Topeka ? A Senate committee tabled a bill Monday that would have required the Kansas Department of Corrections to stop granting inmates access to personally identifiable information as they perform data entry and document scanning work for city, county and state government agencies.

Members of the Senate Judiciary Committee were content with a promise from KDOC Secretary Roger Werholtz that agency rules would be rewritten by Aug. 1 to limit the opportunity of inmates involved in prison industry jobs to obtain birthdates and numbers associated with Social Security cards, driver’s licenses and bank accounts.

Sen. John Vratil, R-Leawood, made the motion to put Senate Bill 587 on ice to avoid the cost of running the measure through the Legislature.

The maneuver had bipartisan support from his colleagues on the judiciary committee.

“The regulations are being reworked at this point,” said Sen. Laura Kelly, D-Topeka. “We probably don’t need the bill.”

Under the administrative rule envisioned by Werholtz, prisoners performing data entry and document preservation services on KDOC contracts wouldn’t be permitted to see personally identifiable information about Kansans that could be used to perpetuate identity fraud. Prisoners in work-release programs won’t be subjected to the new mandate because these men and women wouldn’t be able to hold down jobs if prohibited from checking identification cards.

“The regulation, however, would permit an inmate working for a convenience store as a privately employed work release inmate who is required to check a driver’s license before selling tobacco products to a youthful-appearing customer to do so consistent with state law or his or her employer’s obligations,” Werholtz said.

Senate Majority Leader Derek Schmidt, R-Independence, said placing the requirement in statute would have placed the policy reform beyond administrative rules and regulations that could be modified by a new governor in 2011.

Schmidt said the Legislature adopted a bill earlier in this session prohibiting people charged with crimes from gaining access to personally identifiable information when preparing for trial.

“This is a step worse. We have a group of people convicted,” Schmidt said.

Gov. Mark Parkinson said on Friday state agencies involved in the transfer of personally identifiable information through contracts with the corrections department were taking steps to improve security procedures to thwart illegal use of the information.

The Kansas Department of Transportation and the Kansas Highway Patrol engaged in contracts that funnel private information through prisoner laborers incarcerated at Lansing Correctional Facility. Cities, counties and nonprofit organizations work with prisoners at Norton Correctional Facility to create digital images of old public records, corrections officials said.

KDOT representative Terry Heidner said inmates performed data entry at less cost and with greater accuracy than employees of the transportation agency years ago.

“It has a long and very successful history,” Heidner said.

The approach advocated by the governor would assure “protection of privacy for Kansas citizens” while continuing the jobs program for inmates. Software used by prisoners to input material must be adjusted to make certain key bits of information is beyond the reach of inmates, Heidner said.

He said the cost to KDOT could be $125,000 in the current fiscal year ending June 30. An estimated $75,000 would be needed in future years to hire non-inmate workers to enter sensitive information, he said.

Eight states, including Kansas, grant prisoners access to personal information despite warnings against the practice by federal officials.