New OneCards are being issued to Sacramento State students, faculty and staff in compliance with a new law, SB 25, designed to prevent identity theft.

The law went into effect at the beginning of the year, but the CSU system received an extension and has until July 1 to comply.

The extension was given to make sure that the CSU system was able to comply with the law given its resources, said Patricia Cuocco, senior director for technology advice and policy for the CSU chancellor’s office.

One of the provisions of SB 25 is the removal of social security numbers from identification cards such as Sac State’s OneCards.

“Every campus is now aware they cannot use the social security number,” Cuocco said.”In order for us to comply (with SB 25), we had to stop using all ID cards using the social security number,” said Ronald Grant, director of University Support Services.

New OneCards will use their own unique numbers for identification.

When Sac State fully adopts the new PeopleSoft software, OneCards will use the new student identification numbers.

The OneCards issued before then will not have to be updated.

The new OneCards will not be mailed, but must be picked up at the OneCard office on campus, Grant said.

The new OneCards are free to anyone who currently has a OneCard, even if they have lost it.Photo identification will be needed in order to pick up the new cards.

Faculty and staff can already pick up their new cards, and students can get theirs starting May 26.

The new OneCards will be activated on June 11, and the current cards will no longer work.”You won’t need to do anything; all funds and privileges that you currently enjoy on your old card will be available to you with your new OneCard,” Grant said in an e-mail.

The changeover will cost about $30,000, Grant said.

Cuocco said the cost to comply with SB 25 will vary from campus to campus.

“It’s all driven by the increase in identity theft … and the law was written to protect folks,” Grant said.

Grant suggested that to avoid possible long lines at the beginning of the fall semester, students should go to the OneCard office at some point during the summer to pick up their new cards.

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Brandon Darnell can be reached at [email protected]