Minnesota Legislator Submitting Bill to Mandate Shredding

Concerned that Minnesotans' confidential information might be stolen by identity thieves, a legislative leader will propose that all state documents containing personal information such as driver's license numbers and birth dates be shredded rather than simply recycled.

Rep. Matt Entenza, DFL-St. Paul, said he will introduce the bill following published reports that documents including motor vehicle titles, registrations and accident reports from the Department of Public Safety were found intact at a recycling facility in Eau Claire, Wis.

Entenza, who is House minority leader, said his bill would require all state agencies to shred documents containing personal information. A story in the Star Tribune on Sunday said the company that discarded the Public Safety documents offered to shred the materials for a cost but the state declined.

"This is yet another example of how this administration tries to save a little money and ends up costing Minnesotans more money," Entenza said.

State law requires agencies to maintain appropriate security on personal information, based on the record's classification, and that should include when the records are destroyed, said Katie Engler of the state's Information Policy Analysis Division.

Earlier this week a Minnesota Senate committee passed two bills involving identity theft.

One bill, sponsored by Sen. Steve Kelley, DFL-Hopkins, would broaden the definition of identity theft to include the use of a false e-mail or electronic correspondence of an otherwise legitimate entity, such as a Web site or a logo of a bank or credit card company.

The proposal would make it prosecutable even to attempt to get a recipient of a message to respond by providing personal information. The bill calls for phishing to be a felony, punishable by five years in prison.

"What we want to do is prohibit the act of throwing the bait in the water, even if the fish never bites," Kelley said.

Another bill, sponsored by Sen. Wes Skoglund, DFL-Minneapolis, would require an offender to pay restitution of at least $1,000 to each direct victim, largely to recoup the costs of cleaning up ruined credit.

Testifying in favor of the bill, Hennepin County Attorney Amy Klobuchar said the scope of identity theft is increasing.

"It's people that you would normally think would be using a crowbar and breaking into someone's house, but instead they are using a computer and committing identity theft," Klobuchar said. "We are seeing more and more cases where less sophisticated crooks are using more sophisticated means to commit crimes."