An Act To Protect Citizens from Identity Theft through Restriction of the Disclosure of Confidential Information
Maine Legislature, Session 123, LD 1730
Committee: Business, Research and Economic Development
Sponsors: WEBSTER, BOWMAN, SCHNEIDER, CAIN, CRAVEN, GERZOFSKY, GILES, SMITH, BROMLEY, TURNER
Amends: 10 MRSA §1272-B

Legislative Document 
No. 1730 
H.P.1213 
House of Representatives, March 26, 2007 
An Act To Protect Citizens from Identity Theft through Restriction 
of the Disclosure of Confidential Information 
Reference to the Committee on Business, Research and Economic Development suggested 
and ordered printed. 
Presented by Representative WEBSTER of Freeport. 
'7J1~1I1·m~ 
MILLICENT M. MacFARLAND 
Clerk 
Cosponsored by Senator BOWMAN of York, Senator SCHNEIDER of Penobscot and 
Representatives: CAIN of Orono, CRAVEN of Lewiston, GERZOFSKY of Brunswick, GILES 
of Belfast, SMITH of Monmouth, Senators: BROMLEY of Cumberland, TURNER of 
Cumberland. 
Printed on re, .. ycled paper 
Be it enacted by the People of the State of Maine as follows: 
Sec. 1. 10 MRSA §1272-B, as enacted by PL 2003, c. 512, §1, is amended to 
read: 
§1272-B. Refusal to provide social security number; use as customer identification 
1. No denial of goods or services. Except as otherwise provided in federal or state 
law, a person, corporation or other entity may not deny goods or services to an individual 
because the individual refuses to provide a social security number. 
I-A. Use as customer identification; prohibition. A business operating in this 
State that has received a person's social security number in order to complete an 
application for credit may not use the number as a form of customer identification and 
must restrict access to the social security number to the business's credit department. 
2. Exemptions. This section does not apply to: 
A. 
A person, corporation or other entity requesting disclosure of the social security 
number to obtain a consumer report for any purpose permitted under the Fair Credit 
Reporting Act or the United States Fair Credit Reporting Act; 
B. 
A supervised lender as defined in Title 9-A, section 1-301; 
C. 
A supervised financial organization as defined in Title 9-A, section 1-301; 
D. 
An affiliate or subsidiary of a supervised lender as defined in Title 9-A, section 
1-301 or of a supervised financial organization as defined in Title 9-A, section 1-301; 
E. 
A person, corporation or other entity that provides goods or services to the 
individual on behalf of or in conjunction with a supervised financial organization as 
defined in Title 9-A, section 1-301; 
F. 
A person, corporation or other entity engaged in the business of insurance and all 
acts necessary or incidental to that business including insurance applications, 
enrollment, coverage and claims; 
G. 
A person, corporation or other entity if the social security number is used in 
conjunction with the provision of and billing for health care or pharmaceutical-related 
services, including the issuance of identification cards and account numbers for users 
of health care or pharmaceutical-related services; 
H. 
A person, corporation or other entity if the social security number is used in 
conjunction with a background check of the individual conducted by a landlord, 
lessor, employer or volunteer service organization; or 
I. 
A person, corporation or other entity if the social security number is necessary to 
verify the identity of the individual to effect, administer or enforce a specific 
transaction requested or authorized by the individual or to prevent fraud. 
SUMMARY 
This bill prohibits a business operating in this State that has received a person's social 
security number in order to complete an application for credit from using the number as a 
form of customer identification and requires the business to restrict access to the social 
security number to the business's credit department.