HF 3224

as introduced - 81st Legislature (1999 - 2000) Posted on 12/15/2009 12:00am

  1.1                          A bill for an act 
  1.2             relating to consumer protection; providing consumers' 
  1.3             right to privacy, confidentiality, and secrecy of 
  1.4             their financial records; requiring consumer 
  1.5             authorization for exchange or disclosure of their 
  1.6             financial records; providing civil remedies and 
  1.7             penalties; proposing coding for new law as Minnesota 
  1.8             Statutes, chapter 13E. 
  1.9   BE IT ENACTED BY THE LEGISLATURE OF THE STATE OF MINNESOTA: 
  1.10     Section 1.  [13E.01] [DEFINITIONS.] 
  1.11     Subdivision 1.  [SCOPE.] For purposes of this chapter, the 
  1.12  terms defined in this section have the meanings given them. 
  1.13     Subd. 2.  [CUSTOMER.] "Customer" means any person who has 
  1.14  transacted or is transacting business with, or has used or is 
  1.15  using the services of, a financial institution, or for whom a 
  1.16  financial institution has acted as a fiduciary with respect to 
  1.17  trust property. 
  1.18     Subd. 3.  [CUSTOMER INFORMATION.] "Customer information" 
  1.19  means either of the following: 
  1.20     (1) any original or any copy of any records held by a 
  1.21  financial institution pertaining to a customer's relationship 
  1.22  with the financial institution; or 
  1.23     (2) any information derived from a record described in this 
  1.24  subdivision. 
  1.25     Subd. 4.  [FINANCIAL INSTITUTION.] "Financial institution" 
  1.26  means any organization authorized to do business under state or 
  1.27  federal laws relating to financial institutions, including, 
  2.1   without limitation, a bank, savings bank, trust company, savings 
  2.2   association, or credit union. 
  2.3      Subd. 5.  [PERSON.] "Person" means any individual, 
  2.4   partnership, corporation, limited liability company, limited 
  2.5   liability partnership, association, trust, or other legal entity.
  2.6      Sec. 2.  [13E.02] [EXEMPTIONS.] 
  2.7      This chapter does not apply to any of the following: 
  2.8      (1) the preparation, examination, handling, or maintenance 
  2.9   of any customer information by any officer, employee, or agent 
  2.10  of a financial institution having custody of the information or 
  2.11  the examination of the information by an accountant engaged by 
  2.12  the financial institution to perform an audit; 
  2.13     (2) the publication of data derived from customer 
  2.14  information where the data cannot be identified to any 
  2.15  particular customer or account; 
  2.16     (3) any acts required of the financial institution by the 
  2.17  Internal Revenue Code; 
  2.18     (4) disclosures permitted under the Uniform Commercial Code 
  2.19  concerning the dishonor of any negotiable instrument; 
  2.20     (5) the exchange in the regular course of business of 
  2.21  customer credit information between a financial institution and 
  2.22  other financial institutions or commercial entities, directly or 
  2.23  through a customer reporting agency; or 
  2.24     (6) the disclosure by a financial institution to any 
  2.25  financial institution or other entity that controls, is 
  2.26  controlled by, or is under common control with the financial 
  2.27  institution if the financial institution or other entity 
  2.28  receiving the information complies with section 13E.03. 
  2.29     Sec. 3.  [13E.03] [DUTY OF CONFIDENTIALITY.] 
  2.30     A financial institution may not disclose customer 
  2.31  information to any person unless the disclosure is made in 
  2.32  accordance with any of the following: 
  2.33     (1) pursuant to consent granted by the customer in 
  2.34  accordance with this chapter; 
  2.35     (2) to a person other than a governmental agency or law 
  2.36  enforcement agency pursuant to valid legal process; 
  3.1      (3) pursuant to chapter 13A; or 
  3.2      (4) for the purpose of reporting a suspected violation of 
  3.3   the law in accordance with this chapter. 
  3.4      Sec. 4.  [13E.04] [CONSENT.] 
  3.5      Subdivision 1.  [USE.] A consent or waiver must not be 
  3.6   required as a condition of doing business with any financial 
  3.7   institution, and any consent or waiver obtained from a customer 
  3.8   as a condition of doing business with a financial institution 
  3.9   must not be deemed a consent of the customer for the purpose of 
  3.10  this chapter. 
  3.11     Subd. 2.  [FORM.] A valid consent must be in writing and 
  3.12  signed by the customer.  The consent signed by the customer must 
  3.13  be contained on a separate page that also clearly and 
  3.14  conspicuously discloses, and allows the customer to specify, any 
  3.15  of the following: 
  3.16     (1) the time during which the consent will operate which 
  3.17  must not be longer than five years; 
  3.18     (2) each category of customer information to be disclosed, 
  3.19  including specifically, but without limitation, the customer's 
  3.20  social security number, account numbers, account balances, 
  3.21  credit limits, the amount or dates of any transaction, the 
  3.22  identity of persons to whom the customer's checks are made 
  3.23  payable, and the identity of merchants or other persons honoring 
  3.24  the customer's credit cards; and 
  3.25     (3) the persons to which disclosure may be made. 
  3.26     Sec. 5.  [13E.05] [PENALTIES.] 
  3.27     The attorney general may seek the remedies set forth in 
  3.28  section 8.31, subdivision 3, against any financial institution 
  3.29  in violation of this chapter.