Living off the dead could now elicit a second- or third-degree felony charge for offenders.
SB118 was proposed to "stay ahead of the smart bad guys," said Sen. Carlene M. Walker, R-Cottonwood Heights, who is sponsoring the bill.
In her third year of defending issues of identity theft, Walker has decided to step it up again, adding a seven-word clause to the existing law. The new bill would include the deceased in legislation that prohibits identity theft, leaving no discrepancy between the living and the dead as far as the crime is involved. Walker said using the identity of deceased persons is not always discovered as quickly as those still alive, but that it carries the same detrimental impacts to those involved and to society.
SB118 was passed unanimously out of the Senate Judiciary, Law Enforcement and Criminal Justice Standing Committee meeting Friday. It awaits Senate approval.