Gov. Chris Gregoire today declined to veto an amendment incorporated into SB 5921, which directs the Department of Social and Health Services to require the disclosure, at the time of the transaction, of any surcharge or transaction fee charged to electronic benefit card clients. The budget proviso was sponsored by Rep. David Frockt (D-Seattle), with strong support from Representative Ruth Kagi (D-Lake Forest Park), and approved by the Legislature on a bipartisan basis.
Following is Rep. Frockt’s statement on maintaining the fee-disclosure requirement in the budget approved today.
“I applaud Gov. Gregoire for maintaining the amendment that requires Chase to disclose ATM surcharges on public assistance clients.
“Chase, the second-largest bank in the nation, received more than $465,000 in debit card surcharges from these individuals between January and April, according to recent news reports. The contract on the provision of this service should be revised when its next up to ensure that Washingtonians living hand to mouth during this recession are not paying the freight on what I am sure is a very profitable business for the bank even without these fees. Gov. Gregoire did the right thing for taxpayers and thousands of Washington’s most vulnerable citizens by keeping the notification amendment in place.”