PRINTER'S NO. 2266
No. 1771 Session of 2005
INTRODUCED BY CRAHALLA, BELFANTI, CALTAGIRONE, CREIGHTON, CRUZ,
DALEY, GEIST, GINGRICH, JAMES, LEH, MUNDY, PICKETT, SCHRODER,
E. Z. TAYLOR AND YOUNGBLOOD, JUNE 21, 2005
REFERRED TO COMMITTEE ON COMMERCE, JUNE 21, 2005
AN ACT
1 Imposing certain safety standards on the operators of automated
2 teller machines and night depositories; and providing for
3 notice to customers, for exceptions and for compliance
4 evidence of adequate safety standards.
5 The General Assembly finds and declares as follows:
6 (1) The safety of consumers using automated teller
7 machines and night deposit facilities in this Commonwealth
8 needs to be enhanced without discouraging the siting of
9 automated teller machines and night deposit facilities in
10 locations convenient to consumer's homes and workplaces.
11 (2) Because decisions concerning safety at automated
12 teller machines and night deposit facilities are inherently
13 subjective, the standard of care applicable to operators of
14 automated teller machines and night deposit facilities needs
15 to be established by law.
16 (3) This act is not intended to impose a duty to
17 relocate or modify automated teller machines or night deposit
18 facilities upon the occurrence of a particular event or
1 circumstance but rather to establish a means for the
2 evaluation of all automated teller machines and night deposit
3 facilities as provided in this act.
4 (4) There is a need for uniformity as to the
5 establishment of safety standards for automated teller
6 machines and night deposit facilities and this act supersedes
7 and preempts a rule, regulation code or ordinance of a
8 municipality regarding customer safety at automated teller
9 machines and night deposit facilities in this Commonwealth.
10 The General Assembly of the Commonwealth of Pennsylvania
11 hereby enacts as follows:
12 Section 1. Short title.
13 This act shall be known and may be cited as the Automated
14 Teller Machine and Night Depository Security Act.
15 Section 2. Definitions.
16 The following words and phrases when used in this act shall
17 have the meanings given to them in this section unless the
18 context clearly indicates otherwise:
19 "Access area." A paved walkway or sidewalk that is within 50
20 feet of an automated teller machine or night deposit facility.
21 The term does not include publicly maintained sidewalks or
22 roads.
23 "Access device." Either of the following:
24 (1) As defined in Federal Reserve Board Regulation E, 12
25 CFR Part 205, promulgated under the Electronic Fund Transfer
26 Act (Public Law 95-630, 15 U.S.C. Sec. 1693 et seq.).
27 (2) A key or other mechanism issued by a banking
28 institution to its customer to give the customer access to
29 the banking institution's night deposit facility.
30 "Automated teller machine." An electronic information
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1 processing device located in this Commonwealth that accepts or
2 dispenses cash in connection with a credit, deposit or
3 convenience account. The term does not include a device used
4 primarily to facilitate check guarantees or check
5 authorizations, used in connection with the acceptance or
6 dispensing of cash on a person-to-person basis, such as by a
7 store cashier, or used for payment of goods and services.
8 "Banking institution." A federally chartered or State-
9 chartered bank, trust company, savings bank, savings and loan
10 association or credit union.
11 "Candle-foot power." A light intensity of candles on a
12 horizontal plane at 36 inches above ground level and five feet
13 in front of the area to be measured.
14 "Control of an access area or defined parking area." To have
15 the present authority to determine how, when and by whom an
16 access area or defined parking area is to be used and how it is
17 to be maintained, lighted and landscaped.
18 "Defined parking area." That portion of a parking area that
19 is open for customer parking and:
20 (1) Is contiguous to an access area with respect to an
21 automated teller machine or night deposit facility.
22 (2) Is regularly, principally and lawfully used for
23 parking by users of the automated teller machine or night
24 deposit facility while conducting transactions during hours
25 of darkness.
26 (3) Is owned or leased by the operator of the automated
27 teller machine or night deposit facility or owned or
28 controlled by the party leasing the automated teller machine
29 or night deposit facility site to the operator.
30 The term does not include a parking area that is not open or
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1 regularly used for parking by users of the automated teller
2 machine or night deposit facility who are conducting
3 transactions during hours of darkness. A parking area is not
4 open if it is physically closed to access or if conspicuous
5 signs indicate that it is closed. If a multiple level parking
6 area satisfies the conditions of this definition and would
7 therefore otherwise be a defined parking area, only the single
8 parking level deemed by the operator of the automated teller
9 machine and night deposit facility to be the most directly
10 accessible to the users of the automated teller machine and
11 night deposit facility is a defined parking area.
12 "Hours of darkness." The period that commences 30 minutes
13 after sunset and ends 30 minutes before sunrise.
14 "Night deposit facility." A receptacle that is provided by a
15 banking institution for the use of its customers in delivering
16 cash, checks and other items to the banking institution.
17 "Operator." A banking institution or other business entity
18 or a person who operates an automated teller machine or night
19 deposit facility.
20 Section 3. Safety procedures.
21 On or before July 1, 2006, with respect to an existing
22 installed automated teller machine and night deposit facility in
23 this Commonwealth, and an automated teller machine or night
24 deposit facility installed after July 1, 2006, the operator
25 shall adopt procedures for evaluating the safety of the
26 automated teller machine or night deposit facility. The
27 procedures shall provide for the following:
28 (1) The extent to which the lighting for the automated
29 teller machine or night deposit facility complies or will
30 comply with the standards required by section 5 (relating to
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1 lighting requirements).
2 (2) The presence of landscaping, vegetation or other
3 obstructions in the area of the automated teller machine or
4 night deposit facility, the access area and the defined
5 parking area.
