The Florida Senate

¹443.1716  Authorized electronic access to employer information.--

(1)  Notwithstanding any other provisions of this chapter, the Department of Labor and Employment Security shall contract with one or more consumer-reporting agencies to provide creditors with secured electronic access to employer-provided information relating to the quarterly wages report submitted in accordance with the state's unemployment compensation law. Such access is limited to the wage reports for the preceding 16 calendar quarters.

(2)  Creditors must obtain written consent from the credit applicant. Any such written consent from the credit applicant must be signed and must include the following:

(a)  Specific notice that the individual's wage and employment history information will be released to a consumer-reporting agency;

(b)  Notice that such release is made for the sole purpose of reviewing a specific application for credit made by the individual;

(c)  Notice that the files of the Department of Labor and Employment Security containing wage and employment history information submitted by the individual or his or her employers may be accessed; and

(d)  A listing of the parties authorized to receive the released information.

(3)  Consumer-reporting agencies and creditors accessing information under this section must safeguard the confidentiality of such information and shall use the information only to support a single consumer credit transaction for the creditor to satisfy standard financial underwriting requirements or other requirements imposed upon the creditor, and to satisfy the creditor's obligations under applicable state or federal Fair Credit Reporting laws and rules governing this section.

(4)  Should any consumer-reporting agency or creditor violate any provision of this section, the Department of Labor and Employment Security shall, upon 30 days' written notice to the consumer-reporting agency, terminate the contract established between the department and the consumer-reporting agency resulting from this section.

(5)  For purposes of this section, "creditor" has the same meaning as set forth in the federal Fair Debt Collection Practices Act, 15 U.S.C. ss. 1692 et seq.

(6)  The Department of Labor and Employment Security shall establish minimum audit, security, net-worth, and liability-insurance standards, technical requirements, and any other terms and conditions considered necessary in the discretion of the state agency to safeguard the confidentiality of the information released under this section and to otherwise serve the public interest. The Department of Labor and Employment Security shall also include, in coordination with any necessary state agencies, necessary audit procedures to ensure that these rules are followed.

(7)  In contracting with one or more consumer-reporting agencies under this section, any revenues generated by such contract must be used to pay the entire cost of providing access to the information. Further, in accordance with federal regulations, any additional revenues generated by the department or the state under this section must be paid into the department's trust fund for the administration of the unemployment compensation system.

(8)  The department may not provide wage and employment history information to any consumer-reporting agency before the consumer-reporting agency or agencies under contract with the department pay all development and other startup costs incurred by the state in connection with the design, installation, and administration of technological systems and procedures for the electronic-access program.

(9)  The release of any information under this section must be for a purpose authorized by and in the manner permitted by the United States Department of Labor and any subsequent rules or regulations adopted by that department.

(10)  As used in this section, the term "consumer-reporting agency" has the same meaning as that set forth in the Federal Fair Credit Reporting Act, 15 U.S.C. s. 1681a.

History.--s. 1, ch. 99-240.

¹Note.--Section 4, ch. 99-240, provides that "[a]ll actions required by this act shall be accomplished within available appropriations of the Department of Labor and Employment Security."