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Senate Co-Sponsorship Memoranda
Senate of Pennsylvania
Session of 2017 - 2018
Regular Session
MEMORANDUM
| Posted: | December 9, 2016 04:40 PM |
|---|---|
| From: | Senator Stewart J. Greenleaf |
| To: | All Senate members |
| Subject: | Protecting Social Security Numbers |
| I am reintroducing Senate Bill 177, legislation that will further strengthen Pennsylvania’s Privacy of Social Security Numbers Law by prohibiting a person, entity or state agency/political subdivision from denying services, privileges or rights to an individual who refuses to disclose their Social Security Number (SSN). Both private and public sector entities have come to utilize an individual’s SSN as the primary method for identification for non-Social Security purposes. Given the importance of a SSN in stealing a person’s identity or committing fraud, we need to ensure that we protect the privacy of consumers. According to the Bureau of Justice Statistics bulletin, Victims of Identity Theft, about 7% of persons age 16 or older were victims of identity theft in 2014. During that same year, the Federal Trade Commission (FTC) reported more than 10,000 complaints of identity theft in Pennsylvania. For 2015, the FTC indicated that identity theft complaints represented 16% of the over 3 million consumer complaints they received that year. In 2006 the General Assembly passed the Privacy of Social Security Numbers Law which prohibits a person, entity or state agency/political subdivision from engaging in certain activities, such as 1) posting or publicly displaying SSNs; 2) printing SSNs on cards required to access the company’s products or services; 3) requiring people to transmit an SSN over the Internet unless the connection is secure or the number is encrypted; 4) requiring people to log into a website using a SSN without a password; and 5) printing SSNs on anything mailed to a customer unless required by law or the document is a form or application. The law does, however, provide several exceptions (i.e., required by federal or state law, internal verification, law enforcement investigations, financial institutions) to the general prohibition. My legislation would enhance the existing law by preventing a person, entity or public agency from denying services to a new customer because they refuse to furnish their SSN. Consumers wishing to obtain services from a company (i.e., cable, telephone) should not be forced to give their SSN. The bill adds employment and tax compliance purposes to the current list of exceptions whereby a SSN could still be requested. The measure is modeled after a New York law enacted in 2012. |
Introduced as SB89