In a complete turnaround, a Senate committee on Monday restored the original language of a bill that would prohibit the state from distributing Social Security numbers.
The Senate Rules Committee, on a motion by Sen. Garrett Richter, R-Naples, stripped out an amendment that would have permitted the release of partial numbers, with the last four digits redacted.
State Chief Financial Officer Jeff Atwater hailed the reimposed prohibition in Senate Bill 1208, saying, It defies logic that Florida, the state with the highest levels of identity theft complaints in the nation, would continue to mandate that a state agency release Social Security numbers for any purpose."
Florida is currently the only state that distributes Social Security numbers to attorneys, CPAs and professional locators to aid in tracking down owners of unclaimed property.
The Department of Financial Services holds the Social Security numbers of some 3.3 million Floridians.
Sen. Jack Latvala, R-St. Petersburg, succeeded last week at inserting an amendment into SB 1208 that would have continued the practice. He argued that professional locator companies in his district would "go out of business" if they were not able to use the DFS registry.
Latvala was not immediately available for comment.
Pat Traylor, president of Professional Locators Association for Florida, said Latvala's amendment would enable her members to continue to track down owners of millions of dollars unclaimed property.
But Atwater, citing increased risk of identity theft and financial fraud, countered, There are few roles more important to a public servant than that of protector. As Floridas CFO, it is my responsibility to do everything possible to protect consumers personal information for their financial future.
I applaud the members of the House State Affairs Committee and the Senate Rules Committee for supporting the protection of the personal information of our fellow Floridians. I look forward to seeing this bill become law.
According to DFS, the total dollar amount of unclaimed property returned in the 2011 fiscal year was $189,316,121. Nearly a quarter of that -- 24.4 percent -- was claimed through filings by professional locators.
But of 178 locator agencies registered by DFS, only 58 had filed for unclaimed property last year.
Contact Kenric Ward at kward@sunshinestatenews.com or at (772) 801-5341.
