SSN Bill Passes House

"The first bill of the Legislature to be passed and signed into law by the Governor was HB 2061. HB 2061 addresses the common practice of County Clerks using Social Security numbers (SSN) for purposes of identification in documents publicly available on the Internet.

The bill went into effect on March 28, 2007, and provides that a county or district clerk is not liable for the disclosure of a SSN contained in a document filed with the county or district clerk. It requires, upon written request of an individual, the redaction, from documents specified by the individual, of all but the last four numbers of a SSN unless another law requires the full SSN to be maintained on the document. "--from Senator Carona's update

Update on SSN Bill

"A bill that would allow individuals to ask that their Social Security numbers be kept private on documents maintained by Texas' 254 county clerks is awaiting a signature from Gov. Rick Perry after it blazed through both chambers of the Texas Legislature.

It took House Bill 2061 a little more than three weeks to land on the governor's desk."

Read the entire article at: http://www.topix.net/content/kri/2486725776317661387310563293774081014344

Texas bill passed to release SSNs

I saw this on The Virtual Chase this morning.

News story from Fort Bend Now:

Bill Declaring Social Security Numbers Not Confidential Awaits Gov's Signature
by Bob Dunn, Mar 19, 2007, 04 33 pm
Fort Bend Now

A bill changing the Texas Public Information Act and declaring that Social Security numbers not be considered confidential has passed the Texas Senate and is awaiting Gov. Rick Perry’s signature.

Voted on Monday under the name HB 2061, wording in the bill was left identical to the bill the Texas House passed unanimously on March 6.

The bill is HB 2061 (80 R). Here's a blurb from TLO:

Bill: HB 2061 Legislative Session: 80(R)
Last Action: 03/19/2007
S Passed Caption Version: Senate Committee Report

Caption Text: Relating to the acquisition or disclosure of the social security number of a living person by a governmental body, including by a district or county clerk.

Previous Lex Scripta posts:

• More on SSN redaction
• Texas Courts to Remove SSNs

More on SSN redaction

SSN masking in Texas has been delayed (re: Opinion No. GA-0519)

Now Arkansas is revising access to court records. In Re: Access to Court RecordsArkansas Supreme Court, Administrative Order No. 19,

Texas Courts to Remove SSNs

Finally!
Here's something we law librarians have talked about concerning social security numbers on court documents and it looks like the Texas Attorney General Office has issued an opinion on this topic.

GA-0519 published on Feb. 26th, 2007
http://www.oag.state.tx.us/opinions/ga/ga0519.pdf

Read carefully thru the 13-page opinion. This could mean no or limited access to public records.