Children, disabled adults or other residents living in North Carolina who have limited ability to monitor their credit will now have a means of proactively preventing the theft of their identity.

Orange County Democratic Representative Graig Meyer and Guilford County Republican Representative Jon Hardister held a joint press conference Wednesday to further explain what House Bill 607 will mean for North Carolinians as it broadens the existing Identity Theft Protection Act from 2005.

Meyer, who was the bill’s lead sponsor, says children seem to be especially vulnerable to identity theft because they typically don’t have any credit history and their unused Social Security numbers provide an easy and valuable resource for identity thieves. He adds this legislation will provide more protection for caregivers across the state.

“If you are caring for someone who is a sibling with a disability where they needed you to be their legal guardian,” he says. “Or if you had an aging parent who needed your care and your legal guidance because they weren’t able to take care of their own responsibilities anymore.”

This bill allowing protected consumer security freezes passed both the House and Senate unanimously and was signed into law by Governor McCrory on August 5.

Meyer says new parents are now being made aware of the new legislation.

“So we know that newborns will start to get protected,” he says. “But we will be working with many of the people who are in this room [advocacy groups] to make sure that we will let all of those who are caring for disabled adults know that they can go ahead and take advantage of this.”

The law will become effective on January 1, 2016.

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