or declining to do business with a customer, potential
194194 customer or merchant based on the assignment or non-assignment of a
195195 firearms code to previous lawful transactions involving such customer,
196196 potential customer or merchant;
197197 (3) charging a higher transaction or interchange fee to any merchant
198198 or for a lawful transaction based on the assignment or non-assignment of a
199199 firearms code; or
200200 (4) taking any action against a customer or merchant that is intended
201201 to suppress lawful commerce involving firearms, firearms accessories or
202202 firearms components or ammunition based solely or in part on such
203203 customer's or merchant's business involving firearms, firearms accessories
204204 1
205205 2
206206 3
207207 4
208208 5
209209 6
210210 7
211211 8
212212 9
213213 10
214214 11
215215 12
216216 13
217217 14
218218 15
219219 16
220220 17
221221 18
222222 19
223223 20
224224 21
225225 22
226226 23
227227 24
228228 25
229229 26
230230 27
231231 28
232232 29
233233 30
234234 31
235235 32
236236 33
237237 34
238238 35
239239 36
240240 37
241241 38
242242 39
243243 40
244244 41
245245 42
246246 43 HB 2722 4
247247 or firearms components or ammunition.
248248 (d) Except as otherwise required by law, a financial institution shall
249249 not disclose a financial record, including, but not limited to, a firearms
250250 code that was collected in violation of this act.
251251 Sec. 4. (a) The attorney general shall investigate alleged violations of
252252 this act, and, upon finding a violation, shall provide written notice to any
253253 individual or entity believed to be in violation of this act. Upon receipt of
254254 such written notice, the individual or entity shall have 30 calendar days to
255255 cease such violation.
256256 (b) A firearms retailer physically located in Kansas whose business
257257 was the subject of an alleged violation of this act or a customer who
258258 transacted business at a firearms retailer physically located in Kansas
259259 whose business was the subject of an alleged violation of this act may
260260 petition the attorney general to investigate such alleged violation in
261261 accordance with subsection (a).
262262 (c) If the attorney general does not commence an action within 90
263263 calendar days of receiving the petition pursuant to subsection (b), the
264264 firearms retailer or customer may file an action in court to enjoin the
265265 individual or entity from requiring the firearms code in violation of this
266266 act.
267267 (d) If an individual or entity is found to be requiring the use of a
268268 firearms code by any merchant physically located in Kansas in violation of
269269 this act and fails to cease such requirement after 30 calendar days from
270270 receipt of written notice by the attorney general, the attorney general shall
271271 pursue an injunction against any individual or entity alleged to be in
272272 violation of this act. The attorney general shall pursue such injunction in
273273 the judicial district where the alleged violation occurred.
274274 (e) If the court finds that an individual or entity continues to be in
275275 violation of this act after 30 calendar days from receipt of written notice by
276276 the attorney general or from a finding by the court of a violation of this act
277277 in an action commenced pursuant to subsection (c), the court shall enjoin
278278 the individual or entity from continuing to require the use of the firearms
279279 code.
280280 (f) If a credit card company knowingly and willfully fails to comply
281281 with an injunction pursuant to subsection (e) within 30 calendar days after
282282 being served with such injunction, the court shall impose a civil penalty in
283283 an amount not to exceed $10,000 per violation of such injunction. In
284284 assessing such civil penalty the court shall consider factors including, but
285285 not limited to, the financial resources of the violator and the harm or risk
286286 of harm to the second amendment rights resulting from such violation.
287287 Any order assessing a civil penalty for a violation of this act shall be
288288 stayed pending appeal of such order.
289289 (g) In addition to the remedies provided in this section, the attorney
290290 1
291291 2
292292 3
293293 4
294294 5
295295 6
296296 7
297297 8
298298 9
299299 10
300300 11
301301 12
302302 13
303303 14
304304 15
305305 16
306306 17
307307 18
308308 19
309309 20
310310 21
311311 22
312312 23
313313 24
314314 25
315315 26
316316 27
317317 28
318318 29
319319 30
320320 31
321321 32
322322 33
323323 34
324324 35
325325 36
326326 37
327327 38
328328 39
329329 40
330330 41
331331 42
332332 43 HB 2722 5
333333 general or a petitioner who prevails in an action under this section shall
334334 recover reasonable expenses incurred in filing such action, including, but
335335 not limited to, court costs, reasonable attorney fees, investigative costs,
336336 witness fees and deposition expenses.
337337 (h) It shall not be a defense to an action filed pursuant to this act that
338338 the disclosure of protected financial information was to a federal
339339 governmental entity unless such disclosure was made based on a good
340340 faith belief that such disclosure was required by federal law or regulation.
341341 Sec. 5. This act shall take effect and be in force from and after its
342342 publication in the statute book.
343343 1
344344 2
345345 3
346346 4
347347 5
348348 6
349349 7
350350 8
351351 9
352352 10