HONOLULU - Attorney General Anne Lopez today joined a coalition of 19 attorneys general in filing a lawsuit against the Trump administration to stop the unauthorized disclosure of Americans’ private information and sensitive data. The lawsuit asserts that the Trump administration illegally provided Elon Musk and the so-called “Department of Government Efficiency (DOGE),” unauthorized access to the Treasury Department’s central payment system, and therefore to Americans’ most sensitive personal information, including bank account details and Social Security numbers. This expanded access could allow Musk and his team to block federal funds to states and programs providing health care, childcare, and other critical services. With this lawsuit, the coalition of attorneys general is seeking to stop the Trump administration’s new policy that illegally grants DOGE, Musk, and others access to Americans’ confidential information and the U.S. Treasury’s payment systems. 

Beginning February 2, 2025, the Trump administration’s Treasury Department adopted a new policy that grants “special government employees,” including Elon Musk and members of DOGE, access to its central payment system operated by the Bureau of Fiscal Services (BFS). This central payment system controls vital funding that millions of Americans depend on, including Social Security payments, veterans’ benefits, Medicare and Medicaid payments, and more. The payment system also controls billions of dollars that states rely on to support essential services like law enforcement, public education, and infrastructure repairs. 

Access to BFS is limited by federal law to a select group of career civil servants with the appropriate security clearances. Attorney General Lopez and the coalition assert the Treasury Department’s new policy, which expands access to BFS’s payment system, violates the law, jeopardizes Americans’ most sensitive personal information, and would allow Elon Musk and other unauthorized political appointees to access a system that could permit them to freeze federal funds with the click of a button in violation of the U.S. Constitution. 

With this lawsuit, Attorney General Lopez and the coalition of attorneys general are seeking an injunction preventing the Trump administration from continuing its new policy of expanded access to BFS’s payment system, as well as a declaration that the Treasury Department’s policy change is unlawful and unconstitutional. 

“The people of Hawai?i have the right to expect that their personal information held by the federal government will be strictly used only for its intended and lawful purpose and will otherwise be held secure,” said Attorney General Anne Lopez. “The state of Hawai?i will stand up to ensure that the trust we put in our federal institutions is repaid in kind.” 

The state of Hawai?i is represented in this matter by Solicitor General Kaliko?on?lani Fernandes and Special Assistant to the Attorney General Dave Day. 

Joining Attorney General Lopez in filing the lawsuit are the attorneys general of Arizona, California, Colorado, Connecticut, Delaware, Illinois, Maine, Maryland, Massachusetts, Minnesota, Nevada, New Jersey, New York, North Carolina, Oregon, Rhode Island, Vermont and Wisconsin.