Shame that we aren't protected from hackers

When you shop at a big box retailer or provide your personal information at the doctor’s office, you want to feel assured that your credit card numbers, bank account passwords or Social Security numbers aren’t going to be hacked and used to empty your checking account or to steal your identity.

But if that happens, you really would like to be notified so you can take steps to thwart the thievery early on.

Well, forget about getting any help from Democrats on the Senate Judiciary Committee. As reported in a post-session story by Albuquerque Journal Investigative Reporter Thomas J. Cole, they took a pass on a bill that would have required customers to be notified when they were at significant risk of identity theft or fraud due to data breaches. It also would have required notification to the state attorney general and credit reporting agencies in cases where the data of more than 1,000 consumers was compromised.

The bill passed unanimously in the House during the 60-day session and made it out of the Senate Corporations and Transportation Committee unanimously as well. No one testified against it during a Senate Judiciary Committee hearing. However, the committee’s Democratic majority gave it the kiss of death, voting twice not to advance it.

“The failure of the Senate to approve (the legislation) gives criminals another full year of free rein on those who reside in New Mexico,” Paul Stull, president and CEO of the Credit Union Association of New Mexico, wrote in a letter to the Albuquerque Journal.

This common sense consumer protection legislation should have been a no-brainer, but it apparently hit too close to home for some lawyer-senators, who complained it set a cap of $150,000 on the civil penalty a judge could impose on a company for knowingly or recklessly violating the law based on an action brought by the AG. They also complained it didn’t include a specific right of action for consumers to file their own lawsuits. It should be noted that the legislation didn’t try to bar them, either.

“The comments appeared to be it was too industry-friendly for the attorneys on the committee,” said the bill’s sponsor, Rep. William “Bill” Rehm, R-Albuquerque.

New Mexico is one of only three states without a law requiring that consumers be notified of computer data breaches, according to the National Conference of State Legislatures.

Computer hackers and identity thieves only get more creative; it’s a shame New Mexicans still can’t enjoy reasonable protections available to consumers elsewhere.

— Albuquerque Journal