A "compromise" engineered by state Sen. Jack Latvala sailed through committee Wednesday and left the door open for the continued sale of Floridians' Social Security numbers.
With a brusque call by sponsoring Sen. Garrett Richter, R-Naples, to "move this bill," SB 1208 was quickly passed by the Committee on Government Oversight and Accountability without discussion or debate.
As originally written, the bill 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.
Florida is the only state that permits the sale of Social Security numbers.
But Latvala, R-St. Petersburg, last week attached an amendment to continue the practice by authorizing DFS to redact the last four numbers of personal Social Security accounts when distributing the data. His amendment was approved by the panel on a 6-4 vote.
The numbers are used to track down individuals who have unclaimed property, ranging from bank safe-deposit boxes to utility deposits, and Latvala said at least partial Social Security numbers are needed by locators to do their job.
He warned that several locator agencies in his district could go out of business if the state sealed its database.
Pat Traylor, president of Professional Locators Association for Florida, said the amended version of SB 1208 would enable her members to continue to track down owners of millions of dollars of unclaimed property.
"That will work for us," Traylor said.
But state Chief Financial Officer Jeff Atwater, whose office actively pushed for an outright prohibition, suggested that the fight wasn't over.
"The CFO continues to support full protection and redaction of Social Security numbers. The office looks forward to achieving this goal as the bill works its way through the process," said DFS spokeswoman Anna Alexopoulos.
A companion bill in the House, HB 7111, remains unamended.
In earlier committee testimony, DFS representative Ashley Mayer said partial redactions leave the door open for identity and financial fraud. She said available software enables identities to be determined with the first five numbers or the last four numbers.
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.
Traylor said that after California, Florida returns the second largest amount of unclaimed property -- thanks in part to the work of locators and their access to the DFS Social Security data.
Dale Graham, owner of Graham Group professional locators, called Social Security numbers "a tool" and said DFS should continue to work with registered users.
"For the state to say you're trustworthy by granting a license, but refuse to give you the tools to adequately do the job doesn't make any sense," Graham said.
Mary Pitman, author of "The Little Book of Missing Money: A Quick & Easy Guide to Finding Money that is Rightfully Yours," calls the current arrangement "a win-win for the state." But she says it can be abusive to the public.
"I liken this to having to pay a ransom to get your own money. The state makes money off the [$35] monthly subscription that the locators pay. And the finders do the state's work for them at no cost to the state," Pitman said.
Florida law limits finders' fees to 20 percent up to a maximum of $1,000. But, Pitman noted, percentages can be exceeded by contract.
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.
