ST. PAUL, Minn. —- A core requirement established by the Payment Card Industry (PCI) was adopted into law by the Minnesota legislature here late last week. The vote in both the Minnesota House and Senate was overwhelming and Gov. Tim Pawlenty signed it.

Under the state's Plastic Card Security Act, companies that store credit and/or debit card data on their systems that are breached will be required to reimburse banks and credit unions for the costs of blocking and reissuing cards. They may also be subject to lawsuits from individuals that suffer by such violations. Any company that processes more than 20,000 card transactions annually is subject to the law.

The PCI standard specifically prohibits retailers from storing card data such as the three- and four-digit verification codes on the back of cards and the full contents of a card's magnetic stripe.