Session DetailsFormal House Session 19

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Mr. Jones or North Reading. Does the presence of a quorum-- the chair can ascertain a quorum is not present. Court officers will summons the members and tell them that a quorum roll call is in progress and will remain open for three minutes.

Have all members voted who wish to do? Have all members voted?

We still have-- we only have 136 members recorded, sir.

Yeah.

Has everyone voted who wished to do so? Time for voting has expired. Clerk will display the tally. There being 139 members present, a quorum is present.

Members will please take their seats and subdue their conversations.

Mr. Chan of Quincy.

The chair's been informed. House Bill 4232 has been released.

Chair's been informed that House Bill number 4232 has been released by the committee in third reading.

Mr. Chan moves suspension.

Mr. Chan of Quincy moves suspension of the rules. All those in favor, say aye, opposed, no. The aye's have it. The rules are suspended. Third reading of the bill.

An act removing fees for security freezes and disclosures of consumer credit reports. House number 4232.

Question comes. I'm passing the bill to being gross. The chair recognized Mr. Chan of Quincy. Again, members are please asked to take their seats and subdue your conversations.

Mr. Chan of Quincy.

Thank you, Mr. Speaker, and through you, to the members. Today we're going to take up a very important consumer piece that affects every customer, every resident, every business, every organization in the Commonwealth. And this is regarding data breaches.

And at first I would like to recognize the gentlewoman from Lunenburg and the gentleman from Sandwich for their advocacy on this very important issue. And also my committee staff for the many months on researching this very complex issue involving modern technology in the 21st century. And the way that people can steal information like it's never been done before.

This bill is often referred to as the Equifax Bill, but this is much more than Equifax. This is a bill about protecting people's identity by allowing consumers how to choose the best way to protect their credit. A lot of information is loose on the internet, as we know, and the gentlewoman's bill from Lunenburg allows free credit freezes, which means that you do not have to pay the minimum $5, pursuant to state law, to freeze your credit, which prevents people from seeing your credit report or any other credit information from the three credit reporting companies as well as to remove the costs. And lifting a freeze, which means you remove it, or thawing a freeze, which means you temporary remove it.

And this removes a major burden from consumers to be able to let people know what credit they have. And this is going to be very important too, given the news reports out there of other types of security breaches to their personal data. Following that line of thinking regarding consumer protection and choice, A breach entity will be required to provide one year of free credit monitoring as well as other mitigation services, as appropriate, if the social security numbers are stolen.

86% of all identity thief identity thefts are done by banks and credit cards, and the remainder are people actually stealing your identity through your social security number to become you to open bank accounts and other unlawful ways. The most common form is actually stealing information from your own home, generally from someone you trust, and assuming that person's identity.

And that is a crime which is not often reported. Because we hear about data being stolen on a global level by international or domestic forces, but rarely talk about somebody who the individual trusts and abuses that trust in that person's home.

So the one-year free mitigation is for businesses to give that ability to give you credit monitoring which allows you to know when someone's accessing your credit and choose if to allow that business to access your credit. And it's a very useful tool. I highly suggest everyone look at that.

Following the same line of thinking, we allow minors and incapacitated persons to be able to get a credit freeze. Currently, if you watch news reports, there's an increasing number of cases of minors under the age of 16 to have their identities stolen and become someone else as well as opening credits of bank accounts.

Why age 16? Because age 16 you can get a credit card cosigned by your parent, as well as the age people start work, which means often to get a bank account, which also means that information is provided to the credit reporting company from the bank that you are indeed working.

So in the Bureau of Justice, the FBI also uses a 16 as the age where they determine identity theft between an adult and a minor. So that makes a lot of sense at that stage. And like I said, this also extends to incapacitated persons, which, as I said earlier, comes from somebody you trust that steals that person's identity.

Lastly, this was actually a great opportunity to bring our statute to the 21st century. The current law, under Chapter 93 and 93H and G reflect the time of 2007. At that time, secure websites didn't really exist regarding getting credit reports or credit monitoring or credit freezes. You actually had to do it by mail.

Today we have apps on phones. Today you can get to a secure website. There's a lot of protocols on getting a credit report, as well as getting a credit freeze. I've actually done it myself to get my credit report, and was astonished about the number of things I had to tell the credit reporting company to confirm my identity.

And the ability to bring us up to modern standards would also ensure that you can get your credit freeze lifted or thawed within 15 minutes. That's something you couldn't have done a decade ago because the verification method would've been much more stringent regarding actually getting information from the individual itself as soon as you make the request. So today's ability to verify via electronically also increases the time that you can do this. With the free credit freezes and 15 minute thaws and lifts and removals, that is a great savings for customers who want to ensure that they do not have unauthorized access to the credit report by people who shouldn't be looking at it.

