New York A 7916: Enacts the New York gift certificate scam prevention act

Bill Text

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A07916 Summary:

BILL NOA07916A

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SAME ASSAME AS S00704-A

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SPONSORBores

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COSPNSR

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MLTSPNSR

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Amd §396-i, Gen Bus L

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Enacts the "New York gift certificate scam prevention act" to require certain sale, security and record-keeping requirements for gift certificates by sellers of gift certificates.

Go to top A07916 Actions:

BILL NOA07916A

&nbsp

04/11/2025referred to consumer affairs and protection

06/09/2025amend and recommit to consumer affairs and protection

06/09/2025print number 7916a

01/07/2026referred to consumer affairs and protection

Go to topA07916 Committee&nbspVotes:

Go to topA07916 Floor&nbspVotes:

There are no Assembly votes for this bill in this legislative session.

Go to topA07916 Text:

 STATE OF NEW YORK
 ________________________________________________________________________

 7916--A

 2025-2026 Regular Sessions

 IN ASSEMBLY

 April 11, 2025
 ___________

 Introduced by M. of A. BORES -- read once and referred to the Committee
 on Consumer Affairs and Protection -- committee discharged, bill
 amended, ordered reprinted as amended and recommitted to said commit-
 tee

 AN ACT to amend the general business law, in relation to enacting the
 "New York gift certificate scam prevention act"

 The People of the State of New York, represented in Senate and Assem-
 bly, do enact as follows:

 1 Section 1. Short title. This act shall be known and may be cited as
 2 the "New York gift certificate scam prevention act".
 3 § 2. Paragraph (a) of subdivision 1 of section 396-i of the general
 4 business law, as amended by chapter 668 of the laws of 2021, is amended
 5 to read as follows:
 6 (a) For the purposes of this section, the following terms shall have
 7 the following meanings:
 8 (1) "gift certificate" shall mean a certificate, electronic card, or
 9 other pre-funded record that: (i) is usable at a single merchant or an
 10 affiliated group of merchants that share the same name, mark, or logo,
 11 or is usable at multiple, unaffiliated merchants or service providers;
 12 and (ii) is issued in a specified amount; and (iii) may or may not be
 13 increased in value or reloaded; and (iv) is purchased and/or loaded on a
 14 prepaid basis for the future purchase or delivery of any goods or
 15 services; and (v) is honored upon presentation;
 16 (2) "open loop gift certificate" shall mean a gift certificate redeem-
 17 able at multiple, unaffiliated merchants or service providers; [and]
 18 (3) "promotional gift certificate" shall mean a gift certificate
 19 issued for no consideration which includes on the front of the gift
 20 certificate (i) a statement indicating that the card is issued for
 21 promotional purposes and (ii) the expiration date for the underlying
 22 funds; and

 EXPLANATION--Matter in italics (underscored) is new; matter in brackets
 [ ] is old law to be omitted.
 LBD02522-05-5

 A. 7916--A 2

 1 (4) "third-party gift certificate reseller" shall mean a merchant who,
 2 without authorization from or affiliation with the business entity issu-
 3 ing an open loop gift certificate, is engaged in the business of buying
 4 open loop gift certificates or reselling open loop gift certificates to
 5 consumers.
 6 § 3. Subdivisions 4, 5, 5-a, 5-b and 6 of section 396-i of the general
 7 business law are renumbered subdivisions 5, 6, 7, 8 and 9, and a new
 8 subdivision 4 is added to read as follows:
 9 4. (a) For an in-person sale of a gift certificate, such gift certif-
 10 icate shall:
 11 (i) conceal all visible numbers, such as a card number, CVV numbers,
 12 or PIN numbers, that can be used for balance inquiries or manual entry
 13 redemption; or
 14 (ii) display such information only if the gift certificate incorpo-
 15 rates technology that is designed to prevent activation if that gift
 16 certificate has been subject to tampering or incorporates technology
 17 that is designed to detect and prevent unauthorized redemption.
 18 (b) A merchant may sell a gift certificate that does not conceal all
 19 visible numbers used for balance inquiries or manual entry redemption,
 20 as required under paragraph (a) of this subdivision if such gift certif-
 21 icate is:
 22 (i) a chip-enabled, numberless card that is activated by a consumer
 23 after registering such gift certificate on the issuer's websi