STAFF CONTACT :
BILL
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SUMMARY
The Business Council of New York State, Inc. opposes the adoption of
this legislation. The intent of this legislation is to combat identity
theft and fraud. The sponsors' memo says that this legislation
is supposed to be “limiting the instances when a person's Social
Security Account number may be used, making the process of assuming
one's identity more difficult.” This
legislation does not correct that problem
and is extremely broad in its scope.
HISTORY and CURRENT USE
Our society has changed greatly since the inception of the social security
number is 1936. The use of our social security number has become
a part of our everyday lives. It is used to check our credit, maintain
our health records, file our taxes. Our social security number is
also linked to the administration of government programs. Social
security numbers are vital to ensuring that we are actually able
to maintain our identity. For instance, if two people with the same
name are applying for credit the credit company needs to be able
to distinguish one person from the other.
FEDERAL STANDARDS
The legislative findings and declaration section of the bill would
lead one to believe that there is an absence of federal statutory
provisions protecting social security numbers from misuse and that
it has become necessary to develop this legislation. The Federal
Fair Access to Credit Transactions Act (FACT) was recently enacted
in order to provide a balance regarding the use of social security
numbers. FACT actually provides significant steps in identity theft
prevention measures, which the Nozzolio/Abbate legislation is trying
to combat. Why not give FACT an opportunity to work at the federal
level?
BROAD BRUSH APPROACH
This legislation fails to take in to account many of the good uses
of social security numbers and the importance of sharing this information.
Law enforcement agencies routinely share social security numbers
in order to track down criminals or potential witnesses. Social security
number are used to crack down on parents that are behind in paying
child support and are also used in attaching assets to satisfy court
orders. Pension fund beneficiaries and missing heirs are found and
paid what is owed to them through the use of social security numbers.
Limiting social security numbers is such an expansive manner as proposed
by this legislation would damage those programs that are working
effectively. The bottom line is that the legislation does not address
the issue of combating identity theft and fraud. It simply paints
all uses of a social security number with a broad brush and limits
their use.