Courts must comply with new law to protect Social Security numbers

Churchill County agencies that must comply with a new law to protect Social Security numbers are scrambling to make sure the personal information is kept confidential on official documents.

A new state law went into effect Jan. 1 that prohibits the release of public documents that contain Social Security numbers. It also forbids those identifying numbers on documents that must be filed with a public agency unless the law specifically requires those numbers.

Both the Churchill County Justice Court and the Third District Court in Fallon have thousands of documents that contain Social Security numbers. Clerks in both courts are struggling to determine how to implement the law and still provide public records to the public. Judges in both courts are seeking information to ensure the courts comply with requirements of the law.

Brenda Ingram, court administrator in the justice court, said Friday that Justice of the Peace Mike Richards has asked the clerks to hold off refusing to file any document that contains a Social Security number. He is attending courses for new judges next week where the new law will be discussed, said Ingram.

"I've been told not to implement anything until we get an opinion," she said.

The law, enacted by the 2005 Nevada Legislature, was passed to prevent identity theft.

Social Security numbers are routinely included on arrest warrants, probable cause sheets, arrest records, wage garnishment requests and other court documents. Some police agencies include Social Security numbers on traffic citations, and law enforcement depends on the numbers to ensure correct identification when an arrest is made.

One question that needs to be answered is how to handle wage garnishment requests. Ingram said Wal-Mart and some other businesses will not garnish wages without a Social Security number. The law is vague on whether those documents are an exception, Ingram said.

The law also requires public agencies to redact or preserve the confidentiality of identifying numbers for all documents filed in the past. That section of the law gives agencies until 2017 to obliterate numbers from old files.

Ingram said the justice court is not required to keep files for more than seven years, so redacting numbers from old files won't be an issue. Documents filed from Jan. 1 forward will not contain the restricted information.

Currently, records from the justice court that have been saved go back to the late 1980s. All documents older than seven years will be destroyed.

"I guess I'm a pack rat at heart," Ingram said about keeping old files. "It has been nice for the public to be able to pull an old document and give it to them."

Regarding new public documents, Ingram said clerks will make a copy of any record that contains a Social Security number and black out the number before allowing a person to see it or obtain a copy of it.

At the district court, clerks now require anyone filing a document to sign an affirmation stating the document does not contain any Social Security numbers.

Shellie Hooten, chief court clerk, said District Judge David Huff is reviewing the new law so he can advice court clerks on exact procedures to follow.

"At this point, we can't let someone sit at the microfilm machine," Hooten said about old files that go back decades.

The district court must keep records indefinitely, she added.

So far, she said, clerks have not had to deal with someone from the public asking to see a file that could contain Social Security numbers. If that situation comes up before the provisions of the new law are clarified, clerks will ask the judge how to handle the request, she added.

Chery Martin, a clerk in Fallon Municipal Court, said the office has always removed Social Security numbers from any public documents before releasing them.

"We don't release it. We white it out," she said.

The municipal court is also not accepting any document that includes a Social Security number unless the record is one exempted under the new law, she added. Municipal court records are destroyed after seven years. Docket books are kept 10 years but do not include any personal identification numbers, said Martin.