(TRENTON) — Legislation Assemblyman Matthew Milam and Assemblywoman Annette Quijano sponsored to protect consumer debit card account numbers is advancing in the Senate.
The bill (A-310) clarifies that both credit card and debit card account numbers must be truncated on sales receipts, including copies retained by merchants.
“This bill just makes common sense,” said Milam (D-Atlantic/Cape May/Cumberland). “In this day and age, when identity theft is proving all too common, there’s no reason why a consumer’s credit or debit card number should ever be made available to others. This is a simple step that protects consumers.”
“Since we provide this protection for credit cards, there’s no reason we shouldn’t also do it for debit cards,” said Quijano (D-Union). “This is a straightforward consumer protection measure.”
Under current law, a retail sales establishment may not electronically print more than the last five digits of a customer’s credit card account number or the expiration date of that credit card upon any sales receipt provided at the point of sale.
Milam and Quijano’s bill extends the prohibition against printing the whole account number or expiration date on sales receipts to include debit card information.
The bill also specifies that the prohibition applies to copies of sales receipts retained by the retail sales establishment, in addition to those physically provided to the customer. The bill provides a civil penalty up to $1,000 for violations.
The bill was approved 76-0 by the Assembly in February and was released Thursday by the Senate Commerce Committee.
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