BILL ANALYSIS
AB 953
Page 1
CONCURRENCE IN SENATE AMENDMENTS
AB 953 (Eng)
As Amended July 15, 2010
Majority vote
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|ASSEMBLY: |73-0 |(January 27, |SENATE: |34-0 |(August 9, |
| | |2010) | | |2010) |
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Original Committee Reference: TRANS .
SUMMARY : Allows insurance company agents to obtain home address
records from the Department of Motor Vehicles (DMV) under
certain circumstances.
The Senate amendments :
1)Require an insurer's agent accessing these records to be
acting under contract to the insurer.
2)Clarify that any information so obtained may only be used for
the reason for which that information was requested.
3)Specify that the insurance company is responsible for any
misuse of the information by its authorized contractor.
4)Subject these contractors to all of the following
requirements:
a) All information obtained by the contractor from DMV, and
any copies made of that information, must be destroyed by
the contractor, once the contractor has used the
information for the purpose of obtaining the address of a
motorist or vehicle owner involved in an accident with
individuals insured with the insurer;
b) The contractor may not sell the information or store,
combine, or link it with a database for resale or for any
purpose other than obtaining the address of a motorist or
vehicle owner involved in an accident with individuals
insured with the insurer;
c) The contractor must maintain a log to track the receipt,
use, and dissemination of the information and the log must
AB 953
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be immediately available to DMV upon request and maintained
for four years from the date of the request;
d) The contractor shall must a surety bond in the amount
$50,000; and,
e) A contractor that violates these will be liable DMV for
civil penalties up to the amount of $100,000, and, if the
contractor is a commercial requester, the contractor will
also have his or her requester code suspended for a period
of five years, or revoked.
EXISTING LAW :
1)Holds confidential any home addresses within DMV records and
prohibits DMV from disclosing residence address in their
records to any person, except a court, law enforcement agency,
or other government agency.
2)Exempts from that prohibition licensed insurance companies
that state, under penalty of perjury, that they are requesting
the information for the purpose of obtaining the address of
another motorist or vehicle owner involved in an accident with
their insured, or are requesting the information on an
individual who has signed a written waiver of the
confidentiality of his or her DMV home address records or an
individual insured under a policy if a named insured of that
policy has signed a written waiver.
AS PASSED BY THE ASSEMBLY , this bill was substantially similar
to the version passed by the Senate.
FISCAL EFFECT : According to the Assembly Appropriations
Committee, there will be minimal costs to DMV, as the bill
essentially clarifies existing law.
COMMENTS : Existing law allows financial institutions and
insurance companies to access address information of persons
under specified circumstances. This bill clarifies that
insurance companies' employees and the authorized agents of
those companies are covered under these provisions. This access
is necessary to verify identity and current location of
financially responsible party in vehicle accidents. Quite often
an insurance company involved in a subrogation action is seeking
to locate the vehicle owner and DMV is likely to have the most
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up to date information. Accurate identity information protects
consumers from identity theft and errors in identity and it
protects the business community from unnecessary costs. This
bill is intended to ensure that financially responsible drivers
and owners can be properly identified.
Amendments taken in the Senate assure the proper use of that
information and hold insurance companies responsible for the
actions taken by their contracting agents in the its storage and
dissemination. These amendments were developed in response to
concerns expressed by privacy advocates.
Analysis Prepared by : Howard Posner / TRANS. / (916) 319-2093
FN: 0005401