These days, consumers feel like everything comes with added fees. The cost of living in Hawaii is crippling, but when you are hit with fees for swiping a credit card, it feels excessive. This year, Congress can step in and ease that economic strain with the Credit Card Competition Act (CCCA). Doing so would inject some competition into the credit card industry and drive down excessive swipe fees hampering our local economy.

Each time someone swipes a credit card at a business, the merchant is charged a fee for processing the transaction. With more people using credit cards, our local economy faces an overwhelming surge of swipe fee-related expenses, which now account for the second-highest operating cost.

In the last decade, swipe fees have tripled because of two of America’s largest credit card companies — and Hawaii small businesses and families are paying the price. Visa and Mastercard control more than 80% of the credit card industry’s market share and use their dominance to hike their swipe fees well beyond what is reasonable. They raked in $224 billion from these fees in the past year, and $400 million of that came directly from Hawaii small business owners.

The amount local small businesses and families pay in swipe fees is unacceptable, especially when we already face significantly higher-than-average costs. Swipe fees only make matters worse when businesses are forced to pass on the added cost to consumers by raising prices. Hawaii residents have the lowest disposable income per state, yet we have the highest cost of living.

Our local businesses have faced enough challenges over the years and are still recovering — they have enough problems without the added cost of swipe fees.

The CCCA would help boost our economy as businesses and consumers navigate the high cost of living. The bill allows businesses to choose between at least two different processing networks for credit card transactions, only one of which could be in the top two market shareholders, which would incentivize Visa and Mastercard to lower their swipe fees to retain customers with new competition.

These networks would also have a reason to improve their anti-fraud protections and other services to keep businesses interested in their product. The benefit would be huge, especially in Hawaii. If the CCCA were passed, Hawaii small businesses and consumers could save more than $64 million each year — no small sum for the businesses needing relief.

The CCCA brings excellent savings and potential for Hawaii’s economy, and it is no surprise a recent poll found that likely voters support the bill by a nearly 50-point margin. Support from Hawaii’s U.S. Sens. Mazie Hirono and Brian Schatz would go a long way toward helping pass the CCCA. It has bipartisan support, provides huge relief for our business owners, and brings fairness back to the credit card industry after years of Visa and Mastercard dominance.

We must pass this bill sooner rather than later.

Tina Yamaki is president of the Retail Merchants of Hawaii and serves as the voice of Hawaii’s retail industry.