A Kentucky representative hopes a new model act will encourage more states to enact laws that provide more recourse for parents and legal guardians whose children have their identity stolen.

At a recent meeting in Las Vegas, the National Conference of Insurance Legislators passed a model act that would allow legal guardians to freeze their children’s accounts if they feared their personal information had been stolen.

Rep. Steve Riggs, D-Louisville, who, at the same meeting, was named the president of NCOIL, originally suggested the model act.

Riggs said his first experience with any sort of similar legislation occurred at Kentucky’s last General Assembly in early 2016, when a bill that would have allowed guardians to freeze minors’ credit reports was brought up but did not come to a vote.

“I thought, ‘That’s a wonderful idea that everyone should be doing. Why isn’t everyone doing this?’ ” he said.

In Kentucky, there is currently no law allowing parents or guardians to take such action on behalf of a minor, Riggs said.

“When they call the credit reporting agency, they find they can’t do anything about it,” he said.

Riggs suggested reporting any incidents of a minor’s identity being stolen to the attorney general’s office.

NCOIL will send the model act to every state legislature, Riggs said.

“I think it’s a great idea and it needs to be offered to all the states,” he said.

Riggs is confident that NCOIL’s promotion of its model act will spread laws enabling parents to put security freezes on their children’s credit reports, he said, adding that NCOIL has sent out other model acts in the past that have resulted in states passing laws based on those model acts.

NCOIL’s model act calls for a consumer reporting agency to place a security freeze on a minor’s credit report no more than 30 days after it’s requested by someone with “significant proof of authority” such as a parent or guardian.

The 30-day period is just a guideline, Riggs said, adding that states could set the limit at a lower number of days.

While laws allowing a minor’s guardian to freeze their information are on the books in approximately 20 states, many others, including Kentucky, don’t have such protections, according to Paul Penna, NCOIL’s executive director.

“In the event that a minor’s identity has been used and compromised, what (Riggs) heard is that the companies that help, they felt that they did not have the authority to stop the use of the minor’s identity,” Penna said.

Representatives from Experian PLC and TransUnion, two of the largest credit agencies in the US, did not respond to requests for comment.

Nancy Bistritz, a spokeswoman for Equifax, another prominent credit agency, said she wasn’t sure how widespread theft of minors’ credit information is because the company does not have data on the issue.

Because minors’ credit scores often goes unnoticed until they reach the age of 18, people can potentially steal their credit information and open credit cards and bank accounts and apply for loans in the minor’s name undetected, Penna said.

“They might turn into an adult and apply for a credit card and find there are all these outstanding debts in their name,” he said.

While Penna couldn’t say how common it is for people to steal the identity of minors, he did say “It’s happened enough that about 20 states have adopted legislation that’s similar to what we have.”

— Follow Daily News reporter Jackson French on Twitter @Jackson_French or visit bgdailynews.com.