2017 -- H 5508

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LC001257

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     STATE OF RHODE ISLAND

IN GENERAL ASSEMBLY

JANUARY SESSION, A.D. 2017

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A N   A C T

RELATING TO STATE AFFAIRS AND GOVERNMENT - STATE DEPARTMENTS'

COOPERATION

     Introduced By: Representatives Casimiro, Regunberg, Craven, Donovan, and
Marszalkowski

     Date Introduced: February 15, 2017

     Referred To: House Finance

     (General Treasurer)

It is enacted by the General Assembly as follows:

     SECTION 1. Section 28-42-38 of the General Laws in Chapter 28-42 entitled

"Employment Security - General Provisions" is hereby amended to read as follows:

     28-42-38. Records and reports -- Confidentiality of information.

     (a) Every employer and every employing unit employing any person in employment in

this state shall keep true and accurate employment records of all persons employed by him or her,

and of the weekly hours worked for him or her by each, and of the weekly wages paid by him or

her to each person; and every employer and employing unit shall keep records containing any

other information that the director may prescribe. Those records shall at all times be available

within this state and shall be open to inspection by the director, or his or her authorized

representatives, at any reasonable time and as often as the director shall deem necessary.

     (b) The director may require from any employer, or employing unit, employing any

person in this state, any reports covering persons employed by him or her, on employment,

wages, hours, unemployment, and related matters which the director deems necessary to the

effective administration of chapters 42 -- 44 of this title.

     (c) (1) Information obtained, or information contained in other records of the department

obtained from any individual pursuant to the administration of those chapters, shall be held

confidential by the director and shall not be published or be open to public inspection in any

manner revealing the individual's or employing unit's identity, but any claimant at a hearing

provided for in those chapters shall be supplied with information from those records of the extent

necessary for the proper presentation of his or her claim. Any department employee guilty of

violating this provision shall be subject to the penalties provided in chapters 42 -- 44 of this title;

provided, that nothing contained in this subsection shall be construed to prevent:

     (i) The director, or any qualified attorney whom the director has designated to represent

him or her in any court of this state, or the attorney general from making any record, report, or

other information referred to in this section, available in any proceeding before any court of this

state in any action to which the director is a party;

     (ii) The director from making any record, report, or other information referred to in this

section, available to any agency of this state or any agency of a political subdivision of this state

charged with the administration of public assistance within this state, or any of its political

subdivisions;

     (iii) The director from making any record, report, or other information referred to in this

section, available to the railroad retirement board or to employees of the Internal Revenue Service

in the performance of their public duties, and the director shall furnish, at the expense of the

railroad retirement board or the Internal Revenue Service, copies of those records, reports, or

other information referred to in this section;

     (iv) The director from making available, upon request and on a reimbursable basis, any

record, report, or other information referred to in this section to the federal Department of Health

and Human Services in accordance with the provisions of United States P.L. 100-485, Family

Support Act of 1988, or to the federal Department of Housing and Urban Development and to

authorized representatives of public housing agencies in accordance with the Stewart B.

McKinney Homeless Assistance Act, 42 U.S.C. § 11301 et seq.;

     (v) The director from making available to the division of taxation, upon request of the tax

administrator, any record, report, or other information referred to in Title 28, Chapter 42 for the

purposes of compiling the annual unified economic development budget report and performing

the requirements under subsection 42-142-3(e); enforcing the provisions of Title 28, Chapter 42;

and/or performing any of its obligations under Title 44. The information received by the division

of taxation from the department of labor and training pursuant hereto pertaining to an individual

employer shall be held confidential and shall not be open to public inspection. Nothing herein

shall prohibit the disclosure of statistics and/or statistical data that do not disclose the identity of

individual employers and/or the contents of specific returns;

     (vi) The director from making, and the director shall make, reports in the form and

containing any information that the federal Social Security Administration may, from time to

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time, require, and complying with any provisions that the federal Social Security Administration

may, from time to time, find necessary to assure the correctness and verification of those reports.

