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Senator Davis pushes substitute bill to criminalize identity theft; colleagues ask for drafting and proportionality checks
Summary
Senator Davis presented substitute SB 75 to escalate identity-fraud offenses toward felony penalties; senators questioned proportionality, drafting linkage to existing graduated penalties and sought clarification, and the bill was circled for further work.
Senator Davis introduced substitute Senate Bill 75 to strengthen criminal penalties for identity fraud and to grant specific authorities to the consumer-protection entity. The sponsor cited a case of a Utah resident left with $27,000 in fraudulent charges after a Social Security/driver's-license misuse, arguing identity theft is economically and personally damaging and warrants stiffer penalties. The bill would move certain identity-theft acts out of misdemeanor classifications into a graduated set of felonies tied to monetary thresholds.
Concerns raised on the floor: Senators pressed whether the new felony levels were proportionate to the offense and whether the bill’s language properly tied the new elements into existing statute that already contains graduated penalties. Senator Valentine and others pointed out that, as written, some language could be read to escalate even small-dollar frauds to felony levels or to create ambiguity about aggregating multiple violations. The sponsor and counsel discussed that the bill aims to link criminal degree to dollar amounts (for example, a second-degree felony threshold at $5,000 and higher), but senators questioned whether the text as drafted accomplishes that safely and asked for statutory cross-references to make the graduations explicit.
Outcome: Following the floor exchange, a motion was made to circle the bill so the sponsor and counsel could resolve drafting issues; the motion to circle was agreed so the measure will be revisited after staff and counsel clarification.
Representative excerpts: Senator Davis noted a victim testimony before the U.S. Senate Banking Committee and said, '...someone who had obtained a driver's license under her Social Security number later used to secure credit and loans and left her with a $27,000 purchase that she didn't make.'
What to watch: Whether the sponsor revises statutory cross-references to ensure the bill’s graduated penalty structure aligns with existing criminal-code provisions and whether the consumer-protection authority language is integrated cleanly into code.
