Struck = removed from the bill ยท
added = the amendment's new text.
MISSISSIPPISenate LEGISLATUREAmendments REGULARto SESSIONHouse 2023Bill By:No.
Representatives1110 Owen,TO Barnett,THE Bennett,CLERK To:OF THE HOUSE:
JudiciaryTHIS BIS BoydTO (19th),INFORM Carpenter,YOU Currie,THAT Darnell,THE Felsher,SENATE FordHAS (73rd),ADOPTED Hobgood-Wilkes,THE Hopkins,AMENDMENTS Hulum,SET Lancaster,OUT McCarty,BELOW: McLean, Morgan, Newman, Pigott, Read, Scoggin, Shanks, Wallace, Williamson, Bounds, Crawford, Stamps HOUSE BILL NO.
1110 (As Passed the House) AN ACT TO CREATE THE "SECOND AMENDMENT FINANCIALNO. PRIVACY ACT";
TO1 PROVIDEAmend LEGISLATIVEby FINDINGS;striking all after the enacting clause and inserting in lieu thereof the following:
TO DEFINE CERTAIN TERMS RELATING TO THE ACT;
TO PROHIBIT A STATE AGENCY OR OTHER POLITICAL SUBDIVISION OF THE STATE, OR ANY OTHER PERSON, PUBLIC OR PRIVATE, FROM KEEPING ANY RECORD OF PRIVATELY OWNED FIREARMS, OR REGISTRY OF THE OWNER OF THOSE FIREARMS;
TO PROHIBIT A FINANCIAL INSTITUTION FROM USING A FIREARMS CODE TO ENGAGE IN CERTAIN DISCRIMINATORY CONDUCT IN THE STATE;
TO AUTHORIZE THE ATTORNEY GENERAL TO INVESTIGATE ALLEGED VIOLATIONS OF THIS ACT;
TO AUTHORIZE THE ATTORNEY GENERAL TO PURSUE AN INJUNCTION AGAINST ANY ENTITY OR INDIVIDUAL IN VIOLATION OF THIS ACT;
AND FOR RELATED PURPOSES.
BE IT ENACTED BY THE LEGISLATURE OF THE STATE OF MISSISSIPPI:
This act shall be known and may be cited as the "Second Amendment Financial Privacy Act".Act." SECTION 2.
SECTION 2.
(b) Article III, Section 12, of the Mississippi Constitution of 1890, provides that "The right of every citizen to keep and bear arms in defense of his home, person, or property, or in aid of the civil power when thereto legally summoned, shall not be H.called in question, but the Legislature may regulate or forbid carrying concealed weapons";
B.(c) In September 2022, the International Organization for Standardization (ISO), based in Switzerland, approved a new merchant category code for firearm and ammunition merchants;
No.(d) In the letter to payment card networks, federal lawmakers stated that the new Merchant Category Code for firearms PAGE 11110 retailers would be ".
1110 *HR43/R1512PH* ~ OFFICIAL ~ G1/2 23/HR43/R1512PH PAGE 1 (MCL\EW) called in question, but the Legislature may regulate or forbid carrying concealed weapons";
(c) In September 2022, the International Standards Organization, based in Switzerland, approved a new merchant category code for firearm and ammunition merchants;
(d) In the letter to payment card networks, federal lawmakers stated that the new Merchant Category Code for firearms retailers would be ".
