Compliance Report

Hawaii Gov. Linda Lingle has signed six bills into law that aim to protect the state’s residents from identity theft and to provide law enforcement with additional tools for deterring and prosecuting identity theft crimes.

"These bills offer new ways to protect consumers from the fastest growing crime across the nation," Lingle says. "My administration is proud to announce that Hawaii will now have some of the most comprehensive laws in place to protect consumers from identity theft."

The bills that Lingle signed into law include the Notification of Security Breaches (SB2290 SD2 HD1 CD1, Act 135) bill, which requires businesses and government agencies that keep confidential personal information about consumers to notify those consumers if that information has been compromised by an unauthorized disclosure.

The Destruction of Personal Information (SB 2292 SD2 HD1 CD1, Act 136) bill, which is also referred to as the "Dumpster diving" bill, requires businesses and government agencies to take reasonable measures to protect against unauthorized access to an individual’s personal information when disposing of the records they keep.

Hawaii’s Social Security Number Protection (SB2293 SD2 HD1 CD1, Act 137) bill reduces the risks associated with the fraudulent use of Social Security numbers by restricting businesses and government agencies from disclosing consumers’ Social Security numbers to the general public.

The Security Freeze (HB1871 HD1 SD2 CD1, Act 138) bill allows victims of identity theft to place a security freeze on their credit reports, which will help prevent identity thieves from taking out credit in the names of their victims.

The Criminal Penalties (SB2159 SD2 HD1 CD1, Act 139) bill provides increased protection of personal information by establishing "unauthorized possession of confidential personal information" as a class C felony and adding identity theft as an enumerated offense within the repeat offender statute. This crime would be punishable with a $10,000 fine and/or a maximum prison term of five years.

Finally, the state’s ID Theft Task Force (HB3244 HD1 SD2 CD1, Act 140) bill changes the name of the Hawaii Anti-Phishing Task Force to the Identity Theft Task Force and expands its responsibilities to include the prevention of identity theft.

According to the FTC, cases of identity theft in Hawaii rose 265 percent from 2001 to 2005, resulting in millions of dollars of losses to consumers.