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Center for Media and Democracy Alec Model Legislation Anti-skimming Act

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Exposed

D I D YOU KNOW? Corporations VOTED to adopt this. Through ALEC, global companies

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“ALEC”
has long been a
NEWS
secretive collaboration
between
Big Business
and
Model
Legislation
“conservative” politicians.
Civil Justice
Behind closed doors, they
ghostwrite
“model”
bills to
Commerce,
Insurance,
and Economic
be introduced
in state
capitolsDevelopment
across the country.
This agenda--underwritten
Education
by global corporations-includesEnergy,
major Environment,
tax
andfor
Agriculture
loopholes
big industries
and theFederal
super rich,
Relations
proposals to offshore U.S.
Health
and Human
jobs and
gut minimum
Services
wage, and
efforts to
weakenInternational
public health,
Relations
safety, and environmental
protections.
many
PublicAlthough
Safety and
of theseElections
bills have become
law, until now, their origin
Tax and Fiscal Policy
has been largely unknown.
With ALEC
EXPOSED, the
Telecommunications
Information
Center and
for Media
and
Technology
Democracy
hopes more
Americans will study the
Print thisthe
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bills to understand
depth and breadth of how
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big corporations are
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thisrules
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changing the
legal
and undermining democracy
across the nation.

ALEC’s’Corporate Board
--in recent past or present

• AT&T Services, Inc.
• centerpoint360
• UPS
• Bayer Corporation
• GlaxoSmithKline
• Energy Future Holdings
• Johnson & Johnson
• Coca-Cola Company
• PhRMA
• Kraft Foods, Inc.
• Coca-Cola Co.
• Pfizer Inc.
• Reed Elsevier, Inc.
• DIAGEO
• Peabody Energy
• Intuit, Inc.
• Koch Industries, Inc.
• ExxonMobil
• Verizon
• Reynolds American Inc.
• Wal-Mart Stores, Inc.
• Salt River Project
• Altria Client Services, Inc.
• American Bail Coalition
• State Farm Insurance
For more on these corporations,
search at www.SourceWatch.org.

By the Center for
Media and Democracy
www.prwatch.org

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work as “equals” in “unison” with politicians to write laws to govern your life. Big
MODEL LEGISLATION
TASK FORCES
ALEC INITIATIVES
PUBLICATIONS
Business
has “a VOICE and
a VOTE,” according
to newly exposed
documents. DO YOU?

Model Legislation

Public Safety and Elections
Anti-Skimming Act

Summary:

Did you know the
NRA--the National
Rifle Association--was
the corporate co-chair
in 2011?

This Act criminalizes the use of a scanning device or re-encoder to capture encoded
information from a magnetic strip from a credit, debit, or other payment card and then
places it on a different credit, debit, or other payment card with the intent to defraud.

Model Bill:
Section A. {Short Title} This act shall be cited as the Anti-Skimming Act.
Section B {Definitions} As used in this section, the term:
(a) "Scanning Device" means a scanner, reader, or any other electronic device that is
used to access, read, scan, obtain, memorize, or store, temporarily or permanently,
information encoded on the magnetic strip or stripe of a payment card.
(b) "Re-encoder" means an electronic device that places encoded information from the
magnetic strip or stripe of a payment card onto the magnetic strip or stripe of a different
payment card.
(c) "Payment Card” means a credit card, charge card, debit card, hotel key card, stored
value card, or any other card that is issued to an authorized card user and that allows
the user to obtain, purchase, or receive goods, services, money, or anything else of
value from a merchant.
(d) “Merchant” is defined as an owner or operator of any retail mercantile establishment
or any agent, employee, lessee, consignee, officer, director, franchisee, or independent
contractor of such owner or operator. A “merchant” means a person who receives from
an authorized user of a payment card, or someone the person believes to be an
authorized user, a payment card or information from a payment card, or what the
person believes to be a payment card or information from a payment card, as the
instrument for obtaining, purchasing or receiving goods, services, money, or anything
else of value from the person.
(e) “Authorized card user” means any person with the empowerment, permission or
competence to act in the usage of any “payment card” to include, but not limited to, a
credit card, debit card, hotel key card, stored value card, or any other card that allows
the user to obtain, purchase, or receive goods, services, money, or anything else of
value from a merchant.

Section C {Penalties}
(a) It is a felony of the {insert appropriate low class felony} for a person to use:
(1) A scanning device to access, read, obtain, memorize, or store, temporarily or
permanently, information encoded on the magnetic strip or stripe of a payment card
without the permission of the authorized user of the payment card and with the intent
to defraud the authorized user, the issuer of the authorized user's payment card, or a
merchant.
(2) A re-encoder to place information encoded on the magnetic strip or stripe of a
payment card onto the magnetic strip or stripe of a different card without the
permission of the authorized user of the card from which the information is being reencoded and with the intent to defraud the authorized user, the issuer of the authorized
user's payment card, or a merchant.
(b) Any person who violates subparagraph (a)1 or subparagraph (a)2 a second or
subsequent time commits a {insert appropriate felony of the next higher degree}.
Adopted by ALEC's Criminal Justice Task Force at the States and Nation Policy Summit
December 15, 2001; amended at the Spring Task Force Summit May 1, 2004. Approved
by full ALEC Board of Directors May, 2004.

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