WASHINGTON - Consumers moved a step closer to new identity theft protections, including e-mailed annual credit reports and blacked-out credit card numbers on receipts, under legislation approved Wednesday by the Senate.
But opponents still can derail a bill that also pre-empts tougher state privacy laws that prevent businesses from sharing their customers' financial information with other companies.
The Senate, by a 95-2 vote, approved the reauthorization of the Fair Credit Reporting Act, which created a national credit reporting standard to make it easier for people to get credit cards, loans and mortgages. House passage came by a 392-30 margin last month.
"The end product strikes a careful balance between ensuring the efficient operation of our markets and protecting the rights of consumers," said Sen. Richard Shelby, R-Ala., chairman of the Senate Banking, Housing and Urban Affairs Committee.
Congressional negotiators must reconcile differences between the two versions. That gives critics the chance to get lawmakers to change a provision that would stop states from setting separate rules on how businesses use, share and report data on consumers.
That ban comes amid much consternation in states such as California, which just passed a tougher consumer privacy law. The state's Democratic senators, Dianne Feinstein and Barbara Boxer, voted against reauthorization after the Senate rejected their attempts to amend the bill.
"I think time will show that this was the wrong vote, and I have no doubt that this issue will resurface as consumers learn more about the misuse of their most sensitive personal information," Feinstein said.
Most lawmakers seemed happy with the final version of the legislation. The Bush administration has announced its support.
