According to a Boston.com article, the state already prohibits businesses from asking for a person's entire Social Security number. The new legislation would stop businesses from using partial Social Security numbers -- most commonly the last four digits -- to identify customers or create customer passwords. Businesses that run credit checks on customers would be exempted.

The bill's sponsor is Senate Majority Leader Dominick Ruggerio, a North Providence Democrat. According to the article, Ruggerio says the bill would protect privacy and make it harder for criminals to commit identity theft.