Dear Friends and Neighbors,
It is great to be back in Fairfax! After
finally adopting a new budget, the General
Assembly adjourned last Thursday evening
around 11:15 p.m. Some very tough decisions
were made, but on the whole the budget does
a relatively good job of protecting core
services such as funding for public
education while making progress in
long neglected areas such as mental
health services.
And then, in a scene that could have been
right out of the movie "Groundhog Day," we
immediately went into Special Session. The
ceremonial mace came back in the room and we
all took our seats again. Despite progress
on the budget, the General Assembly left
several major issues on the table -- not the
least of which is how to deal with
transportation in the wake
of the Supreme Court decision invalidating
the fees and taxes imposed by the Northern
Virginia Transportation Authority. In
addition, the General Assembly needs to act
on a proposed higher education
construction bond package and
appointments to over 30
judgeships. On April 23rd we will
re-assemble in Richmond to take up these
important issues.
In this issue of "Focus of Fairfax," I
wanted to highlight a significant
legislative accomplishment that didn't get
much publicity -- protecting
individuals from identity theft.
Identity theft can devastate a person's
credit history and can take many painful
years to resolve. I am proud to say that the
General Assembly took two important steps to
better protect consumers.
Data Breach
Notification: Many of you will
recall several incidents at the federal level
where computers with sensitive personal
information were lost or stolen. After those
incidents, I wrote to our Secretary of
Technology, Aneesh Chopra, asking what
policies Virginia had in place to alert
people if their information was ever stolen.
To my surprise, there was no State-wide
policy. In response, I worked with Secretary
Chopra's office to introduce a bill in 2007
to require Virginia to notify anyone
affected by a breach of government data. The
legislation was tabled with a promise that
the Joint Commission on Technology and
Science was looking at legislation that would
include both the public and private sectors.
Being a skeptic, I re-introduced the
legislation this year (HB390). I was
delighted, however, that not only did other
legislators introduce bills identical to
mine, but that legislation was indeed
introduced that applies to both government
and businesses. My bill was rolled
into this larger bill (HB1469),
which has now been signed by the Governor.
Freezing Access to Credit
Reports: Credit reports, which are
loaded with sensitive personal information,
can be a nice convenience until the
information is appropriated by the wrong
person. By enabling a person to place a
"freeze" on access to this information, it
is possible to prevent someone else from
applying for credit in their name. The freeze
lasts until it is "thawed" by the consumer.
Virginia was a little behind the curve on
this one, with over 30 other states already
having adopted credit freeze legislation.
Part of the consternation by the business
community was that it takes several days to
thaw a security freeze (meaning some
potentially awkward moments if you are in
the process of trying to open a credit card
or finance an automobile and forgot to
unfreeze your credit report). This year,
partly due to public pressure and partly due
to new technology that makes the thawing
process quicker, Virginia finally adopted
this very important consumer protection tool.
Note that a fee of up to $10 may be charged
for establishing a freeze (which is probably
worth the investment), except that identity
theft victims are not required to pay.
While I am pleased with these two advances
in protecting our citizens from identity
theft, much work remains to be done.
Sensitive personal information can
still be obtained all too easily,
including from publicly available land
records and divorce proceedings. A few years
ago, the General Assembly passed a law
requiring that sensitive information be
redacted (blacked out) before July 2010.
However, this was predicated on the
availability of State funding, at a cost of
about $8 million. To-date, the funding has
not materialized -- leaving a major hole in
our efforts to protect people from identity
theft. Securing funding for this effort will
be a priority of mine for the future.
For more information on how to help
prevent identity theft, or what to do if you
are the victim of identity theft, visit
Virginia's Office of the Attorney General at
http://www.oag.state.va.us/FAQs/FAQ_IDTheft.html.
Now that I have returned from Session, I
look forward to attending community
association meetings and other public forums.
Please feel free to call if you
would like me to join your next event to
discuss this year's legislative
issues.
Sincerely,
David Bulova
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