Indiana Gov. Joe Kernan signed a bill keeping confidential the pension records of 19,000 current and former state and local employees, including legislators, to protect them from identify theft. The accounts are administered by the $10.1 billion Indiana Public Employees Retirement Fund, Indianapolis, whose former chief benefits officer, Walter Kevin Scott, was sentenced late last year for identity theft.
Previously, personal information for these Indiana fund participants "could be considered public record, including the Social Security numbers, home addresses" and other information, Mr. Kernan said in a statement. Information for some 240,000 other current and former state and local employees under Indiana PERF is already confidential, Mr. Kernan added, noting that a recent informal interpretation found that existing confidentiality law may not extend to the other 19,000 participants.
