Bill to Protect Victims of Identity Theft Clears Senate

A bill to give greater protection to victims of identity theft has won passage in the State Senate. The measure, Senate Bill 567, was authored by Sen. Randy Bass as a result of an incident in his district.

“This man was a victim of identity theft, and the thief had written thousands of dollars in hot checks in the victim’s name,” explained Bass, D-Lawton. “The identity theft victim was later pulled over by the Highway Patrol. They didn’t have any information on the identity theft, but when they checked his driver license, they saw he was wanted for hot checks—checks the identity thief had actually written. The victim was arrested, taken to jail and had his car towed.”

SB 567 will ensure the identity theft victim will be able to contact the local police or sheriff’s department and get a copy of the incident report on the identity theft to keep with them. It also gives law enforcement jurisdictions the authority to share such information.

“Basically, I just want to make sure that identity theft victims don’t wind up getting victimized again because of the crimes that have been committed in their name,” Bass said. “That’s the kind of situation this legislation is addressing.”

SB 567 next must be heard by a House committee.