BILL ANALYSIS
AB 1168
Page 1
ASSEMBLY THIRD READING
AB 1168 (Jones)
As Amended June 1, 2007
Majority vote
JUDICIARY 10-0 HIGHER ED 6-0
-----------------------------------------------------------------
|Ayes:|Jones, Tran, Adams, |Ayes:|Portantino, Horton, |
| |Evans, Feuer, Keene, | |Arambula, Beall, Cook, |
| |Krekorian, Laird, Levine, | |Ruskin |
| |Lieber | | |
|-----+--------------------------+-----+--------------------------|
| | | | |
-----------------------------------------------------------------
APPROPRIATIONS 12-0
--------------------------------
|Ayes:|Leno, Caballero, Davis, |
| |DeSaulnier, Huffman, |
| |Karnette, Krekorian, |
| |Lieu, Ma, Nava, Solorio, |
| |Feuer |
| | |
--------------------------------
SUMMARY : Requires specified public entities to truncate social
security numbers (SSNs) when the numbers are displayed in public
records. Specifically, this bill :
1)Requires a local agency to redact the first five digits of any
SSN before disclosing a record that is required to be open to
the public, unless the local agency is otherwise required by
law to display the full number. Specifies, however, that this
provision shall not apply to a county recorder that has
instituted a program, as provided for in another provision of
this bill, to convert older official records into electronic
public records. Makes conforming changes to the Commercial
Code relative to the filing of financial statements under the
Uniform Commercial Code and the forms required for such
filings.
2)Requires the county recorder of each county to establish a SSN
truncation program in order to convert existing official
AB 1168
Page 2
records into an electronic public record with truncated SSNs
for new and old records, dating to January 1, 1935. Provides
that a county recorder shall be deemed in compliance with this
provision by using due diligence and that a county recorder
shall not be liable for failure to truncate SSNs. Provides
procedures for reporting on the progress of this program to
the Office of Privacy Protection and the Judiciary Committees
of the Assembly and Senate.
3)Provides that when a person requests that his/her SSN be
truncated in a public record, and identifies the exact
location of the SSN within a public record, the county
recorder that receives that request shall truncate that number
within 10 days of receiving the request.
4)Provides that when an electronic public record version of an
official record exists, the county recorder shall make
available only the electronic public record version. Provides
further that a county recorder shall provide an official
record only in response to a subpoena or court order.
5)Requires, unless prohibited by federal law, the Franchise Tax
Board to redact the first five digits of any SSN on lien
abstracts or any other public records created by the board
that are disclosable under the California Public Records Act
before disclosing the record to the public.
6)Requires the Office of Privacy Protection to establish a task
force to conduct a review of the use of SSNs by all colleges
and universities in order to recommend practices to minimize
the collection, use, storage, and retention of SSNs.
Specifies, in general, the composition of the task force and
sets out the elements and scope of the task force review.
FISCAL EFFECT : According to the Assembly Appropriations
Committee:
1)Task Force. One-time costs of $100,000 for OPP to coordinate
the task force and one-time GF costs of around $1 million each
for UC and CSU participation in the task force. UC indicates
that its costs mainly derive from the requirement to inventory
all existing uses of SSNs at every campus. It is assumed that
CSU will incur similar costs..
AB 1168
Page 3
2)Cost for county recorders to implement required program would
be substantial but would be financed with additional filing
fees.
COMMENTS : Identity theft occurs whenever someone uses the
personal identifying information of another person for an
unlawful purpose, including obtaining or attempting to obtain
credit, goods, services, or medical information in the name of
the other person without that person's consent. According to
the Federal Trade Commission (FTC), identity theft has
consistently topped the list of consumer fraud complaints for at
least the last six years. The 255,000 complaints of identity
theft filed with the FTC in 2005 constituted 37% of all
complaints, far surpassing any other single complaint. The most
common form of identity theft is opening a line of credit in the
victim's name. For the identity thief, the SSN is the
single-most useful tool. According to the author, the risk of
identity theft is even greater in California, which accounted
for 45,000 of the 255,000 reported cases in 2005.
Because a SSN is such a crucial piece of information in
facilitating identity theft, this bill requires the truncation
of SSNs in various local and state records that may be disclosed
to the public. First, this bill generally prohibits a local
public agency from disclosing public records unless any SSN
contained in those records has been truncated to no more than
the last four digits, unless the agency is otherwise required to
disclose the entire number by state or federal law. This bill
would further require local public agencies to establish a
program for converting existing official, paper records, dating
to January 1, 1935, into electronic forms with the SSN
truncated. This bill would similarly require the Franchise Tax
Board to redact the first five digits of any SSN on lien
abstracts or any other public records created by the board,
unless disclosure of the entire number is required by law.
Finally, this bill would require the Office of Privacy
Protection to establish a task force to review the use of SSNs
by colleges and universities in order to recommend best
practices for minimizing the collection, use, storage, or
retention of SSNs.
This bill is supported by the American Association of Retired
Persons, American Civil Liberties Union, Consumer Action, the
Consumer Federation of California, Consumers Union, Crime
AB 1168
Page 4
Victims United of California, Gray Panthers of California and
the Privacy Rights Clearinghouse, and California Secretary of
State, Debra Bowen.
Analysis Prepared by : Thomas Clark / JUD. / (916) 319-2334
FN: 0001277