BILL ANALYSIS AB 953 Page 1 CONCURRENCE IN SENATE AMENDMENTS AB 953 (Eng) As Amended July 15, 2010 Majority vote ----------------------------------------------------------------- |ASSEMBLY: |73-0 |(January 27, |SENATE: |34-0 |(August 9, | | | |2010) | | |2010) | ----------------------------------------------------------------- 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 Page 2 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 AB 953 Page 3 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