(AP) -- Gov. Nikki Haley is skipping the annual Republican Governors Association conference to remain in South Carolina as officials grapple with a massive security breach at the state's tax collection agency.
Haley spokesman Rob Godfrey said Wednesday the Republican governor decided not to attend the association's biggest event of the year, held Wednesday through Friday in Las Vegas.
Haley and other officials announced Oct. 26 that a computer hacker accessed millions of tax returns filed since 1998, exposing Social Security numbers and bank account numbers. The number of affected taxpayers has climbed to nearly 4 million individual filers and 657,000 businesses.
Haley planned a news conference Wednesday afternoon to give another update.
She urges taxpayers to sign up for a credit monitoring service paid for by the state.
(Copyright ©2012 by The Associated Press. All Rights Reserved.)
