Sacramento – Legislation to clamp down on a steady leak of social security numbers from local government agencies cleared a key hurdle in the State Assembly today, moving cities and counties one step closer to matching the sort of anti-ID theft standards long adhered to by banks, insurers, and other private businesses. 

Authored by State Assemblyman Dave Jones (D – Sacramento), AB 1168 would block county recorders and other local officials from releasing full social security numbers in public documents dating back to 1935.  The bill passed the Assembly Appropriations Committee by a vote of 12-0. 

“Anyone scanning through records at the county recorder’s office has an appallingly high likelihood of stumbling over someone else’s name and social security number,” Jones said.  “For a criminal intent on ID theft, it’s like an open door to Fort Knox – it’s free gold.” 

Law enforcement officials state that the social security number is the key piece of information needed by criminals to commit ID fraud such as applying for credit cards in someone else’s name.  Recent state laws require businesses to safeguard their customers’ social security numbers, but according to Jones these laws don’t apply to records made widely available to the general public by cities and counties.  Documents like state tax liens, civil court judgments, and military discharge records routinely contain full social security numbers. 

Jones calls this a “privacy double standard,” pointing out that a social security number is just as useful to a criminal when it comes from a public record as when it comes from a bank note.  Jones says that his goal is to return public documents to their original purpose of allowing residents to monitor government actions, rather than disseminating highly personal information about residents themselves. 

“Public records should be the people’s window into their government, not an identity theft starter kit,” Jones stated.