Yesterday Governor Noem signed into law HB 1050 which I sponsored at the request of the Independent Community Bankers of South Dakota.  This bill updated our laws on illegally capturing credit card and debit card numbers.  The bill deleted the need to prove intent to defraud and made it a crime to skim or capture a credit card number without the consent of the owner.  It basically makes it illegal to have a skimming device in your possession.  It also added language to South Dakota law to add the new chip technology found on today’s cards.

Normally a small bill like this is not news worthy but also this week a skimmer was discovered on an ATM in Sioux Falls.  According to the detective on the case the skimmer was advanced and hard to detect. It was discovered when maintenance personnel were removing a jammed card.  Having been in banking for over 35 years I am sure every ATM in the area has been checked for skimmers by now.

I am proud of my fellow Legislators for realizing the importance of my bill and passing it unanimously through both houses.  Senator Lee Schoenbeck related to me that he was in the Legislature when this law was originally passed and remembered that the concept of skimming card numbers was foreign and uncertain to the members of the Judiciary Committee when hearing the originally bill.  When presenting this update unfortunately all of the members Judiciary understood the issue.   It was also supported by the SD Retailers, SD Chamber of Commerce, South Dakota Bankers Association, and AARP.

Keeping our laws current with technology and the needs of consumers and business has been a primary goal of the Legislature for years.  Our citizen legislature meets for 40 days and accomplishes much for the South Dakota.