Georgia CommonsHouse · Introduced · 2025-2026 Regular Session
HB 700: Commerce and trade; limit amount of surcharges charged by merchants for purchasers using credit cards
Last action March 6, 2025 · House Second Readers
A Georgia House bill would cap the surcharge merchants can charge customers who pay with a credit card at the merchant's actual cost to process that transaction.
The summaries below were written by an AI model (claude-sonnet-5) from the text of the bill and are not part of it. Quote the text, not the summary. The stored text is the Introduced version, the latest the General Assembly's website lists.
In plain language
Georgia law already regulates how merchants can use a purchaser's credit card information (O.C.G.A. § 10-1-393.3). This bill adds a new provision to that law limiting the surcharge merchants can add when someone pays with a credit card. Under the bill, a merchant could not charge a credit card surcharge that exceeds what it actually costs the merchant to process that transaction. The bill does not set a specific dollar figure or percentage cap; instead it ties the limit to the merchant's real processing cost. It repeals any conflicting laws but does not include a stated separate effective date, a special enforcement mechanism, or a definition of how 'actual cost' would be calculated or proven.
What the bill does
- Adds a new subsection (d.1) to Georgia's credit card information law (O.C.G.A. § 10-1-393.3) addressing surcharges.
- Prohibits merchants from charging credit card users a surcharge greater than the merchant's actual cost to process that transaction.
- Repeals any existing state laws that conflict with this new limit.
Who it affects
Merchants and other businesses that accept credit card payments and currently add surcharges for card use, as well as customers who pay with credit cards and could see surcharges capped at the merchant's real processing cost.
Why it matters
If enacted, customers who pay with credit cards could avoid surcharges that are marked up beyond what it actually costs a merchant to process the card payment, while merchants would need to ensure any surcharge they charge matches their actual processing cost.
Key provisions
- Section 1 amends O.C.G.A. § 10-1-393.3 by adding subsection (d.1), which bars merchants from charging a credit card surcharge above their actual processing cost.
- Section 2 repeals any conflicting state laws but sets no separate effective date or specific enforcement provision in the text provided.
From the bill
“A merchant shall be prohibited from requiring a purchaser using a credit card for any transaction to pay a surcharge in an amount that exceeds the actual cost to the merchant to process the transaction.”
Status timeline
- House Second Readers (House)
- House First Readers (House)
- House Hopper (House)
Sponsors
- Solomon Adesanya (D, HD-43)
- Arlene Beckles (D, HD-96)
- Saira Draper (D, HD-90)
Topics
- credit card surcharges
- consumer protection
- merchant fees
- commerce and trade