In a victory for advocates of the global integrated payment system, Colorado Gov. Jared Polis vetoed the Senate bill 26-134 Wednesday night, preventing a law from taking effect that could have altered the way both Colorado residents and its millions of visitors pay for goods and services every day.
The “Payment Card Network Fees” bill would have prohibited interchange fees from being imposed on the tax portion of a credit card transaction, a change that could have forced consumers to use multiple payment methods for a single purchase.
“The bill presents too much legal risk to Colorado’s business environment and consumers, with limited benefits to our small businesses, for me to feel comfortable signing it into law,” Gov. Polis said in a letter detailing his justification.
The veto comes as many similar efforts at the federal level (particularly the Credit Card Competition Law – have stagnated.
However, states have become largely the new battlefield for these laws.
In fact, Governor Polis’ letter highlights the current uncertainty facing the only state (Illinois) that has passed such a bill to date.
In Illinois, the “Exchange Fee Prohibition Act” (IFPA), passed two years ago and originally scheduled to go into effect on July 1, 2026, would have exempted both the tax and tip portion of a transaction from exchange.
Earlier this weekThe Illinois legislature voted to delay its implementation until 2027, and just hours later, a federal judge issued a permanent injunction on the law.
“The current legal and legislative developments of the lFPA create a shaky foundation for the passage and implementation of SB 26-134 in Colorado,” Governor Polis said in his letter.
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On a national level, credit card processing fees For merchants the average is just over 2%. In return, issuing banks and credit card networks like Visa and Mastercard fight fraud, cover the costs of their loans, and, most notably for us here at TPG, use them to fund credit card rewards.
Efforts to reform this system would put these popular rewards programs at risk and could even reduce the amount of financing available to Americans. Both factors were cited by Governor Polis in his letter.
founder of TPG Brian Kelly He also applauded this veto as a victory for consumers.
“Millions of Americans depend on credit card rewards to travel or to keep their household bottom line,” he said. “This bill would have injected significant confusion into what is currently a seamless payment process in the state, and by vetoing it, Governor Polis sent a strong message to his constituents and tourists: that Colorado values points as much as we do here at TPG.”
While this bill is not taking effect, other efforts to change the electronic payments system at the state and federal levels continue to be considered.
For more information and feedback, visit Protect your points.
