Privacy Bills in the Senate, a First Look: Linda Newell Wants Juvenile Delinquents to be Prime Borrowers, All

by Eileen | 12:52 pm, January 25, 2013 | Comments Off

WHAT: SB 13-047, Guaranteeing the all juvenile delinquents get their free annual credit report

WHO: Sen. Linda Newell (D-26)

WHY: Because even an itty-bitty badass needs to watch his finances

This falls squarely into the category of things that it should not take an act of law to accomplish.  Currently, we have a law governing the procuring of free credit reports for inmates of the juvenile justice system.  Sen. Newell would like to remove certain exemptions, such as not covering minors in mental hospitals, and extend the age range of covered minors.

And I renew my complaint that this is not something that should require a law to get done at all.

The kid’s locked up – for all I know, there’s a damn good chance he belongs there.  With the right discipline and opportunity, he might turn out alright.  Hooray.

But, given that his ability to procure a credit report on his own is somewhat limited by his circumstances, wouldn’t it be a give that the Guardian ad Litem has an interest in such things?  In theory, these are people who like kids.  In reality, they’re state employees, so, yes, it does take statewide law to get this done.

I’d like to see attention paid to the matter of children’s credit beyond that of juvenile inmates.  It hardly occurs to many parents, let alone many teens, to look at the credit of someone too young to enter into a contract.  This act would actually ensure that the most poorly behaved among Colorado’s children have the best credit monitoring.

The reality is that children are prime targets of ID fraud and the 11-15 age range is the hardest hit.  They’ve got no existing credit and (we hope) no criminal record.  They think there’s no need to pull their credit, and that’s what fraudsters count on in preying on younger and younger children.  Without the paper trail that adults have, children are also easier and safer to impersonate for the purposes of gaining credit.

I’d like to see more effort go into reminding parents that they can, and should, regularly pull their children’s credit reports and check to see if there’s any action with kid’s SSNs that shouldn’t be there, and into urging teens to develop the habit of watching their credit when they’re still young.

That’s obviously a parent’s job.  But, as long as it’s on the legislative radar, why not address what the government can do with all the money and power it accretes toward that end?

That, of course, would be an educational campaign and would require funding.  Annual credit reports are already free and the state hires people to look after the interests of incarcerated minors as it is.  SB 047 could pass; it’s paucity of sponsors weighs against it, but that one sponsor co-chairs the committee hearing the bill.

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