ID-theft bill would let agency report misuse

State law prohibits staffers at the Department of Workforce Services from alerting people that their Social Security numbers may have been used by an identity thief.

But a bill passed out Wednesday by the Senate Workforce Services and Community and Economic Development Committee would change that.

SB15 would let DWS employees tell the number-holder and law enforcement agencies of suspected misuse of a person's personal identifying information, including a Social Security number. 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 16 that has reported wages of more than $1,000 per quarter.

Current law keeps the department from telling law enforcement about such misuse unless law enforcement seeks that information from Workforce Services.

"Unfortunately, the state law is very proscriptive in saying that DWS workers cannot disclose to anyone that their Social Security number is being used by a particular person," said Tani Downing, the department's executive director. "They can say, 'We think your Social Security number is being used by someone,' but they can't give any more detail than that."

Providing more information still would be a class C misdemeanor under the bill. It currently is a class A misdemeanor. "It really has a chilling effect for them to even say, 'We suspect someone's using your Social Security number. You need to go protect yourself,"' Downing said.

The department still would not be able to tell victims who was misusing their ID.

Downing said that a few years ago, when matching people's wage data with public assistance clients, the department was "surprised" to find that about 1,200 children under age 12 had reported earnings on their Social Security numbers. During one quarter of 2005, more than 3,554 Utah children 12 and younger had reported earnings on their numbers. One born in 1997 had earnings of $36,000 on a number. Another born in 1998 had $28,000.

"So we have this data, but we can't do anything with it," Downing said.

"As you can see, this really is a serious problem," said the bill's sponsor, Sen. Carlene Walker, R-Cottonwood Heights, "and any of us in this room could have our Social Security number being misused and people are not able to tell us about it. ... Knowledge is power, and so if you know that this is happening, you can at least move forward in helping to protect yourself and your children."