(e) TheThis newpotential Merchantfor Categorycooperative Codesurveillance will allow the banks, payment card networks, acquirers, and othertracking entitiesof involvedlawful infirearms payment card processing to identify and separatelyammunition track lawful payment card purchases atwill firearmshave retailersa insignificant thechilling Stateeffect ofon Mississippi,citizens pavingwishing theto wayexercise fortheir bothfederal unprecedentedand surveillancestate ofconstitutional Secondrights Amendmentto activitykeep and unprecedentedbear informationarms sharingin betweenMississippi; financial institutions and the government;
(f) ThisWhile potentialfederal forlaw cooperativerequires surveillancesome andfinancial trackinginstitutions to report transactions that are highly indicative of lawfulmoney firearmslaundering andor ammunitionother purchasesunlawful willactivities, havethere ais significantno chillingfederal effector onstate citizenslaw wishingauthorizing financial institutions to exercisesurveil theirand H.track lawful activities by customers in cooperation with law enforcement;
B.(g) The creation or maintenance of records of purchases of firearms or ammunition or the tracking of sales made by a retailer of firearms or ammunition by a nongovernmental entity, including a financial institution, without a substantial and historical business need or a requirement imposed by law, may frustrate the right to keep and bear arms and violate the reasonable privacy rights of lawful purchasers of firearms or ammunition;
No.and PAGE 21110 (h) Based on the above stated findings, it is the intent of the Legislature to prohibit the misuse of payment card processing systems to surveil, report, or otherwise discourage constitutionally protected firearm and ammunition purchases within the State of Mississippi.
1110 *HR43/R1512PH* ~ OFFICIAL ~ 23/HR43/R1512PH PAGE 2(MCL\EW) federal and state constitutional rights to keep and bear arms in Mississippi;
(g) While federal law requires some financial institutions to report transactions that are highly indicative of money laundering or other unlawful activities, there is no federal or state law authorizing financial institutions to surveil and track lawful activities by customers in cooperation with law enforcement;
(h) The creation or maintenance of records of purchases of firearms or ammunition or the tracking of sales made by a retailer of firearms or ammunition by a nongovernmental entity, including a financial institution, without a substantial and historical business need or a requirement imposed by law, may frustrate the right to keep and bear arms and violate the reasonable privacy rights of lawful purchasers of firearms or ammunition;
and (i) Based on the above stated findings, it is the intent of the Legislature to prohibit the misuse of payment card processing systems to surveil, report, or otherwise discourage constitutionally protected firearm and ammunition purchases within the State of Mississippi.
H.(a) "Customer" means any resident of Mississippi engaged in a payment card transaction that a financial institution facilitates or processes.
B.(b) "Disclosure" or "disclose" means the transfer, publication, or distribution of protected financial information to another person or entity for any purpose other than:
No.(i) to process or facilitate a payment card transaction;
1110 *HR43/R1512PH* ~ OFFICIAL ~ 23/HR43/R1512PH PAGE 3(MCL\EW) (a) "Assign" or "assignment"(ii) meansto atake financialany institutionactions policy,related process,to ordispute practiceprocessing, thatfraud labels,management, links, or otherwiseprotecting associates a firearms code with a merchant or payment card transaction inintegrity afrom mannerconcerns thatrelated allows the financial institution or any other entity facilitating or processing the payment card transaction to identifyillegal whetheractivities, abreach merchant is a firearms retailer or whethercyber arisks. transaction involves the sale of firearms or ammunition.
(b)(c) "Customer""Financial institution" means anyan personentity engagedinvolved in facilitating or processing a payment card transactiontransaction, thatincluding, but not limited to, a financialbank, institutionan facilitatesacquirer, payment card network, or processes.payment card issuer.
(c)(d) "Disclosure""Financial record" means thea transfer,record publication,held orby distributiona of protected financial informationinstitution related to anothera personpayment orcard entitytransaction forthat anythe purposefinancial otherinstitution thanhas toprocessed process or facilitatefacilitated. a payment card transaction.
(d)PAGE "Financial31110 institution"(e) "Firearms retailer" means anany person or entity involvedphysically located in facilitatingthe orState processingof aMississippi paymentengaged cardin transaction,the including,lawful butbusiness notof limitedselling to,or atrading bank,firearms acquirer,or paymentammunition cardto network,be orused paymentin cardfirearms. issuer.
(e)(f) "Financial"Firearms record"code" means athe recordMerchant heldCategory byCode a5723 financialapproved institutionin relatedSeptember to2022 aby payment card transaction that the financialInternational institutionOrganization hasfor processedStandardization orfor facilitated.firearms retailers.