The director shall make available, upon request, to any agency of the United States charged with

the administration of public works or assistance through public employment, the name, address,

ordinary occupation, and employment status of each recipient of unemployment compensation

and a statement of that recipient's rights to further compensation under that law;

     (vii) The director from conducting any investigations he or she deems relevant in

connection with these provisions;

     (viii) The director from conducting any investigations he or she deems relevant in

connection with the performance of his or her duties pursuant to the administration of the

chapters 29, 32, 33, 34, 36, 37 and 41 of this title, or from making any record, report, or other

information referred to in this section available to the workers' compensation fraud prevention

unit for use in the performance of its duties under § 42-16.1-12;

     (ix) The director from forwarding, and the director shall forward, to the jury

commissioner, the names and addresses of all individuals who are receiving unemployment

compensation on a yearly basis in accordance with § 9-9-1(e);

     (x) The director from providing data on unemployment insurance recipients or any other

data contained in departmental records that is obtained from an individual, pursuant to the

administration of chapters 42 -- 44 of this title, to the department's designated research partners

for the purpose of its workforce data quality and workforce innovation fund initiatives. The

provision of these records will be done in accordance with an approved data-sharing agreement

between the department and its designated research partners that protects the security and

confidentiality of these records and, through procedures, established by protocols, rules, and/or

regulations as determined necessary by the director and appropriately established or promulgated;

     (xi) The director from making available upon request and on a reimbursable basis to the

department of corrections, and solely for the purpose of case management and post-release

supervision, any record, report, or other information referred to in chapter 42 of title 28 relating to

wages, earnings, professional licenses, work or vocational skills or training, and work history of

offenders under the department of corrections' supervision for the purpose of case management

and post-release supervision. The information received by the department of corrections from the

department of labor and training pursuant to this subsection shall be held confidential and shall

not be open to public inspection. Nothing in this subsection shall prohibit the disclosure of

statistics and/or statistical data that does not disclose the identity of individuals, nor shall it

prevent information referred to in this subsection from being available in any proceeding before

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any court of this state in an action in which an offender's conditions of probation or obligation to

pay restitution and/or costs and fines are the subject of the court proceedings.; or

     (xii) The director from making any record, report, or other information referred to in this

section available to the employees' retirement system of Rhode Island and the office of the

general treasurer in the performance of their public duties.

     (2) The director may publish in statistical form the results of any investigations without

disclosing the identity of the individuals involved.

     SECTION 2. Section 33-21.1-17 of the General Laws in Chapter 33-21.1 entitled

"Unclaimed Intangible and Tangible Property" is hereby amended to read as follows:

     33-21.1-17. Report of abandoned property.

     (a) A person holding property tangible or intangible, presumed abandoned and subject to

custody as unclaimed property under this chapter, shall report to the administrator concerning the

property as provided in this section.

     (b) The report must be verified and must include:

     (1) Except with respect to travelers checks and money orders, the name, if known, and

last known address, if any, of each person appearing from the records of the holder to be the

owner of property of the value of fifty ($50.00) dollars or more presumed abandoned under this

chapter;

     (2) In the case of unclaimed funds of fifty dollars ($50.00) or more held or owing under

any life or endowment insurance policy or annuity contract, the full name and last known address

of the insured or annuitant and of the beneficiary according to the records of the insurance

company holding or owing the funds;

     (3) In the case of the contents of a safe deposit box or other safekeeping repository or of

other tangible property, a description of the property and the place where it is held and may be

inspected by the administrator and any amounts owing to the holder;

     (4) The nature and identifying number, if any, or description of the property and the

amount appearing from the records to be due, but items of value under fifty dollars ($50.00) each

shall be reported in the aggregate;

     (5) The date the property became payable, demandable, or returnable, and the date of the

last transaction with the apparent owner with respect to the property; and

     (6) Other information the administrator prescribes by rule as necessary for the

administration of this chapter.

     (c) If the person holding property presumed abandoned and subject to custody as

unclaimed property is a successor to other persons who previously held the property for the

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apparent owner or the holder has changed his or her name while holding the property, he or she

shall file with his or her report all known names and addresses of each previous holder of the

property.

     (d) The report must be filed before November 1 of each year as of June 30, next

preceding, and the report of any life insurance company, including the report of unclaimed

insurance company demutualization proceeds made pursuant to § 33-21.1-16.1, must be filed

before November 1 of each year as of June 30 next preceding. On written request by any person

required to file a report, the administrator may postpone the reporting date.

     (e) Not more than one hundred and twenty (120) days before filing the report required by

this section, the holder in possession of property presumed abandoned and subject to custody as

unclaimed property under this chapter shall send written notice to the apparent owner at his or her

last known address informing him or her that the holder is in possession of property subject to

this chapter if:

     (1) The holder has in its records an address for the apparent owner which the holder's

records do not disclose to be inaccurate,

     (2) The claim of the apparent owner is not barred by the statute of limitations, and

     (3) The property has a value of fifty dollars ($50.00) or more.

     (f) In order to reunite residents with their unclaimed property, the administrator is

authorized to share data with other state departments regarding unclaimed property.

Notwithstanding any other law to the contrary, the administrator is authorized to receive data

from and provide data to state departments that identifies unclaimed property and its rightful

owners.

