Oklahoma House Bill HB3028

Oklahoma 2026 Regular Session

• Introduced: 2/2/26
• Refer: 2/3/26
• Report Pass: 3/9/26
• Engrossed: 3/17/26
• Refer: 4/1/26

Caption

Consumer Credit Code; allowing the Department of Career and Technology Education to charge service fees for certain transactions; effective date.

Summary

HB3028 amends Oklahoma’s Consumer Credit Code provisions governing credit card surcharges and service fees. The bill keeps the general rule that sellers may offer cash discounts and may not impose credit card surcharges unless they meet notice and cap requirements, but it adds a new exception allowing certain public and educational entities to charge service fees for specified online or electronic transactions. Those entities include private educational institutions, private schools, technology center school districts, public schools, municipalities, and public trusts with a municipality as beneficiary. Under the bill, the permitted service fee is limited to actual transaction-related costs, including bank processing fees, financial transaction fees, secure transaction costs, portal fees, and increased bandwidth costs tied to providing the transaction. The bill also preserves existing rules for surcharge disclosures and limits, and it continues to define key terms such as “credit card,” “seller,” and “surcharge” for purposes of the statute. The act is set to take effect November 1, 2026.

Impact

HB3028 would amend 14A O.S. Section 2-211, expanding the list of entities that may charge a service fee for certain transactions while leaving the broader consumer credit surcharge framework in place. The practical effect is to authorize specified schools, technology center districts, municipalities, and related public trusts to recover transaction-processing and digital delivery costs that would otherwise be constrained by the Consumer Credit Code. It would affect consumers paying these entities electronically, as well as the institutions and local governments that process those payments.

Sentiment

The bill appears to have generally favorable support in the House, moving through committee with unanimous or near-unanimous votes and passing third reading by a wide margin. The available vote history suggests broad acceptance of the policy change, likely because it is framed as a limited cost-recovery measure rather than a major expansion of fees. No committee transcript is available, so there is no recorded debate to indicate stronger opposition or support beyond the voting pattern.

Contention

The main policy tension in HB3028 is between allowing public and educational entities to recover processing and technology costs and protecting consumers from added payment charges. Any concern would likely center on whether the new service-fee authority could function like a surcharge and increase costs for families, students, or residents making payments to schools or municipalities. The bill addresses that concern by limiting fees to enumerated actual costs, but the scope of eligible entities and transactions could still be a point of scrutiny.