Marriage license; marriage record prepared includes portion of social security number of each party. (HB729)
Introduced By
Progress
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Introduced |
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Passed Committee |
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Passed House |
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Passed Senate |
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Signed by Governor |
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Became Law |
Description
Marriage license. Requires that the marriage record prepared by the clerk in issuing a marriage license include the social security number of each party if such number has been issued to the party by the Social Security Administration. Amends § 20-16 (“Oath of parties before clerk and issuance of certificates thereof.”), of the Code of Virginia. View Full Text »
Outcome
Bill Has Failed
View Bill's History
Comments
We already have trouble with people accessing court records to steal SSN's and other identifiers for criminal purposes. What possible rationale could there be (sufficient to override federal law prohibiting SSN requirements by state/local agencies) for requiring a SSN on a marriage license.
Even if, as I suspect, this is viewed as a way to keep people not lawfully present from getting married in Virginia, the fact is that there are any number of people lawfully in the US who won't have SSN's, like, for example, an international couple who believes our state slogan (Virginia is for Lovers) and comes here to get married in a destination wedding.
This bill will result in a potential compromise of our privacy without a corresponding benefit, and it should be defeated.
I fail to see what this bill would accomplish. People are trying to move away from providing their social security number as an identifier and the DOJ continues to support this position.
Section 7 of the Privacy Act (found at 5 U.S.C. § 552a note (Disclosure of Social Security Number)) provides that:
"It shall be unlawful for any Federal, State or local government agency to deny to any individual any right, benefit, or privilege provided by law because of such individual's refusal to disclose his social security account number." Sec. 7(a)(1).