[Congressional Record (Bound Edition), Volume 148 (2002), Part 17]
[Senate]
[Pages 22740-22741]
[From the U.S. Government Publishing Office, www.gpo.gov]




             IDENTITY THEFT VICTIMS ASSISTANCE ACT OF 2002

  Ms. CANTWELL. Mr. President, the Senate, last night, took a great 
step toward helping the victims of identity theft, and those law 
enforcement officers investigating identity theft, by passing S. 1742, 
the Identity Theft Victims Assistance Act of 2002.
  This legislation provides a consistent national remedy for victims of 
identity theft to restore their credit and their good name. This bill 
is a critical step in helping victims of identity theft restore their 
good credit.
  Identity theft can be extraordinarily destructive to people's lives. 
People are denied credit, spend enormous time, effort, and money 
correcting the problems caused by identity theft, and suffer profound 
frustration and distress in dealing with the problems that result from 
identity theft.
  These problems often arise when they have the potential to wreak the 
greatest havoc: when buying a new home or a car, or getting a loan to 
put a child through college. It can be devastating to make a major life 
change, only to find out that your creditworthiness has been destroyed 
by fraud, and it is going to take months of excruciating effort by you 
to clear your name.
  These crimes rarely meet the threshold for prosecution because each 
crime involves a small amount of money. Meanwhile victims must 
independently contact numerous federal, state and local law enforcement 
agencies, consumer credit reporting agencies and creditors over a 
period of years, as each new event of fraud arises.
  One of the most significant problems victims face is gathering the 
evidence of the fraudulent use of their identity. In order to prove 
fraud, the victim needs copies of creditors' business records, such as 
applications, invoices or other information related to the fraudulent 
transactions. These records are often difficult to obtain because the 
victim's personally identifying information does not match the 
fraudulent information on file with the business. Ironically, in the 
interest of protecting consumer privacy, a business will refuse to 
provide the information to the victim, believing the victim to be an 
unauthorized third party.
  This bill establishes a nationwide process for all victims of 
identity theft to obtain business records that are evidence of identity 
theft to enable a victim to reclaim his or her identity and assist law 
enforcement in finding the thieves.
  This legislation also requires consumer credit agencies to block 
reporting of bad credit that arises from identity theft, so the harm 
caused to the victim is stopped dead in its tracks.
  The bill also extends the statute of limitation from 2 years to 4 
years, giving victims a reasonable time period to decide whether they 
need to sue a business under the Fair Credit Reporting Act.
  Finally, the bill amends the Internet False Identification Prevention 
Act of 2000 to expand the jurisdiction and membership of the 
Coordinating Committee currently studying enforcement of Federal 
identity theft law. This will allow the Coordinating Committee to 
examine State and local identity theft law enforcement and identify 
ways the federal government can better assist state and local law 
enforcement in addressing identity theft and related crimes.
  The bill is based on a Washington state law enacted in 2001. Other 
States, including California and Idaho, have enacted similar laws. But 
identity theft is a national problem growing at an exponential rate. 
Identity information may be stolen in Washington state and used to 
perpetrate a fraud in Wisconsin, New Jersey, or Alabama. That is why it 
is critical that we have passed this bill to help all victims move more 
quickly and easily through the process of restoring their good name at 
the least emotional and financial cost as possible.
  I thank my colleagues who have worked hard with me to bring this 
legislation to the floor. Particularly, my thanks goes to Senators 
Enzi, Grassley and Leahy, and Banking Committee Chairman Sarbanes.
  I also want to mention the broad support that this legislation has 
received. The bill is supported by the National Center for the Victims 
of Crime, the Fraternal Order of Police, Consumers Union, Identity 
Theft Resource Center, U.S. Public Interest Group, Police Executive 
Forum, Privacy Rights Clearinghouse, and Amazon.com, and the

[[Page 22741]]

Committee has received a letter of support signed by 22 Attorneys 
General.
  The passage yesterday of this legislation is a win for consumers and 
a win for businesses because identity theft leaves both as victims in 
its wake. It should be among the highest priorities in the waning days 
of this Congress that we work together to get the bill enacted into 
law. The sooner we give victims of identity theft these tools, the more 
victims we will help and the fewer businesses that will be defrauded by 
identity theft in the future.

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