[Congressional Record Volume 147, Number 163 (Thursday, November 29, 2001)]
[Senate]
[Pages S12162-S12163]
From the Congressional Record Online through the Government Publishing Office [www.gpo.gov]

      By Ms. CANTWELL:
  S. 1742. A bill to prevent the crime of identity theft, mitigate the 
harm to individuals victimized by identity theft, and for other 
purposes; to the Committee on the Judiciary.
  Ms. CANTWELL. Mr. President I rise today to introduce legislation 
that will help victims of identity theft recover from the injuries to 
their good name and good credit, the Reclaim Your Identity Act of 2001. 
Earlier this year, Washington State enacted a law to provide needed 
help to victims of identity theft that I believe serves as a good model 
for federal legislation. It gives victims of identity theft the tools 
they need to restore their good credit rating, requires businesses to 
make available records relevant to a victim's ability to restore his or 
her credit, and enables a victim to have fraudulent charges blocked 
from reporting in their consumer credit report. Currently, Federal law 
addresses the crime of identity theft, providing penalties for the 
perpetrator, but no specific assistance to the victim trying to recover 
their identity. Today I am introducing legislation modeled on the state 
of Washington law that will do just that, help the victim restore their 
credit rating and their good name.
  We need to do more to fight identity theft, a crime the Federal Trade 
Commission has described as the Nation's fastest growing. Last year 
there were over 500,000 new victims of identity theft and, according to 
the Department of Treasury, reports of identity theft to perpetrate 
fraud against financial institutions grew by 50 percent from 1999 to 
2000. From March 2001 to June 2001, the number of ID theft victims 
contacting the FTC jumped from 45,500 to 69,400--a 50 percent increase 
in just three months. One in five Americans or a member of their 
families has been a victim of identity theft. Those numbers underscore 
why I am introducing this legislation today. The problem is 
particularly apparent in my State of Washington, which ranks in the top 
10 for identity theft per capita.
  Identity theft is not a violent crime, but its victims suffer real 
harm and need help to recover their good credit and good name. On 
average, it takes 12 months for a victim to learn that he or she has 
been a victim of identity theft. It takes another 175 hours and $808 of 
out-of-pocket expenses to clear their names. Today, victims of identity 
theft are forced to become their own sleuths to clear their names, and 
all too often they do so without the help or support of the businesses 
that allowed the identity theft to take place. Believe it or not, when 
your identity is stolen, many businesses won't give you the records you 
need to reclaim your identity. My bill puts people first by requiring 
businesses to cooperate with victims.
  We already require this in Washington State, thanks to the hard work 
of Attorney General Chris Gregoire and others. Now we need to take this 
good idea to the national level and make it work on behalf of many 
others. When your TV is stolen, you know it was taken from your living 
room. But when your identity is stolen, it could be stolen from 
anywhere, and businesses from every State could be involved. That's why 
we need a Federal solution to this problem.
  The Reclaim Your Identity Act empowers consumers by establishing a 
transparent process victims can use to

[[Page S12163]]

reclaim their identity. Under this bill, a victim of identity theft 
will have the right to request records related to a fraud based on an 
identity theft from businesses after proving their identity with a copy 
of the police report or the Federal Trade Commission standardized 
Identity Theft Affidavit or any other affidavit of fact of the 
business' choosing. The business must then provide, at no charge, 
copies of those business records to the victim or a law enforcement 
agency or officer designated by the victim within 10 days of the 
victim's request. This will make sure that the victims, or law 
enforcement investigating an identity theft on behalf of a victim, will 
be able to obtain the credit applications and other records a business 
may have that is evidence of the fraud. As a protective measure, the 
bill gives businesses the option to decline to disclose records where 
it believes the request is based on a misrepresentation of facts. 
Further, a business is exempt from liability for any disclosure 
undertaken in good faith to further a prosecution of identity theft or 
assist the victim.
  In addition, this bill reinstates consumers' right to sue credit-
reporting agencies that allow identity theft to harm their good name. 
On November 12, the Supreme Court ruled that a California woman 
couldn't sue a credit reporting agency because she filed her claim more 
than two years after her identity had been stolen and that the two-year 
statute of limitations ran from the time of the crime. The woman didn't 
even know her identity had been stolen until two years after the crime 
had been committed. In the wake of the court decision, Congress must 
revise the statute of limitations so that common sense prevails and 
that the clock doesn't begin ticking until victims know that they have 
been harmed.
  The Reclaim Your Identity Act also amends the Internet False 
Identification Prevention Act to expand the jurisdiction and membership 
of the coordinating committee currently studying enforcement of Federal 
identity theft law to examine State and local enforcement problems and 
identify ways the federal government can assist state and local law 
enforcement in addressing identity theft and related crimes. In the 
wake of the September 11 attacks we are painfully aware that identity 
theft can threaten more than our pocket books. This legislation also 
requires the Federal coordinating committee to look at how the Federal 
Government can improve the sharing of information on terrorists and 
terrorist activity as it relates to identity theft. Further, by giving 
consumers and law enforcement additional tools to fight identity theft, 
this bill will make it harder for terrorists to steal identities to 
hide their true identity.
  Importantly, this bill also requires credit-reporting agencies to 
protect a consumers' good name from bad credit generated by fraud. The 
Reclaim Your Identity Act amends the Fair Credit Reporting Act to 
require consumer credit reporting agencies to block information that 
appears on a victim's credit report as a result of identity theft 
provided the victim did not knowingly obtain goods, services or money 
as a result of the blocked transaction.
  Businesses too are victims of the fraud perpetrated in conjunction 
with identity theft. This legislation also provides businesses with new 
tools to pursue identity thieves by amending Title 18 to make identity 
theft under State law a predicate for federal RICO violation. This will 
allow individuals and businesses pursuing a perpetrator of identity 
theft to seek treble damages and help prosecutors recover stolen assets 
for businesses victimized by identity theft.
  The Reclaim Your Identity Act also gives States additional legal 
tools by providing that State Attorneys General may bring a suit in 
Federal court on behalf of State citizens for violation of the Act.
  Identity theft and the fraud that can result is on the rise. We have 
the laws to discourage identity theft, but it is difficult behavior to 
attack. We have to give the tools to the victims to regain control of 
their financial life. The Consumers Union, Identity Theft Resource 
Center, and Privacy Rights Clearinghouse all support this legislation. 
The Reclaim Your Identity Act of 2001 will help victims of identity 
theft recover their identity and restore their good credit. I look 
forward to working with my colleagues to promptly enact this bill into 
law.
                                 ______