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Committee hears bill to give state auditor access to tax records for insurance and securities investigations
Summary
A House bill would let the Montana Commissioner of Securities and Insurance receive taxpayer return and employer withholding data for active investigations into securities and insurance fraud; the bill drew questions about privacy protections and limits on use.
Representative Marta Bertoglio, sponsor of House Bill 94, told the Senate Business and Labor Committee that the bill would amend Montana—ode—onfidentiality rules to let the commissioner of securities and insurance access certain taxpayer return data and employer payroll withholding reports for use in investigating fraud and noncompliance.
The bill ims to "enhance the commissioner's ability to investigate, detect, and prevent noncompliance, fraud, and abuse under state securities and insurance laws," Bertoglio said, and proponents including the Department of Revenue and the State Auditor's office told the committee the change would speed investigations and better protect consumers.
Proponents said the change would place the state auditor on the same footing as other state agencies that already receive limited tax data for enforcement. Tony Zammit, deputy chief legal counsel at the Montana Department of Revenue, told the committee that the bill is not a "magic bullet" but would allow agencies to act faster in cases where a court-ordered warrant would otherwise be required, and that faster access could limit ongoing harm to Montanans.
Committee members pressed agency witnesses on limits and safeguards. Senator Curti asked how far the office could go with the information; Frank Cote, deputy insurance commissioner, said the bill requires the office to be in the middle of an active investigation to receive the data. "I can't just go say, 'Hey, I wonder what Senator Curti made last year,'" Cote said; access, he said, must be tied to an investigative purpose in securities or insurance matters.
Other senators raised privacy concerns and asked whether the change would replace existing judicial warrants. Cote and Zammit said courts and warrants remain available, and that the bill would provide quicker access in limited cases when prompt information is needed to stop fraud.
The committee heard no opponents in person or online and ended the hearing with a series of technical clarifications from witnesses. The bill was later moved out of committee during executive action.
Ending: The committee advanced the bill to the Senate floor for further consideration after the hearing and subsequent executive action; sponsors and agency staff said the measure is intended to speed fraud investigations while relying on statutory limits in the bill to confine access to active securities or insurance probes.
