Consumers in Illinois have a new gift card law coming into effect next month, says the Springfield State Journal-Register. The new law will prohibit gift cards from expiring within 5 years of being issued.

Under the new law, the recipient of a $50 gift card — for example — will be able to spend the entire $50, said the measure’s House sponsor, Democratic Rep. Jack Franks of Woodstock.

Franks had pushed the gift-card legislation for the past few years before succeeding this year with House Bill 369. It won overwhelming approval in the House and Senate and was signed by Gov. Rod Blagojevich.

The lawmaker’s effort started when his son, now 12, tried to use a gift card and money he had saved to buy an aluminum baseball bat. The boy discovered that much of the card’s value “had eroded because he hadn’t used it within a certain amount of time,” Franks said Monday.

Darn those cute kids who save their lawn-mowing money to buy baseball bats. They’re always messing up the finest plans of enormous retailers.

New law will ease use of gift cards [State Journal-Register](Thanks, Emily!)

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