James Madison Institute CEO Calls for Credit Card Transparency in State Legislature

Credit card companies and their secret or delayed (to the point of checkout) fees have driven consumers across the country nuts since they were introduced. There is not a general liking for these measures. However, with the 2024-2025 budget including a “secret study” regarding the credit card interchange system, people like Dr. Robert McClure – the president and CEO of the James Madison Institute, also known as JMI – are looking to bring it to light.

Dr. McClure told The Floridian, "Florida has a long history of transparency and openness in government dating back to Gov. Reubin Askew’s administration nearly 50 years ago. There is a reason Florida has rightly earned its reputation as a state with low taxes and light regulation. A study on such a controversial subject as the credit card interchange system should be debated in the Sunshine where it belongs.”

If what Dr. McClure is saying is true and that the state legislature is attempting to fund a “secret study” that is connected to the Legislature’s Office of Economic and Demographic Research and a $1 million price tag, then it would go against the State of Florida’s tradition of transparency, especially as it relates to its “Sunshine Laws.” These laws enforce that all records of public agencies are to be inspected when called upon.

Moreover, a study on the credit card interchange system requires “a contract with a public or private institution of higher learning.”

Through these traditions and state laws, Dr. McClure argues that this “secret study” on credit cards should not kept in darkness.

Instead, it should include public discourse regarding the topic.

“There is a reason Florida has rightly earned its reputation as a state with low taxes and light regulation, where citizens are free to pursue their version of the American Dream without the needless burdens of an overbearing government. It is because our state government acts in the sunshine. Let’s not ruin a good thing,” said Dr. McClure.