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Senate advanced identity-theft measures; sponsors urge federal action and remove SSNs from death certificates
Summary
Senators advanced a concurrent resolution urging Congress to address identity theft and moved other measures removing Social Security numbers from public documents; SCR1 and bills including SB89 (removing SSNs from death certificates) were advanced after sponsors cited multiple examples of SSN exposure and law-enforcement support.
Senators moved several measures on identity theft and employer verification, advancing a concurrent resolution (SCR1) intended to urge Congress to address misuse of Social Security numbers and taking action on related state measures.
Senator Walker, explaining the resolution and an amendment to make the measure more business-friendly, cited examples she said reflect the problem — a selective-service mailer with a visible Social Security number and military IDs that display SSNs — and said the resolution is "simply giving our congressional representatives a message from us that we need to solve these problems." She added: "The federal government is actually probably the worst offender in terms of facilitating the misuse of Social Security numbers."
Supporters from law enforcement and other senators described identity theft as a fast-growing crime. Senator Greiner said his department dedicates investigators to the issue and voiced support for Walker's resolution. Senator Romero and others urged that the problem be addressed at the national level rather than with a patchwork of state laws.
Separately, Senator Walker introduced SB89 to remove Social Security numbers from death certificates; she told colleagues her family had experienced incorrect SSNs on multiple death-certificate copies and described the administrative and privacy risks. "This is the second of the 4 bills that I told you I was going to present to you on identity theft... This year, we wanna take drive Social Security numbers off of death certificates," she said.
The Senate recorded SCR1 as receiving 26 aye votes, 0 nay and 3 absent and moved it to the third-reading calendar. SB89 was reported as receiving 27 yes, 0 nay and 2 absent and will be read for the third time.
Why it matters: sponsors said reducing the visible proliferation of Social Security numbers and giving employers better verification tools will lower identity-theft risk and that federal action is necessary to create uniform standards.
What’s next: SCR1 and SB89 proceed for further consideration on the third-reading calendar.
