Sen. Jessica King's Bill to Protect Correctional Officers Passes Committee

FOR IMMEDIATE RELEASE
Date: February 28, 2012
Contact: Jessica King 608-266-5300

KING’S BILL TO PROTECT CORRECTIONS OFFICERS PASSES COMMITTEE

Madison – A bill that would penalize a prisoner for stealing a correctional officer’s personal identifying information, authored by Senator Jessica King (D-Oshkosh), was approved by the Labor, Public Safety, and Urban Affairs Committee today. Senate Bill 283, more commonly referred to as the Data Breach Bill, passed the committee with broad bipartisan support.

“The Data Breach Bill will create new protections for our corrections and health service employees by penalizing prisoners and offenders for stealing personal identifying information. In an information age identify theft can have dire consequences. Our public safety workers put themselves at risk every day and they should not have to worry about their personal information falling into the wrong hands,” King said.

The Date Breach Bill was introduced at the request of several correctional officers at facilities in the 18th Senate District in response to an incident at a state correctional facility where a prisoner obtained a Correctional Officers’ personal information, including their Social Security numbers. Based on limitations with current law, these officers were unable to receive the full credit freeze protection because it is not a felony for a prisoner to possess Correctional Officer’s personal information. The bill corrects this flaw in our credit protection law and provides a penalty for the unauthorized possession of a correctional employee’s personal identifying information.

“Corrections officers face risk on their jobs every day. This bill helps correct a gap in our current laws by adding necessary protections for some of our most valuable public servants. I am pleased with the unanimous bipartisan support from my colleagues. It is our responsibility to enhance the safety of those who keep us safe,” concluded King.