Latvala Blocks Consumer-Protection Efforts; Amendment Passes to Keep Selling Social Security Numbers

Sen. Jack Latvala blocked consumer-protection efforts Thursday by winning approval of an amendment to authorize the continued sale of Floridians' Social Security numbers.

Senate Bill 1208 would have prohibited the state Department of Financial Services from disseminating some 3.3 million Social Security numbers to registered attorneys, CPAs and private investigators.

But Latvala, R-St. Petersburg, garnered enough votes on the Committee on Government Oversight and Accountability to continue the practice by redacting the last four numbers of personal Social Security accounts.

The DFS and state Chief Financial Officer Jeff Atwater have called for an end to the distribution of Social Security numbers, noting that Florida is the only state that does so.

After Latvala's amendment was tacked on, the bill was temporarily postponed by the committee. It is expected that SB 1208 will come up for another vote, but no date had been set.

Pat Traylor, president of Professional Locators Association for Florida, said the amended version of the bill would enable her members to continue to track down owners of millions of dollars unclaimed property.

"That will work for us," said Traylor, who added that Florida, with the help of professional locators, returns the second most unclaimed property in the nation after California.