So this is a very, very technical piece. I want to hit some of the major highlights today. But I think we should all be very proud of the fact that we were able to address this issue in a very timely manner. Less than four months, we're able to generate a vote to put on the floor and to tell our residents at home that we created a new consumer protection that will affect every single person in the Commonwealth. And it's very friendly to everyone who believes they're a victim of some form of identity theft.

So Mr. Speaker, I ask that the yeas and nays be called on the Grossman. So yeas and nays [INAUDIBLE].

Mr. Chan of Quincy moves on a vote be taken. It will be taken by a call of the yeas and nays. Joining with him, please rise, first division.

16.

16? That would be a sufficient number being having arisen when a vote is taken, and be taken by a call of the yeas and nays. The chair would like [AUDIO OUT]

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House will be in order. Court officers clear the aisles. Clear the well. Court officers clear the aisles.

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Chairman will respectfully ask the members to please subdue their conversation. Chair recognizes Miss Benson of Lunenburg.

Good afternoon to all of my colleagues and all of us in service of the Commonwealth. Today is a great day. This bill will help us protect our constituents, moving forward. So you know, as consumers of credit, as 90% of all Americans are, we are at risk regularly. Our information is out there.

And what we're trying to say in this bill is that data is your property. And as your property, you have the right to control it, to get reports on it, and to ensure that it hasn't been stolen from you. So this bill goes a long way. And the chairman explained very well the points of this bill.

But really what I wanted to talk about is why I filed it. I filed this bill before the Equifax breach. I filed this bill a year ago. Because we have seen over and over and over again, our data is not safe, and our data is being used to create new identities that will harm us into the future.

And all too often, when a breach is discovered, it is months later. We have the right to know when our data has been accessed by a third party without our permission. We have a right to know what impact that will have on our credit report. And we have a right to freeze that credit if we want to ensure that it is not used to harm us.

So I am very excited to stand here today and move this bill. This bill has been well received by not only advocates working in support, people who are working for good government and good regulation, people who are working to protect our seniors, our attorney general, and others.

So it's a good day for all of them, but it's a good day for my constituents. Because I have been hearing for the last year how they are afraid of being held at the whim of the credit agencies and the organizations that are not doing all they can to protect us. And they want us to ensure that we have good regulations and laws in place to protect them on a daily basis like we would with any other public safety or education or financial issue.

And so it is imperative that we pass this bill today, and I so appreciate all of you taking the time to learn so much about this legislation. It has been quite the talk of the town. So I have to thank the chairman and the speaker for bringing this up today. I do hope you will join me in voting in favor of this very good consumer-friendly and consumer protection legislation. I think this is not just a win for us, it's a win for the Commonwealth of Massachusetts. So thank you so much.

The chair recognized Mr. Hunt of Boston. Chair recognizes Mr. Hunt of Boston.

Mr. Speaker, thank you for recognizing me. I had not prepared to speak on this matter today. But as the Vice Chair of the committee, I want to recognize the hard work of the gentlelady from Lunenburg in her drafting of this legislation, her hard work last session and the beginning of this session. The good gentleman from Quincy, parachuting in. I think we've all seen and come to recognize over the course of the previous months his knowledge of consumer protection issues. 93 A through G are extensive.

So I want to thank him and the gentlelady for their work on this. It's a common sense bill that we can all take home to our districts, especially in this time of digital age. This commonsensical bill will have one year of credit monitoring and a free credit report. So congratulations to the chair, to the gentle lady, and to the staff. Thank you, Mr. Speaker.

Question now is in passing the bill of being grossed. Chair recognizes Durant.

Mr. Speaker, thank you. Through you to my colleagues. I want to also thank the gentlelady from Lunenburg, the chairman from Quincy, the vice chairman from Boston for bringing this forward. There were many breaches and many different times, but none bigger than the one that was involving Equifax when at least half of the people in the United States' records were breached by this hacker's attack.

And yesterday we find out that the information that was breached is even broader than what was announced before. So I think that it is a good time for us to do this. And I wanted to bring up three points about this bill that I think you can take home to your districts and let people know that this is something that is going to matter to them.

One is these fees for freezing and unfreezing your account are going to be eliminated with the passage of this bill. I've done that myself. It cost $5 for each of the credit unions, the credit bureaus, to do that. And so putting it on for $5 each on the major three credit bureaus and then taking it off, another $5, they're actually just benefiting from the fact that Equifax was unable to keep that information that they hold private.

So not allowing them to charge for that makes a lot of sense. But there's one piece in here you may not have understood, and that is when you want to have a credit check for a new car, or you're buying a new house, you're applying for some sort of loan, and you do want that to happen, this bill says you can unfreeze the account, and they only have 15 minutes to get that done.

