Revenue surrenders mountain of documents in response to senate subpoena
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Revenue surrenders mountain of documents in response to senate subpoena

Date: April 2, 2013
By: Alexander Mallin
State Capitol Bureau

Intro: 
The Department of Revenue has delivered a mountain of documents to the state capitol in response to a senate subpoena. Inside, Columbia Senator Kurt Schaefer says he plans to find proof that the department is breaking privacy laws with its licensing procedure by giving the federal government access to Missourians' personal information.
RunTime:  0:43
OutCue:  SOC

Wrap: 50 boxes of papers.

That's what Schaefer and his staff are planning to mull through in the coming weeks.

Schaefer says the papers seem to have no organization but before he finds the truth the Senate won't move forward with drawing up the department's budget, even if it means going into a special summer session.

Actuality:  SCHAEF11.WAV
Run Time:  00:13
Description: "Before we can, in good faith, allow spending of the public's money, we have to have a full and accurate picture of what's going on.And if it takes going through all those boxes to get that accurate picture, which I'm assuming its going to, then that's going to take awhile so everybody needs to understand that."

The Department has not responded to repeated requests for an interview, but it did issue a brief statement saying it isn't sharing personal information.

Reporting from the state capitol, I'm Alex Mallin.

Intro: 
50 boxes of papers. Its how the Department of Revenue has responded to a senate subpoena, and inside, one Missouri senator says he plans to find proof the Department is breaking privacy laws by sharing the personal information of thousands of Missourians.
RunTime:  0:44
OutCue:  SOC

Wrap: Republican Senator Kurt Schaefer says he doesn't trust the Department of Revenue.

The Department has repeatedly denied its sharing Missourians' personal information with the federal government, but Schaefer says he and his staff will sort through the thousands of pages delivered by the department until he is convinced.  

How long will it take? Schaefer says the senate could go into a special summer session until he's convinced that the privacy of Missourians' is confirmed safe.

Actuality:  SCHAEF12.WAV
Run Time:  00:09
Description: "If the result is their budget is held up because of their lack of willingness to communicate factual and timely information to the General Assembly, then their budget is going to be held up."

The Department has not yet responded to repeated requests for an interview.

Reporting from the state capitol, I'm Alex Mallin.

Intro: 
The Department of Revenue has delivered over a dozen boxes of papers in response to a rare subpoena from the Missouri senate. But thats less than a third of what one Missouri senator says he plans to sort through to find out if the department is lying about sharing Missourians' personal information with the federal government.
RunTime:  0:47
OutCue:  SOC

Wrap: Republican Senator Kurt Schaefer says the department has been storing Missourians' personal information and sharing it with the federal government and a private vendor through its licensing procedure.

He says the senate could enter a special summer session if the department doesn't start being transparent.

Actuality:  SCHAEF13.WAV
Run Time:  00:12
Description: "Their budget's going to be held up.But we're going to go through those documents that they're going to produce in response to the subpoena. If it leads to another request for more documents maybe it does, if it satisfies what we are looking for that's fine too. But we're not going to know until we look through those documents."

The department has repeatedly denied personal information is being stored and it has provided 50 boxes of documents for Schaefer and his team to sort through to find out for sure.

The department has not responded to repeated requests for an interview.

Reporting from the state capitol, I'm Alex Mallin.