Us Congress 2025-2026 Regular Session

Us Congress House Bill HB1181 Compare Versions

Only one version of the bill is available at this time.

Old	New	Differences
1	1	I
2	2	119THCONGRESS
3	3	1
4	4	STSESSION H. R. 1181
5	5	To prohibit payment card networks and covered entities from requiring the
6	6	use of or assigning merchant category codes that distinguish a firearms
7	7	retailer from general-merchandise retailer or sporting-goods retailer, and
8	8	for other purposes.
9	9	IN THE HOUSE OF REPRESENTATIVES
10	10	FEBRUARY11, 2025
11	11	Mr. M
12	12	OOREof West Virginia (for himself, Mr. BARR, Mr. HUDSON, Mr. BEAN
13	13	of Florida, Mr. C
14	14	LINE, Mr. PERRY, Ms. VANDUYNE, Mr. GUTHRIE, Mr.
15	15	C
16	16	OLLINS, Mr. FINSTAD, Mr. MOOREof Alabama, Mr. WEBSTERof Flor-
17	17	ida, Mr. G
18	18	UEST, Mr. RULLI, Mr. WILLIAMSof Texas, Mr. HIGGINSof
19	19	Louisiana, Mr. B
20	20	OST, Ms. TENNEY, Mr. SCHMIDT, Mr. MOOREof North
21	21	Carolina, Mr. N
22	22	EWHOUSE, Mr. COMER, Mr. WOMACK, Mr. ROSE, Mr.
23	23	Y
24	24	AKYM, Mr. GILLof Texas, and Mr. RUTHERFORD) introduced the fol-
25	25	lowing bill; which was referred to the Committee on Financial Services
26	26	A BILL
27	27	To prohibit payment card networks and covered entities from
28	28	requiring the use of or assigning merchant category
29	29	codes that distinguish a firearms retailer from general-
30	30	merchandise retailer or sporting-goods retailer, and for
31	31	other purposes.
32	32	Be it enacted by the Senate and House of Representa-1
33	33	tives of the United States of America in Congress assembled, 2
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36	36	•HR 1181 IH
37	37	SECTION 1. SHORT TITLE. 1
38	38	This Act may be cited as the ‘‘Protecting Privacy in 2
39	39	Purchases Act’’. 3
40	40	SEC. 2. DISTINGUISHING FIREARMS SALES. 4
41	41	(a) P
42	42	ROHIBITIONSRELATING TOMERCHANTCAT-5
43	43	EGORYCODES.— 6
44	44	(1) P
45	45	AYMENT CARD NETWORKS .—A payment 7
46	46	card network may not require a firearms retailer to 8
47	47	use, nor require a covered entity to assign, a mer-9
48	48	chant category code that distinguishes such firearms 10
49	49	retailer from a general-merchandise retailer or a 11
50	50	sporting-goods retailer. 12
51	51	(2) C
52	52	OVERED ENTITIES.—A covered entity or 13
53	53	its agent may not assign to a firearms retailer any 14
54	54	merchant category code that distinguishes from a 15
55	55	general-merchandise retailer or a sporting-goods re-16
56	56	tailer. 17
57	57	(b) E
58	58	NFORCEMENT.— 18
59	59	(1) I
60	60	N GENERAL.—The Attorney General shall 19
61	61	enforce this section and shall, not later than 90 days 20
62	62	after the date of the enactment of this section, es-21
63	63	tablish a process for individuals, including firearms 22
64	64	retailers, to submit complaints relating to alleged 23
65	65	violations of this section. 24
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68	68	•HR 1181 IH
69	69	(2) INVESTIGATION.—The Attorney General 1
70	70	shall investigate each complaint received through the 2
71	71	processes established under paragraph (1). 3
72	72	(3) W
73	73	RITTEN NOTICE.—If the Attorney General 4
74	74	determines after conducting an investigation that a 5
75	75	payment card network or covered entity has violated 6
76	76	this section, the Attorney General shall send a writ-7
77	77	ten notice of such violation to such payment card 8
78	78	network or covered entity that requires the payment 9
79	79	card network or covered entity to remedy the viola-10
80	80	tion not later than 30 days after the date on which 11
81	81	the payment card network or covered entity receives 12
82	82	such notice. 13
83	83	(4) I
84	84	NJUNCTION.— 14
85	85	(A) I
86	86	N GENERAL.—If a payment card net-15
87	87	work or covered entity does not remedy a viola-16
88	88	tion within 30 days of receiving a written notice 17
89	89	under paragraph (3), the Attorney General may 18
90	90	bring an action in Federal court to enjoin the 19
91	91	violating behavior. 20
92	92	(B) N
93	93	O PRIVATE RIGHT OF ACTION .—This 21
94	94	Act does not create a private right of action. 22
95	95	(c) P
96	96	REEMPTION.—Any law of a State or local gov-23
97	97	ernment regulating merchant category codes for firearm 24
98	98	retailers is hereby preempted. 25
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101	101	•HR 1181 IH
102	102	(d) REPORT.—The Attorney General shall, each year, 1
103	103	submit a report to the Congress that— 2
104	104	(1) identifies the number of investigations un-3
105	105	dertaken by the Attorney General under this section; 4
106	106	(2) includes a summary of such cases and their 5
107	107	disposition; and 6
108	108	(3) provides any available data and analysis re-7
109	109	garding the effectiveness of this Act. 8
110	110	(e) D
111	111	EFINITIONS.—In this Act: 9
112	112	(1) A
113	113	MMUNITION.—The term ‘‘ammunition’’ 10
114	114	has the meaning given the term in section 11
115	115	921(a)(17)(A) of title 18, United States Code. 12
116	116	(2) C
117	117	OVERED ENTITY.—The term ‘‘covered en-13
118	118	tity’’ means any entity that— 14
119	119	(A) establishes a relationship with a mer-15
120	120	chant for the purposes of processing credit, 16
121	121	debit, or prepaid transactions; or 17
122	122	(B) establishes a relationship with an enti-18
123	123	ty that establishes a relationship with a mer-19
124	124	chant for the purposes of processing credit, 20
125	125	debit, or prepaid transactions. 21
126	126	(3) F
127	127	IREARM.—The term ‘‘firearm’’ has the 22
128	128	meaning given the term in section 921(a)(3), (5), 23
129	129	(7), (16), (29), (30), of title 18, United States Code. 24
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132	132	•HR 1181 IH
133	133	(4) FIREARMS RETAILER.—The term ‘‘firearms 1
134	134	retailer’’ means a person or entity engaged in the 2
135	135	lawful business of selling or trading firearms or am-3
136	136	munition to be used in firearms. 4
137	137	(5) M
138	138	ERCHANT CATEGORY CODE .—The term 5
139	139	‘‘merchant category code’’ means a multi-digit code, 6
140	140	issued by the International Organization for Stand-7
141	141	ardization, for the purposes of enabling the classi-8
142	142	fication of merchants into specific categories based 9
143	143	on the type of business, trade or services supplied. 10
144	144	(6) P
145	145	AYMENT CARD NETWORK .—The term 11
146	146	‘‘payment card network’’ means an entity that di-12
147	147	rectly or through a licensed member, processor, or 13
148	148	agent provides proprietary services, infrastructure, 14
149	149	or software, or hardware that route information 15
150	150	used to authorize, clear and settle credit card and 16
151	151	debit card transactions. 17
152	152	Æ
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