PHOENIX β Arizonans will get new ways to protect themselves from identity theft for free.
A measure signed Tuesday by Gov. Doug Ducey overturns a 2008 law that allowed credit reporting agencies to charge a $5 fee every time someone wants to lock their credit to prevent anyone else from opening a new account or borrowing money in their name.
On paper, the fee does not seem like much. But Gary Hammond, a retired banker, told lawmakers the fee applies not only each time someone freezes a credit report but when they βunfreeze itβ to buy an item, such as a car. Putting a freeze back on logs another $5 fee.
The fee applies to each party. So the fee for a husband and wife for that same series of actions totals $30.
Complicating matters, Hammond said, there are three credit agencies, each charging a $5 fee for each action. And since it takes contacting all three to get full protection, the cost triples to $90.
Legislative attention to the issue was spurred by the major data breach last year by Equifax, one of the credit reporting agencies, which exposed the Social Security numbers, birth dates, current addresses and, in some cases, the driverβs license numbers of more than 145 million people.
Hammond said that provides βall the information you would need to assume someone elseβs identity.β
While the company offered a temporary credit freeze, Hammond said it didnβt go to the root of the problem of making people pay to keep credit bureaus from sharing their personal information.
This measure, along with others signed Tuesday by Ducey, takes effect 91 days after the Legislature finally adjourns for the year. The target date for the end of the session is April 21, though it is unclear whether lawmakers will meet that deadline.
Frozen embryos
Ducey signed legislation Tuesday that strips from judges the power to decide for themselves, case by case, how to divide up frozen embryos when couples get divorced.
The new law says that when couples disagree, a court must award the fertilized eggs to whichever parent agrees to try to bring them to full birth.
In some cases, that could be the biological mother. But the new law says it could be the biological father who, over the objections of his ex-wife who does not want the embryos, has them implanted into his new girlfriend or wife who then gets to raise them as her own.
The legislation is in direct reaction to pleas by Ruby Torres who, along with her husband-to-be, agreed to have fertilized eggs frozen so she could undergo treatment for cancer. The plan at the time was for the eggs to be placed back in her uterus when she could carry a child to term.
When the couple got divorced, her husband said he was no longer interested in becoming a father, at least not with her. The trial judge decided that, pursuant to the terms of the contract they signed with the fertility clinic, the embryos had to be given to someone else or a clinic.
Proponents said all this new law does is provide directives to judges for future cases, even if it does override the original contract signed by a couple.
The law does spell out that the spouse who does not want the embryos is not liable for support for any child who is born.
Variety of issues
Other bills signed Tuesday include:
- Allowing substitute teachers who demonstrate primary teaching responsibility in a classroom to use that time spent to meet the requirements for a standard teaching certificate;
- Requiring a law enforcement agency to review photo enforcement violations before a citation can be issued;
- Prohibiting the Arizona Corporation Commission from charging a fee to access information in the agencyβs database;
- Mandating that the Department of Forestry and Fire Management develop a program for ranchers and landowners to detect, prevent and suppress forest and range fires.
