Wis. Legislature Revises Policy after Identity Theft Scare

A new policy prohibits Wisconsin legislative employees from taking home documents that contain sensitive personal information.

The change in policy, enacted Feb. 5, comes after insurance documents containing the names, addresses and Social Security numbers of state Assembly members and their aides were stolen from a worker’s car.

Violating the policy could result in the worker being fired. Assembly Speaker Mike Huebsch, R-West Salem, said Thursday he does not want to discourage state workers from being diligent, but they should not be transporting sensitive information away from the office.

All 109 representatives and staff members affected by the theft have set up credit monitoring and received a credit history report, Huebsch said. To date, there have been no reports of unusual account activity, he said.

“It’s not unlikely that a lot of this information is simply sitting in a landfill somewhere,” said Huebsch, who was among those affected by the crime. “I don’t think this was a targeted, let’s get the personal information of Mike Huebsch, type of theft.”

Madison Police spokesman Mike Hanson said no arrests have been made in the case. The theft happened after a Legislative Human Resources employee parked the car outside a Madison health club on Jan. 31.

Madison police said earlier this month they believed the crime was part of a larger theft ring at area health clubs in Madison and Milwaukee.