     SECTION 3. Section 44-30-95 of the General Laws in Chapter 44-30 entitled "Personal

Income Tax" is hereby amended to read as follows:

     44-30-95. General powers of tax administrator.

     (a) General. The tax administrator shall administer and enforce the Rhode Island personal

income tax and is authorized to make any rules and regulations, and to require any facts and

information to be reported, that he or she may deem necessary to enforce the tax. The provisions

of chapter 1 of this title relating to the tax administrator shall be applicable to the Rhode Island

personal income tax.

     (b) Examination of books and witnesses. The tax administrator, for the purpose of

ascertaining the correctness of any return, or for the purpose of making an estimate of Rhode

Island income of any person where information has been obtained, shall have the power to

examine or to cause to have examined, by any agent or representative designated by the tax

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administrator for that purpose, any books, papers, records, or memoranda bearing upon the

matters required to be included in the return, and may require the attendance of the person

rendering the return or any officer or employee of the person, or the attendance of any other

person having knowledge in the premises, and may take testimony and require proof material for

its information, with power to administer oaths to the person or persons.

     (c) Secrecy requirement. It shall be unlawful for any state official or employee to divulge

or to make known to any person in any manner whatever not provided by law the amount or

source of income, profits, losses, expenditures, or any particular of them set forth or disclosed in

any return, or to permit any return or copy of the return or any book containing any abstract or

particulars thereof to be seen or examined by any person except as provided by law. It shall be

unlawful for any person to print or publish in any manner whatever not provided by law any

return or any part thereof or source of income, profits, losses, or expenditures appearing in any

return. Any offense against the foregoing provision shall be punished by a fine not exceeding one

thousand dollars ($1,000), or by imprisonment not exceeding one year, or both, at the discretion

of the court. If the offender is an officer or employee of the state of Rhode Island, the offender

may be dismissed from office or discharged from employment.

     (d) Interstate and federal agreements. The governor or the tax administrator may enter

into agreements with tax officials of other states and the federal government to provide for the

exchange of information and to apportion or otherwise equitably determine taxes for the purposes

of carrying out the provisions of § 44-30-18 and otherwise avoiding multiple taxation.

     (e) Income tax claims of other states. The courts of this state shall recognize and enforce

liabilities for personal income taxes lawfully imposed by any other state which extends a like

comity to this state, and the duly authorized officer of any other state may sue for the collection

of a tax in the courts of this state. A certificate by the secretary of state of the other state that an

officer suing for the collection of a tax is duly authorized to collect the tax shall be conclusive

proof of that authority. For the purposes of this section, the word "taxes" shall include additions

to tax, interest, and penalties, and liability for taxes, additions to tax, interest and penalties shall

be recognized and enforced by the courts of this state to the same extent that the laws of the other

state permit the enforcement in its courts of liability for taxes, additions to tax, interest, and

penalties due this state under this part.

     (f) Small tax balances. The tax administrator is authorized to abate the unpaid portion of

the assessment of any tax, or any liability in respect thereof, if the administrator determines under

uniform rules prescribed by him or her that the administration and collection costs involved

would not warrant collection of the amount due.

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     (g) Limited disclosure of information -- Retirement board. The tax administrator shall

disclose to the retirement board of the state of Rhode Island information needed by the board to

implement the provisions of §§ 36-10-17, 36-10-36, and 45-21-24. The content and nature of the

information to be disclosed shall be determined and approved by the tax administrator and shall

be kept confidential by the board.

     (h) Limited disclosure of information -- Jury Commissioner. The tax administrator shall

disclose to the jury commissioners of the State of Rhode Island information needed by him or her

to implement provisions of § 9-9-1(d).

     (i) Limited disclosure of information – Unclaimed property administrator. The tax

administrator shall disclose to the unclaimed property administrator of the state of Rhode Island,

who is the administrator as defined in §33-21.1-1, information needed by the unclaimed property

administrator to implement the provisions of §33-21.1-24. The content and nature of the

information to be disclosed shall be determined and approved by the tax administrator and shall

be kept confidential by the unclaimed property administrator. The unclaimed property

administrator shall be subject to the requirements and penalties in §44-30-95(c).

     SECTION 4. This act shall take effect upon passage.

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EXPLANATION

BY THE LEGISLATIVE COUNCIL

OF

A N   A C T

RELATING TO STATE AFFAIRS AND GOVERNMENT - STATE DEPARTMENTS'

COOPERATION

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     This act would facilitate the sharing of information between the treasury, state retirement

system, division of taxation, and the department of labor and training concerning unclaimed

property, taxation collection, and pension benefit monitoring.

     This act would take effect upon passage.

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