Missouri Senate Appropriations Committee Chairman Kurt Schaefer hosted a public forum Friday afternoon to address recent concerns about the Missouri Department of Revenue scanning and retaining personal documents and information.
The Republican senator from Colombia posed many questions that the audience was also concerned with.
“This is a free society, so the question is why, to just get a driver’s license, do you have to go through this? Subject yourself to a massive risk of identity theft, to having your very personal data shared with entities that you don’t even know where it’s going, and what’s the purpose? And, again, I think it’s incumbent on the governor to tell us why they’re doing this, and why they won’t stop,” Schaefer said.
Schaefer and other congressional members are gathering evidence to piece together the investigation.
The senator said citizens statewide are equally concerned about this issue.
“I get emails and calls to the office on a daily basis. People don’t like it. They do find it to be an intrusion of their privacy,” Schaefer said. “And it really does beg the question, why do they need this information? And if the governor believes that this is such a great policy, then why don’t they be more transparent about it and tell the public why they think this is a good idea.”
The committee has already subpoenaed several articles from those involved in the department, and they expect to hear testimony from the St. Louis Social Security officer who first requested the list of conceal carry permit holders.
The hearing before the Appropriations Committee is scheduled for next Wednesday at noon.
