Gift Card Proposed Legislation

The Washington state Legislature has recently introduced 2 bills that change requirements related to gift cards. The bills will:

- Require Businesses to provide cash refund for unspent gift cards below $50
- Require businesses to collect consumer data at point of sale when gift cards are sold
- Forward unspent gift card balances and consumer data to the state as Unclaimed Property after 3 years
- Monetize any rewards points or offerings and forward to the state as unclaimed property along with gift cards
- Continue to honor gift cards forever, despite forwarding funds to the state
- Require businesses to apply for a credit from the state if/when gift cards are used after they've been forwarded as unclaimed property

We are requesting additional information so we can respond to this legislation. Your information will be kept confidential unless you give us permission to share with lawmakers. 

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* 1. Please provide your name

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* 2. Please provide the name of your business

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* 3. Please provide your email address

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* 4. Can you estimate what % of your annual revenue is derived from gift cards?

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i We adjusted the number you entered based on the slider’s scale.

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* 5. Does your business contribute to any community or philanthropic events with gift cards or revenue for gift cards?

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* 6. Do you prohibit customers from using other forms of payment along with a gift card? (proposed legislation suggests businesses require customers to reload gift cards at a predetermined amount, therefore requiring customers to never fully be able to spend total balance, rather than allowing customers to exhaust the gift card balance and use alternative payment to cover the rest)

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* 7. Do you currently track customer data related to gift cards?

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* 8. If the law changed and required businesses to collect customer data on gift cards so unredeemed funds could be transferred to the state, do you have the appropriate infrastructure to house that data?

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* 9. Does your business have a loyalty or rewards program?

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* 10. Would increasing the requirement to cash out unspent gift cards from $5 (current law) to $50 be a challenge for you to implement?

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* 11. Do you sell any gift cards for other businesses?

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* 12. Do other businesses sell your gift cards?

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* 13. Has your business every experienced fraud related to the purchase or use of gift cards? 

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* 14. If a law passed that required your business to cash out unspent gift cards under $50, report and remit revenue related to unredeemed gift cards after 3 years, and set up a customer info database, how would your business react?

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* 15. Do you have any other comments you’d like us to be aware of?

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