Tracks federal privacy act of 1974 with respect to the obligation of a person to disclose their social security number to another person, partnership, association or corporation; provides where there is no legal basis for request that a person may refuse to provide his or her social security number; provides for enforcement by attorney general.
STATE OF NEW YORK
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6608--A
IN SENATE
March 2, 2012
___________
Introduced by Sen. ZELDIN -- read twice and ordered printed, and when
printed to be committed to the Committee on Consumer Protection --
committee discharged, bill amended, ordered reprinted as amended and
recommitted to said committee
AN ACT to amend the general business law, in relation to the disclosure
of social security numbers
The People of the State of New York, represented in Senate and Assem-bly, do enact as follows:
1 Section 1. The general business law is amended by adding a new section
2 399-ddd to read as follows:
3 § 399-ddd. Disclosure of social security number. 1. As used in this
4 section, "social security account number" shall include the number
5 issued by the federal social security administration and any number
6 derived from such number. Such term shall not include any number that
7 has been encrypted.
8 2. No person, firm, partnership, association or corporation, not
9 including the state or its political subdivisions, shall require an
10 individual to disclose or furnish his or her social security account
11 number, for any purpose in connection with any activity, or to refuse
12 any service, privilege or right to an individual wholly or partly
13 because such individual refuses to disclose or furnish such number,
14 unless one of the exceptions enumerated in subdivision three of this
15 section applies.
16 3. The provisions of this section shall not apply in the following
17 instances:
18 (a) The individual consents to the acquisition or use of his or her
19 social security account number.
20 (b) The social security account number is expressly required by feder-
21 al, state, or local law or regulation.
22 (c) The social security account number is to be used for internal
23 verification or fraud investigation.
24 (d) The social security account number is to be used for any business
25 function permitted or allowed under the Gramm Leach Bliley Act, P.L.
26 106-102 (1999).
EXPLANATION--Matter in italics (underscored) is new; matter in brackets
[] is old law to be omitted.
LBD01061-05-2
S. 6608--A 2
1 (e) The social security account number is requested in connection with
2 a request for credit or a credit transaction initiated by the consumer
3 or in connection with a lawful request for a consumer report or investi-
4 gative consumer report, as such terms are defined in section three
5 hundred eighty-a of this chapter.
6 (f) The social security account number is requested in connection with
7 a deposit account or an investment.
8 (g) The social security account number is requested for purposes of
9 employment, including in the course of the administration of a claim,
10 benefit, or procedure related to the individual's employment by the
11 person, including the individual's termination from employment, retire-
12 ment from employment, injury suffered during the course of employment,
13 or to check on an unemployment insurance claim of the individual.
14 (h) The social security account number is requested for purposes of
15 tax compliance.
16 (i) The social security account number is requested for the purpose
17 of:
18 i. the collection of child or spousal support;
19 ii. determining whether an individual has a criminal record; or
20 iii. blood or organ donation.
21 (j) The social security account number is requested in connection with
22 any interaction with a governmental law enforcement agency or is used in
23 conjunction with the enforcement of a judgment of a court of competent
24 jurisdiction by a sheriff or marshal.
25 (k) The social security account number is requested for the purpose of
26 verifying an individual's identity or age in order to allow such indi-
27 vidual to obtain access to, or enroll in, a marketing program that is
28 restricted to individuals of a certain age.
29 (l) i. The social security account number is requested by an individ-
30 ual, firm, corporation, or other entity doing business pursuant to a
31 franchise issued by a political subdivision of the state or a license,
32 franchise, certificate or other authorization issued by the New York
33 state public service commission.
34 ii. The social security account number is requested by an individual,
35 firm, corporation, or other entity regulated by the New York state
36 public service commission, the federal communications commission, or the
37 federal energy regulatory commission.
38 iii. The social security account number is requested by a banking
39 institution, as defined in section nine-f of the banking law, or one of
40 its affiliates.
41 (m) The social security account number is requested by an authorized
42 insurer, as defined in section one hundred seven of the insurance law,
43 for the purpose of furnishing information to the Centers for Medicare
44 and Medicaid Services within the United States Department of Health and
45 Human Services.
46 4. Whenever there shall be a violation of this section, application
47 may be made by the attorney general in the name of the people of the
48 state of New York to a court or justice having jurisdiction by a special
49 proceeding to issue an injunction, and upon notice to the defendant of
50 not less than five days, to enjoin and restrain the continuance of such
51 violation; and if it shall appear to the satisfaction of the court or
52 justice that the defendant has, in fact, violated this section, an
53 injunction may be issued by such court or justice, enjoining and
54 restraining any further violation, without requiring proof that any
55 person has, in fact, been injured or damaged thereby. In any such
56 proceeding, the court may make allowances to the attorney general as
S. 6608--A 3
1 provided in paragraph six of subdivision (a) of section eighty-three
2 hundred three of the civil practice law and rules, and direct restitu-
3 tion. In connection with any such proposed application, the attorney
4 general is authorized to take proof and make a determination of the
5 relevant facts and to issue subpoenas in accordance with the civil prac-
6 tice law and rules. Whenever the court shall determine that a violation
7 of subdivision two of this section has occurred, the court shall impose
8 a civil penalty of not more than five hundred dollars. The second
9 offense and any offense committed thereafter shall be punishable by a
10 civil penalty of not more than one thousand dollars.
11 5. No person, firm, partnership, association or corporation shall be
12 deemed to have violated the provisions of this section if such person,
13 firm, partnership, association or corporation shows, by a preponderance
14 of the evidence, that the violation was not intentional and resulted
15 from a bona fide error made notwithstanding the maintenance of proce-
16 dures reasonably adopted to avoid such error.
17 § 2. This act shall take effect on the one hundred twentieth day after
18 it shall have become a law.
