Illinois General Assembly --

Bassi Bill Protects Illinoisans from Identity Theft

Springfield (March 3, 2005) – State Representative Suzanne “Suzie” Bassi (R-Palatine) passed a bill through the Illinois House Thursday that will protect children from future identity theft.   

“House Bill 173 will require the courts to only include the Social Security number of the parent who owes child support on an income withholding notice,” Bassi said.  “Currently, these notices also include the Social Security numbers of the children.  This bill was initiated by one of my constituents, a custodial parent, who wanted to protect her child’s Social Security number from being used unlawfully in criminal situations.” 

According to Representative Bassi, many agencies on both the state and federal level have undertaken efforts to remove or replace social security numbers as primary identifiers in the public and private sectors.  Many states have laws in place limiting a university’s use of social security numbers.  Some states have enacted laws prohibiting the disclosure of social security numbers in public documents such as marriage licenses and birth and death records.  In cases of family violence, such as domestic violence, activists have recommended the removal of personal identifying information such as social security numbers and addresses of victims and their children.  These efforts are made in order to protect one from identity theft, and in some cases, to protect the safety of individuals.  However, by current law in Illinois, social security numbers must appear on income withholding notices.

“The number of victims of identity theft has exploded in the last few years in the United States,” Bassi said.  “In fact, SIUE has taken students’ Social Security numbers off their identification cards.  We in the General Assembly are working very hard to prevent your information from falling into the wrong hands.  Our Social Security Number Protection Task Force will continue to meet this year to ensure Social Security numbers and other types of personal information are removed from important documents, reducing the number of these crimes.”

House Bill 173 will now be sent to the Senate for consideration.

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