So if you go down to the car dealer and forgot that you froze the account, and the guy from the back or the lady from the back who does all this paperwork says, we can't check your credit score, they will be able to do that in less than 15 minutes by this bill. That's important.

Another thing, and the chairman mentioned this, the credit monitoring for a year. If your record is breached, which includes your social security number, is not just if the credit bureaus have the data breach. It's for any company, anybody that holds that information who is not able to keep it away from the hacker's hands, that company has to pay for this one year of credit monitoring. So it's not just Equifax that's doing that, it's anybody who hasn't taken the guard against that type of attack.

And the last thing I'll mention is the one free annual credit report that you get under this bill is in addition to the one free credit report that you get under federal regulations, which means you can request twice a year, one under state law, one under federal law, to get your credit report.

And I would recommend that you do that and stay close to that information. Thank you very much, speaker. I definitely rise in support of this bill.

Question now is on passing of the bill of being gross pending, which Mr. Jones of North Reading offers an amendment. Hands of the clerk. Clerk will read the amendment.

Amendment number two. Representative Jones of North Reading and other members of the House move to amend the bill in section 13 by striking out lines 302 to 309, inclusive the third, fourth, and fifth sentences.

Question now is on the amendment. All those in favor, say aye. All those opposed, nay. The nays have it. The amendment is not adopted.

Mr. Chan of Quincy offers an amendment in the hands of the clerk. The clerk will read the amendment. House will be in a brief recess.

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Mr. Chan of Quincy offers an amendment in the hands of the clerk. Clerk will read the amendment.

Amendment number three. Mr. Chan of Quincy moves to amend the bill in section three. A strike down on line 17 to 18 inclusive, and moves to further amend the bill in section 12 by striking on line 180 the word 17 is certain place of the number 16.

Question now is on the amendment. All those in favor say aye. All those opposed nay. The ayes. Have it. The amendment is adopted. House will be in a brief recess.

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House will be in order. Mr. Sanchez of Boston offers an order in the [AUDIO OUT]-- an amendment in the hands of the clerk. Clerk will read the amendment.

Amendment number four. Mr. Sanchez of Boston moves to amend the bill by striking out section 12 in certain places in the following section, section 12. Said chapter, 93, is hereby further amended by inserting [INAUDIBLE].

If there be no objection, the clerk will dispense with the reading of the paper. Share objection? Share has none. Question now is on the technical amendment. All those in favor, say aye. All those opposed nay. The ayes have it. The amendment is adopted.

Roll call haven't been ordered. The roll call machine is now open. It will remain open for three minutes. Court officers, summon the members. Indicate a roll call is in progress.

Clerk will make an announcement.

The voting stations for representatives Kafka, Kocot, and Chris Walsh are locked.

Mr. Miceli of Wilmington. Court officers will vote for Mr. Miceli of Wilmington under Rule 49.

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Chairman would like to inform the members that it anticipates no further role calls this afternoon.

Have all members voted who wished to do so? Have all members voted?

Have all members voted? Time for voting expired. The clerk will display the tally. In this matter, 152 members voted in deferment of none in the negative. The bill is passed to be engrossed.

The following gross bill, having been rightly and truly prepared is now before the House final passage. House 4031, an act designating a certain bridge in the city of Fall River as the Ronald Costa Bridge. Question now is on passing the bill to be enacted. All those in favor, say aye. All those opposed, nay. The bill is passed to be enacted.

The chair has been informed that house 4228 has been released by the committee on bills. On third reading, Mr. Speliotis of Danvers moves suspension of the rules. All those in favor, say aye. All those opposed, nay. The ayes have it. Rules are suspended. Third reading of the bill.

An act establishing a sick leave bank for Alyssa Nelson, an employee of the office for victim assistance, House number 4228. Question now is on passing the bill to being gross, pending which Mr. Speliotis of Danvers offers an amendment in the hands of the clerk. Clerk will read the amendment.

Mr. Speliotis of Danvers moves to amend the bill by substitution of a bill with the same title.

Question now is on the amendment. All those in favor, say aye, all those opposed, nay. The ayes have it. The amendment is adopted. Question now is on passing the bill to be engrossed as amended. All those in favor, say aye, all those opposed, nay. The ayes have it. Bill is passed to being gross as amended.

Mr. DeLeo of Winthrop, offers an order in the hands of the clerk. Clerk will read the order.

Order that when the House adjourns today, it will adjourn to meet tomorrow at 11 o'clock AM.

Question now is on adoption of the order. Are all those in favor, say aye, all those opposed, nay. The ayes have it. The other is adopted.

Mr. Smola of Warren now moves that the House stand adjourned. All those in favor, say aye, all those opposed, nay. The ayes have it. House stands adjourned to meet tomorrow, Thursday, 11 AM, in an informal session.

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