JEFFERSON CITY — Recently, the Missouri Senate discovered the Missouri Department of Revenue (DOR) is taking personal documents such as birth certificates, Social Security cards, and marriage licenses, used to obtain a driver’s or non-driver’s license, and scanning them. A list of approximately 163,000 Missourians with concealed carry permits (CCW) was shared with the federal Department of Social Services. An investigator made the request for the entire list of Missourians with CCW permits through the Missouri Highway Patrol, which gained access to the list from the Department of Revenue. The list was placed on a disk and sent – by mail – to Social Services.

This is in direct conflict with a state law the Missouri Legislature passed and the governor signed in 2009, which made it illegal for the state to “comply with goals and standards” of the federal REAL ID Act. Passed in 2005 by Congress, the REAL ID Act sets strict requirements for photo identification cards to be used to board commercial flights or to enter federal buildings.

"I am outraged and profoundly disappointed that DOR and the Missouri Highway Patrol are ignoring state law and communicating the personal information of our citizens to the federal government,” said Sen. Sater. “Both the governor and DOR claimed this information was not shared. The Senate now has evidence to the contrary and is taking swift action in response.”

The Senate gave first-round approval to a bill last week that will give county sheriffs sole authority over the issuance and approval of CCW permits. Under the bill, DOR will no longer be authorizing CCW on driver’s or non-driver’s licenses and will be prohibited from retaining copies of documents used to obtain those licenses. DOR would further be required to securely destroy any source documents it possesses. The Senate is also taking an extensive look at DOR’s budget. At present, DOR’s allotment for FY 2014 is $0.

“We must hold DOR accountable for every tax dollar it is spending, and every requirement it is placing on our citizens,” said Sen. Sater. "This is a serious breach of public trust, and we have to consider if we should continue to use our hard-earned tax dollars to pay for activity that compromises our personal information and violates state law.”