6 (3) The incidence of crimes of violence in the immediate
7 neighborhood of the automated teller machine or night deposit
8 facility, as reflected in the records of the local law
9 enforcement agency and of which the operator has actual
10 knowledge.
11 Section 4. Compliance periods.
12 (a) Duty of operators to comply.--An operator of an
13 automated teller machine or night deposit facility installed on
14 or after July 1, 2006, shall comply with section 5 (relating to
15 lighting requirements) beginning on the date the automated
16 teller machine or night deposit facility is installed.
17 Compliance with section 5 by an operator as to an automated
18 teller machine and night deposit facility existing as of July 1,
19 2006, is optional until July 1, 2008, and mandatory thereafter.
20 (b) Duty of other persons to comply.--If an access area or a
21 defined parking area is not controlled by the operator of an
22 automated teller machine or night deposit facility and if the
23 person who leased the automated teller machine or night deposit
24 facility site to the operator controls the access area or
25 defined parking area, the person who controls the access area or
26 defined parking area shall comply with section 5 for an
27 automated teller machine or night deposit facility installed on
28 or after July 1, 2006, beginning on the date the automated
29 teller machine or night deposit facility is installed and for an
30 automated teller machine or night deposit facility existing as
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1 of July 1, 2006, by or on July 1, 2008.
2 (c) Applicability.--This section applies to an operator of
3 an automated teller machine or night deposit facility only to
4 the extent that the operator controls the access area or defined
5 parking area to be lighted.
6 Section 5. Lighting requirements.
7 The operator, owner or other person responsible for an
8 automated teller machine or night deposit facility shall provide
9 lighting during hours of darkness with respect to an open and
10 operating automated teller machine or night deposit facility and
11 a defined parking area, access area and the exterior of an
12 enclosed automated teller machine or night deposit facility
13 installation according to the following standards:
14 (1) There shall be a minimum of ten candle-foot power at
15 the face of the automated teller machine or night deposit
16 facility and extending in an unobstructed direction outward
17 five feet.
18 (2) There shall be a minimum of two candle-foot power
19 within 50 feet from all unobstructed directions from the face
20 of the automated teller machine or night deposit facility. In
21 the event the automated teller machine or night deposit
22 facility is located within ten feet of the corner of the
23 building and the automated teller machine or night deposit
24 facility is generally accessible from the adjacent side,
25 there shall be a minimum of two candle-foot power along the
26 first 40 feet of the adjacent side of the building that is
27 unobstructed.
28 (3) There shall be a minimum of two candle-foot power in
29 that portion of the defined parking area within 50 feet of
30 the automated teller machine or night deposit facility.
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1 Section 6. Surveillance cameras.
2 Each operator of an automated teller machine shall be
3 required to do all of the following:
4 (1) Provide a surveillance camera of sufficient quality
5 to produce surveillance pictures which can be used
6 effectively as evidence in a criminal prosecution of illegal
7 activities at the location monitored by the camera.
8 (2) Operate the camera in a manner which does not
9 compromise the quality of the surveillance pictures.
10 Section 7. Notice to customer.
11 (a) General rule.--The issuer of an access device shall
12 furnish a customer receiving the device with a notice of basic
13 safety precautions that the customer should employ while using
14 an automated teller machine or night deposit facility. This
15 information shall be furnished by personally delivering or by
16 mailing the information to each customer whose mailing address
17 is in this Commonwealth for the account to which the access
18 device relates.
19 (b) Timing of notice.--
20 (1) This information shall be furnished for an access
21 device issued on or after July 1, 2006, at or before the time
22 the customer is furnished with his access device.
23 (2) For a customer to whom an access device was issued
24 before July 1, 2006, the information must be delivered or
25 mailed to the customer on or before December 31, 2006.
26 (c) Single notice.--Only one notice shall be furnished per
27 household, and if an access device is furnished to more than one
28 customer for a single account or set of accounts or on the basis
29 of a single application or other request for the access devices,
30 only a single notice shall be furnished in satisfaction of the
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1 notification responsibilities as to all those customers. The
2 information may be included with other disclosures related to
3 the access device furnished to the customer, such as with an
4 initial or periodic disclosure statement furnished under the
5 Electronic Fund Transfer Act, (Public Law 95-630, 15 U.S.C. §
6 1693 et seq.).
7 Section 8. Exceptions.
8 This act does not apply to an automated teller machine or
9 night deposit facility that is:
10 (1) located inside a building unless it is a
11 freestanding installation that exists for the sole purpose of
12 providing an enclosure for the automated teller machine or
13 night deposit facility;
14 (2) located inside a building except to the extent a
15 transaction can be conducted from outside the building; or
16 (3) located in an area, including an access area,
17 building, enclosed space or parking area that is not
18 controlled by the operator.
19 Section 9. Act supersedes local government actions.
20 This act supersedes and preempts all rules, regulations,
21 codes, statutes or ordinances of all municipalities regarding
22 customer safety at automated teller machines or night deposit
23 facilities located in this Commonwealth.
24 Section 10. Compliance evidence of adequate safety measures.
25 Compliance with the objective standards and information
26 requirements of this act is prima facie evidence that the
27 operator of the automated teller machine or night deposit
28 facility in question has provided adequate measures for the
29 safety of users of the automated teller machine or night
30 depository.
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1 Section 11. Civil penalties.
2 An operator of an automated teller machine or night deposit
3 facility who willfully and knowingly fails to comply with the
4 requirements of this act shall be civilly liable to a consumer
5 for any damages resulting from noncompliance and, in addition,
6 shall be liable to the consumer for punitive damages in the
7 amount of $5,000. A court shall award a prevailing plaintiff a
8 reasonable attorney fee as part of the plaintiff's costs.
9 Section 20. Effective date.
10 This act shall take effect in 60 days.
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