ICBA, ICBC Commend Colorado Governor for Vetoing Unworkable Interchange Bill

Washington, D.C. (June 4, 2026) — The Independent Community Bankers of America (ICBA) and Independent Community Bankers of Colorado (ICBC) today applauded Colorado Governor Jared Polis for vetoing misguided interchange legislation that would have significantly disrupted the state’s payments system.

“ICBC and the state’s community bankers have strenuously opposed efforts to restrict the collection of interchange fees on sales taxes, and we commend Governor Polis for vetoing this unworkable legislation,” ICBC Chairman Mike Hurst said. “The governor’s veto recognizes that misguided interchange restrictions would harm Colorado consumers and the local small businesses and community banks that serve them.”

The Colorado bill would have restricted financial institutions from charging interchange fees on sales taxes. It is similar to a 2024 law in Illinois that the state’s legislature recently delayed by one year for the second time, pushing implementation until July 2027 in recognition of its harmful impact on the payments system and consumer access to payment card services.

The Office of the Comptroller of the Currency in April issued an interim final rule and interim final order clarifying longstanding preemption of such state laws for national banks, leaving the punitive Illinois law to apply only to the state’s own Illinois-chartered financial institutions. In line with the OCC’s announcement, the U.S. District Court for the Northern District of Illinois issued an injunction preventing Illinois from enforcing the law on national banks, banks chartered by states other than Illinois, federal savings associations, and the payment card networks—again leaving Illinois-chartered institutions as the only entities targeted by the state law.

“As ICBA, ICBC, and other state community banking associations have repeatedly said about state interchange restrictions, these misguided proposals would serve only to drive community banks away from offering credit and debit card services in the communities they serve,” ICBA President and CEO Rebeca Romero Rainey said. “We thank Governor Polis for rejecting Colorado’s unworkable legislation and call on federal and state policymakers across the nation to examine the harmful impact to small businesses and consumers these proposals threaten to impose.”

About ICBA

The Independent Community Bankers of America® has one mission: to create and promote an environment where community banks flourish. We power the potential of the nation’s community banks through effective advocacy, education, and innovation.

As local and trusted sources of credit, America’s community banks leverage their relationship-based business model and innovative offerings to channel deposits into the neighborhoods they serve, creating jobs, fostering economic prosperity, and fueling their customers’ financial goals and dreams. For more information, visit ICBA’s website at icba.org.