(f)(g) "Firearms"Government retailer"entity" means any personcounty or entitymunicipality, engagedor instate theboard, lawfulcommission, businessagency, ofbureau, sellingdepartment, or tradingany firearmsother orpolitical ammunitionsubdivision toof bethe usedstate. in firearms.
H.(h) "Protected financial information" means any record of a sale, purchase, return, or refund involving a payment card that is retrieved, characterized, generated, labeled, sorted, or grouped based on the assignment of a firearms code.
B.
No.
1110 *HR43/R1512PH* ~ OFFICIAL ~ 23/HR43/R1512PH PAGE 4(MCL\EW) (g) "Firearms code" means any code or other indicator that a financial institution assigns to a merchant or to a payment card transaction that identifies whether a merchant is a firearms retailer or whether the payment card transaction involves the purchase of a firearm or ammunition.
The term "firearms code" includes, but is not limited to, a Merchant Category Code assigned to a retailer by a payment card network or other financial institution.
(h) "Government entity" means any county or municipality, or state board, commission, agency, bureau, department, or any other political subdivision of the state.
(i) "Protected financial information" means any record of a sale, purchase, return, or refund involving a payment card that is retrieved, characterized, generated, labeled, sorted, or grouped based on the assignment of a firearms code.
(1) Except for those rewardsrecords kept during the regular course of a criminal investigation and prosecution,prosecution or as otherwise required by law, a state governmental agency or local government, special district, or other political subdivision or official, agent, or employee of the state or other governmental entity or any other person, public or private, other than the owner or owner's representative, may not knowingly and willfully keep or cause to be kept any list, record, or registry of privately owned firearms or any list, record, or registry of the owners of those firearms.
(2) A financial institution or its agent may not require the usage of orthe assignfirearms code in a way that distinguishes a firearms orPAGE ammunition41110 merchantretailer categoryphysically codelocated H.in the State of Mississippi from general merchandise retailers or sporting goods retailers.
B.(3) A financial institution may not discriminate against a firearms retailer by declining a lawful payment card transaction based solely on the assignment or nonassignment of a firearms code;
No.provided that a financial entity may decline or otherwise refuse to process the transaction on the basis of the firearms code only if necessary to comply with this section or if requested by the customer or due to fraud controls or merchant category exclusions offered by a financial entity for the purpose of expenditure control or corporate card control.
1110(4) *HR43/R1512PH*Except ~as OFFICIALotherwise ~required 23/HR43/R1512PHby PAGElaw 5(MCL\EW)or toregulation, anya merchantfinancial locatedinstitution inmay Mississippinot thatdisclose isa financial record, including a sellerfirearms code that was collected in violation of firearmsthis oract, ammunitionunless separatelythe fromdisclosure generalof merchandisesuch retailersfinancial record or sportingfirearms goodscode retailers.was based on a good-faith conclusion that the entity's action was required by applicable law or regulation.
(5) Nothing in this section shall limit the ability of a financial institution to negotiate with responsible parties or otherwise impair the financial institution's actions related to dispute processing, fraud management, protecting transaction integrity from concerns related to illegal activities, breach or cyber risks.
(1) The Attorney General may investigate alleged violations of this act and, upon finding a violation, shall provide written notice to any individual or entity, public or PAGE 51110 private, believed to be in violation of this act.
UponWritten receipt of such written notice fromto theany Attorneycommercial General, the entity shall havebe thirtymade (30) calendar days to cease the usageentity's ofregistered aagent firearmspursuant orto ammunitionSection merchant79-35-13. code for any Mississippi merchant.
(2)Upon If the entity fails to cease the usage of a firearms or ammunition merchant code for any merchant located in Mississippi after the expiration of thirty (30) calendar days from the receipt of such written notice byfrom the Attorney General'sGeneral, office, the Attorneyentity Generalshall mayhave pursuethirty an(30) injunctioncalendar againstdays any individual or entity, public or private, alleged to becease inany violation of this act,act. which a court may order, in addition to any such other relief, as the court may consider appropriate.
