Consumer Choice Center to Gov. Polis: Veto Credit Card Bill Before It Kills Coloradans’ Rewards Points and Punishes Tourists
SB26-134 copies an Illinois law already partially struck down in federal court — Polis has until June 13 to act
DENVER, CO — The Consumer Choice Center is calling on Gov. Jared Polis to veto SB26-134, the payment card networks’ fee bill that passed both chambers of the Colorado General Assembly and now awaits his signature.
The bill would prohibit Visa, Mastercard, Amex and Discover from charging interchange fees on the sales-tax portion of card transactions, mirroring an Illinois law that a federal court has already partially enjoined as preempted by national banking law.
If Polis does not act by June 13, 2026, the bill automatically becomes law.
“Colorado lawmakers have found a way to make every airline mile, hotel point and cash-back dollar in the state more expensive, and they’re calling it consumer protection,” said Yaël Ossowski, deputy director of the Consumer Choice Center. “Interchange fees are the revenue that funds rewards programs. Cap the revenue and the rewards shrink. That isn’t speculation — it’s exactly what happened to free checking after the Durbin Amendment.”
A George Mason Mercatus analysis found that the share of banks offering free checking collapsed from 76% to 38% after the 2010 Durbin Amendment capped debit-card interchange fees. Merchants pocketed the savings. Consumers picked up the tab in higher account fees.
The Consumer Choice Center warns that SB26-134 will hit two groups hardest: Coloradans carrying rewards cards, and the roughly 90 million annual visitors who spent close to $29 billion in the state last year, according to the Colorado Tourism Office.
“Colorado is a tourism state. Skiers from Texas, conventioneers from Atlanta and road-trippers from Nebraska arrive every day swiping cards issued by banks that have nothing to do with Colorado law,” said Ossowski. “This bill asks the world’s payment networks to identify, in real time, which cards qualify, which merchants separated their sales tax and which transactions are exempt. They won’t do it. They’ll raise other fees instead, and Coloradans will pay.”
The bill also creates a private right of action with statutory damages, opening the door to a wave of consumer- and merchant-led litigation that will further raise costs for issuers operating in the state.
“Gov. Polis has spent his time in office vetoing a record number of bills tied to affordability, online privacy and overregulation of ride-sharing,” said Ossowski. “SB26-134 is exactly the kind of bill that veto pen was made for. Without a veto, the retail lobby will get its win, the trial bar will get its lawsuits, and working Coloradans will be left with fewer rewards, tighter credit and higher costs at the checkout counter.”
The Consumer Choice Center’s full analysis is available at consumerchoicecenter.org.