Minnesota’s governor yesterday signed a law allowing any state resident to lock and unlock their credit reports. It is the 18th state nationwide to pass credit freeze legislation (full list here) Residents will pay $5 for each lock and $5 for subsequent unlocks for their credit reports. The law goes into effect on August 1 2006.

The San Jose Mercury Post, in their second editorial on the issue ID theft in recent months, talks about why VA Secretary Jim Nicholson is “mad as hell” about the recent VA data breach, and what should be done about it. Their top to suggestions: better federal data breach laws and better federal credit freeze laws. Their assessment of the current state of affairs in Congress, specially HR 3997:

The bill, which came out of the House Financial Services Committee, requires companies to notify consumers of a data breach, but only if they believe the breach puts customers at risk of identity theft. That’s simply a license for companies who don’t want bad publicity to sweep a data breach under the rug. And the bill would make credit freezes available only to those who have already been victims of identity theft. As one consumer group put it, “That’s like saying you can’t wear a seat belt unless you’ve already been in an accident.” Since the bill pre-empts stronger state laws, it would do more harm than good.

The Property Casualty Insurers Association of America (PCI), has asked Gov. Pataki to veto NY state’s new credit freeze legislation. The New York measure is the only credit freeze legislation passed in the nation this year that does not exempt insurers. “Consumers obtain little or no benefit from having a security freeze which applies to insurers” says the industry spokesperson, Kristina Baldwin.

Vermont state legislators are considering a new bill (S.267) which expands Vermont’s current law on credit report freezes. Under current law, only victims of identity theft may lock their credit reports. Under the bill version recently approved by the House Commerce Committee, any person could place a freeze on his or her report for a $10 fee per credit bureau. Additional negotiation between Senate and House members is expected before finalization of the language.

The NY State Senate recently gave final legislative passage to legislation (S.6805-B), sponsored by Sen. Charles Fuschillo, allowing all NY state residents to lock thier credit reports. The bill is now sitting on the governor’s desk to be signed into law.