Sec. 1. 10 MRSA §1272, as amended by PL 1995, c. 134, §1, is repealed and the following enacted in its place: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 disbursing social security funds or federal law otherwise requires the Federal Government to collect the person's social security number from the business, organization, government entity or other entity.

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

SUMMARY

This bill expands the prohibition under current law on use of social security numbers to prohibit all businesses, organizations, government 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 disburse social security funds and when federal law requires the Federal Government to obtain a person's social security number from the business and other specified entities. Employers are permitted to request an employee's social security number without these limitations.