Measure designed to cut ID theft gets go-ahead

Cutting down on identity theft is the goal of a bill passed out by a legislative committee Wednesday.

The Workforce Services and Community and Economic Development Interim Committee unanimously passed out a bill that allows the Department of Workforce Services to tell a person and law enforcement agencies of suspected misuse of a person's personal identifying information, including a Social Security number.

"We're going to be able to clear out a lot of problems that are out there regarding identity theft," Rep. Peggy Wallace, R-West Jordan, said.

Suspected misuse would include a Social Security number being used when reporting wages for two or more people and a Social Security number of a person under 18 that has reported wages of more than $1,000 per quarter.

With the new bill, "our staff can feel comfortable telling people when that information comes to their attention (that) 'your number may have been compromised and you may want to protect yourself,"' said Tani Downing, the department's executive director.

Current law keeps the department from telling law enforcement about such misuse unless law enforcement comes asking for it, she said.

"We'd like to be able to have the opportunity to go to a law enforcement agency and say, 'We have multiple people using a Social Security number. Here's some information.' And then they can decide whether they think there is criminal activity involved and to pursue an investigation. We wouldn't be making that determination," Downing said.

Kirk Torgensen, a chief deputy in the Utah Attorney General's Office, said there are perhaps 25,000 cases involving the wrongful use of Social Security numbers. He said the AG's office would not investigate and prosecute that many cases, but instead would focus on providing the victims with information to help them clear up the matter.

"Identify theft is such a serious thing," said the bill's main proponent, Sen. Carlene Walker, R-Sandy, "and you can imagine how upset you would be if you knew that somebody knew that your Social Security number was being used by somebody else and they (DWS) were not allowed to tell you. This (bill) is really a no-brainer."

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E-mail: bwallace@desnews.com