Sec. 1. 10 MRSA §1272, as amended by PL 1995, c. 134, §1, is repealed and the following enacted in its place:

§1272.__Prohibition

A business organization, government entity or any other entity operating in this State may not request, collect, sell, use or store on any system, paper or electronic, a person's social security number unless it is necessary for collecting or dispersing social security funds or federal law otherwise requires the Federal Government to collect the person's social security number from the business, organization, governmental entity or any other entity.

Nothing in this section may be construed to prevent an employer from collecting an employee's social security number.

Sec. 2. 10 MRSA §1273, as amended by PL 1995, c. 309, §27, is further amended to read:

§1273. Administrative enforcement

The Director of Consumer Credit Regulation Attorney General may take appropriate action to ensure compliance with this chapter, including, without limitation:, to: receive and act on complaints; negotiate an assurance in writing that a violator will not engage in the same or similar conduct in the future; conduct hearings in accordance with the Maine Administrative Procedure Act and issue a cease and desist order for violation of this chapter; refer cases to the Attorney General, who may and bring a civil action against a person for knowingly violating a written assurance of discontinuance. If a court finds a violation of this chapter, it may assess a civil forfeiture of not more than $1,000.

SUMMARY

This bill expands the prohibition under current law on use of social security numbers to prohibit all businesses, organizations, governmental entities and all other entities operating in the State from requesting a person's social security number for any purpose, with exceptions. Businesses and the other specified entities may request a person's social security number when necessary to collect or disperse social security funds and when federal law requires the Federal Government to obtain a person's social security number from the business.