Senate Bill No. 217
(By Senators Redd, Burnette, Caldwell, Hunter, Minard, Rowe,
Snyder, Wooton, Facemyer, Mitchell, Love, Unger and Edgell)
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[Introduced January 15, 2002;
referred to the Committee on the
Judiciary.]
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A BILL to amend article fourteen, chapter eighteen-b of the code
of West Virginia, one thousand nine hundred thirty-one, as
amended, by adding thereto a new section, designated
section ten, relating to credit cards for college students;
requiring registration of persons soliciting applications
for credit cards; requiring students to sign information
sheet; prohibiting promotional incentives; requiring
colleges to offer credit education; prohibiting credit card
companies from obtaining student information; prohibiting
colleges from entering into certain agreements with credit
card companies; making violation a misdemeanor; and
providing penalties.
Be it enacted by the Legislature of West Virginia:
That article fourteen, chapter eighteen-b of the code of
West Virginia, one thousand nine hundred thirty-one, as amended, be amended by adding thereto a new section, designated section
ten, to read as follows:
ARTICLE 14. MISCELLANEOUS.
§18B-14-10. Credit card solicitation on campuses; penalties.
(a) Every person who solicits applications for the issuance
of credit cards on the property of any institution of higher
education must first register with the institution before
soliciting students on campus. Every registration shall include
an agreement that the credit card issuer will not provide an
application to a student unless the student has signed a credit
card education information sheet designed by governing board of
the institution.
(b) No person who solicits applications for credit cards may
offer any gifts or any other promotional incentives to students
while on the property of an institution of higher education.
(c) Every institution of higher education that permits the
solicitation of credit card applications to its students shall
include within its freshman orientation program a seminar
regarding credit and related topics.
(d) Unless a student's parent or guardian has agreed in
writing to be liable for credit card debts of the student, no
person may initiate a debt collection action against the parent
or guardian regarding any credit card debt incurred by the
student if the student or former student applied for the credit card while enrolled at an institution of higher education and
the application was solicited by the company on the property of
the institution.
(e) No person may purchase or otherwise obtain from an
institution of higher education specified information about the
students at the institution of higher education, including
student lists, for the purpose of soliciting applications for
credit cards.
(f) No institution of higher education may enter into any
agreement or permit any of its agents or student organizations
to enter into any agreement for the direct merchandising of
credit cards to any students.
(g) Any person who violates any of the provisions of
subsection (a), (b), (c), (d) or (e) is guilty of a misdemeanor
and, upon conviction, shall be fined in an amount not to exceed
five hundred dollars.
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NOTE: The purpose of this bill is to regulate the
solicitation of credit card applications on college campuses.
This bill has been recommended for introduction and passage
this session by the Joint Standing Committee on the Judiciary.
§18B-14-10 is new; therefore, strike-throughs and
underscoring have been omitted.