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A "compromise" engineered by state Sen. Jack Latvala sailed throughcommittee Wednesday and left the door open for the continued saleof Floridians' Social Security numbers. With a brusque call by sponsoring Sen. Garrett Richter, R-Naples,to "move this bill," SB 1208 was quickly passed by the Committee onGovernment Oversight and Accountability without discussion ordebate. As originally written, the bill would have prohibited the stateDepartment of Financial Services from disseminating some 3.3million Social Security numbers to registered attorneys, CPAs andprivate investigators. Florida is the only state that permits the sale of Social Securitynumbers. But Latvala, R-St. Petersburg, last week attached an amendment to continue the practice by authorizing DFS to redact the lastfour numbers of personal Social Security accounts when distributingthe data. His amendment was approved by the panel on a 6-4 vote. The numbers are used to track down individuals who have unclaimedproperty, ranging from bank safe-deposit boxes to utility deposits,and Latvala said at least partial Social Security numbers areneeded by locators to do their job. He warned that several locator agencies in his district could goout of business if the state sealed its database. Pat Traylor, president of Professional Locators Association forFlorida, said the amended version of SB 1208 would enable hermembers to continue to track down owners of millions of dollars ofunclaimed property. "That will work for us," Traylor said. But state Chief Financial Officer Jeff Atwater, whose officeactively pushed for an outright prohibition, suggested that thefight wasn't over. "The CFO continues to support full protection and redaction ofSocial Security numbers. The office looks forward to achieving thisgoal as the bill works its way through the process," said DFSspokeswoman Anna Alexopoulos. A companion bill in the House, HB 7111, remains unamended. In earlier committee testimony, DFS representative Ashley Mayersaid partial redactions leave the door open for identity andfinancial fraud. She said available software enables identities tobe determined with the first five numbers or the last four numbers. According to DFS, the total dollar amount of unclaimed propertyreturned in the 2011 fiscal year was $189,316,121. Nearly a quarterof that -- 24.4 percent -- was claimed through filings byprofessional locators. Traylor said that after California, Florida returns the secondlargest amount of unclaimed property -- thanks in part to the workof locators and their access to the DFS Social Security data. Dale Graham, owner of Graham Group professional locators, calledSocial Security numbers "a tool" and said DFS should continue towork with registered users. "For the state to say you're trustworthy by granting a license, butrefuse to give you the tools to adequately do the job doesn't makeany sense," Graham said. Mary Pitman, author of "The Little Book of Missing Money: A Quick& Easy Guide to Finding Money that is Rightfully Yours," callsthe current arrangement "a win-win for the state." But she says itcan be abusive to the public. "I liken this to having to pay a ransom to get your own money. Thestate makes money off the [$35] monthly subscription that thelocators pay. And the finders do the state's work for them at nocost to the state," Pitman said. Florida law limits finders' fees to 20 percent up to a maximum of$1,000. But, Pitman noted, percentages can be exceeded by contract. Of 178 locator agencies registered by DFS, only 58 had filed forunclaimed property last year. Contact Kenric Ward at or at (772) 801-5341. The e-commerce company in China offers quality products such as China Cellular Foam Glass , Insulation Glass Wool, and more. For more , please visit Fire Brick Refractory today!
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