(3)(2) ItEither shalla notfirearms beretailer aphysically defenselocated toin aMississippi civilwhose actionbusiness filedwas underthe subject of an alleged violation of this act thator sucha informationcustomer waswho disclosedtransacted toat a federalfirearms governmentretailer entity,physically unlesslocated suchin disclosureMississippi orwhose actionbusiness iswas requiredthe bysubject federalof lawan oralleged regulation.violation of this act, may petition the Attorney General to investigate the alleged violation in accordance with subsection (1) of this section.
SECTION(3) 6.(a) If an individual or entity is found to be in violation of this act and fails to cease the violating activity after the expiration of thirty (30) calendar days from the receipt of written notice by the Attorney General's office, the Attorney General may pursue an injunction against any individual or entity, public or private, alleged to be in violation of this act.
ThisThe actAttorney shallGeneral takemay effectpursue andan beinjunction pursuant to this subsection in forcechancery fromcourt andin afterthe Julyjudicial 1,district 2023.where the alleged violation occurred against the individual or entity in alleged violation of this act.
H.(b) If a court finds that an individual or entity continues to be in violation of this act after thirty (30) calendar days from receiving written notice from the Attorney General in accordance with subsection (1) of this section, then PAGE 61110 the court shall enjoin the individual or entity from continuing the activity found to be in violation of this act.
B.(c) If an individual or entity knowingly and willfully fails to comply with an injunction as provided in paragraph (b) of this subsection within thirty (30) days after being served with the injunction, then the Attorney General, upon petition to the court, may recover on behalf of the state a civil penalty in a sum not to exceed Ten Thousand Dollars ($10,000.00) per violation of an injunction issued pursuant to paragraph (b) of this subsection, committed after the expiration of the period of thirty (30) days after the entity was served with the injunction.
No.In assessing such a penalty, the court shall consider factors, including the financial resources of the violator and the harm or risk of harm to the Second Amendment rights resulting from the violation.
1110The *HR43/R1512PH*Attorney ~General OFFICIALmay ~also 23/HR43/R1512PHrecover, ST:in addition to the civil penalty pursuant to this subsection, investigative costs and a reasonable attorney's fee.
SecondAny Amendmentorder Financialassessing Privacya Act;penalty for violation of this act pursuant to this paragraph shall be stayed pending appeal of the order.
PAGE(d) 6(MCL\EW)The create.remedies set forth in this act shall be the exclusive remedies for violation of this act.
(e) It shall be a defense to a proceeding initiated pursuant to this act that such firearms code was required to be used based on a good-faith conclusion that the entity's disclosure or action was required by applicable law or regulation.
PAGE 71110 SECTION 6.
This act shall take effect and be in force from and after January 1, 2024.
Further, amend by striking the title in its entirety and inserting in lieu thereof the following:
AN ACT TO CREATE THE "SECOND AMENDMENT FINANCIAL PRIVACY ACT";
TO PROVIDE LEGISLATIVE FINDINGS;
TO DEFINE CERTAIN TERMS RELATING TO THE ACT;
TO PROHIBIT A STATE AGENCY OR OTHER POLITICAL SUBDIVISION OF THE STATE, OR ANY OTHER PERSON, PUBLIC OR PRIVATE, FROM KEEPING ANY RECORD OF PRIVATELY OWNED FIREARMS, OR REGISTRY OF THE OWNER OF THOSE FIREARMS;
TO PROHIBIT A FINANCIAL INSTITUTION FROM USING A FIREARMS CODE TO ENGAGE IN CERTAIN DISCRIMINATORY CONDUCT IN THE STATE;
TO AUTHORIZE THE ATTORNEY GENERAL TO INVESTIGATE ALLEGED VIOLATIONS OF THIS ACT;
TO AUTHORIZE THE ATTORNEY GENERAL TO PURSUE AN INJUNCTION AGAINST ANY ENTITY OR INDIVIDUAL IN VIOLATION OF THIS ACT;
AND FOR RELATED PURPOSES.
SS36\HB1110PS.J Eugene S.
Clarke Secretary of the Senate PAGE 81110