BILL NUMBER: AB 660	INTRODUCED
	BILL TEXT


INTRODUCED BY   Assembly Member Mathis

                        FEBRUARY 24, 2015

   An act to add Section 322.5 to the Unemployment Insurance Code,
relating to identity theft.


	LEGISLATIVE COUNSEL'S DIGEST


   AB 660, as introduced, Mathis. Identity theft: unemployment
insurance base wage file.
   (1) Existing law requires employers to send the Employment
Development Department specified information regarding their
employees, including wage information and social security numbers.
The department maintains a file of wage records of employees for the
purpose of computing earnings in a base period to establish amounts
for unemployment benefits. Existing law provides that information
obtained in the administration of the Unemployment Insurance Code is
confidential, for the exclusive use of the Director of Employment
Development in the discharge of his or her duties, and not open to
the public. Existing law permits the director to use the information
for certain purposes, including providing information to law
enforcement agencies upon request, and permits reimbursement of
direct costs incurred. Existing law provides that a person who
knowingly accesses, uses, or discloses this confidential information
without authorization is guilty of a misdemeanor.
   This bill would require the department to review, at least once
each year, the information in its unemployment insurance base wage
file, to identify if multiple names are associated with a single
social security number. The bill would require the department, when
it discovers multiple names associated with a single social security
number to inform the appropriate law enforcement official of this
fact, along with relevant supporting information, as a potential
misuse of a social security number. The bill would require the
department to establish a reasonable threshold for the number of
names associated with a single social security number that would
trigger further investigation by the department or referral to law
enforcement. By expanding the crime of unauthorized use or disclosure
of this information, this bill would impose a state-mandated local
program.
   (2) The California Constitution requires the state to reimburse
local agencies and school districts for certain costs mandated by the
state. Statutory provisions establish procedures for making that
reimbursement.
   This bill would provide that no reimbursement is required by this
act for a specified reason.
   Vote: majority. Appropriation: no. Fiscal committee: yes.
State-mandated local program: yes.


THE PEOPLE OF THE STATE OF CALIFORNIA DO ENACT AS FOLLOWS:

  SECTION 1.  Section 322.5 is added to the Unemployment Insurance
Code, to read:
   322.5.  The department shall review, at least once each year, the
information in its unemployment insurance base wage file, to identify
instances in which multiple names are associated with a single
social security number. When the department discovers as part of this
review, or in the course of any other investigation or circumstance,
multiple names associated with a single social security number, it
shall inform the appropriate law enforcement official of this fact,
along with relevant supporting information, as a potential misuse of
a social security number. The department shall establish a reasonable
threshold for the number of names associated with a single social
security number for purposes of triggering further investigation by
the department or referral to law enforcement.
  SEC. 2.  No reimbursement is required by this act pursuant to
Section 6 of Article XIII B of the California Constitution because
the only costs that may be incurred by a local agency or school
district will be incurred because this act creates a new crime or
infraction, eliminates a crime or infraction, or changes the penalty
for a crime or infraction, within the meaning of Section 17556 of the
Government Code, or changes the definition of a crime within the
meaning of Section 6 of Article XIII B of the California
Constitution.