BILL ANALYSIS                                                                                                                                                                                                    






           SENATE TRANSPORTATION & HOUSING COMMITTEE       BILL NO: Ab 2097
          SENATOR ALAN LOWENTHAL, CHAIRMAN               AUTHOR:  Miller
                                                         VERSION: 5/28/10
          Analysis by:  Jennifer Gress                   FISCAL:  yes
          Hearing date:  June 29, 2010






          SUBJECT:

          Confidential home addresses

          DESCRIPTION:

          This bill establishes a process whereby a person who has  
          requested that the Department of Motor Vehicles (DMV) hold his  
          or her home address confidential shall provide to DMV the  
          address of his or her employment address for the purpose of  
          processing the service and collection of traffic, parking, and  
          toll road violations.

          ANALYSIS:

          Existing law lists persons who may request that the home address  
          appearing in a DMV record be held confidential.  Some of these  
          persons include:

           The Attorney General
           The State Public Defender
           A member of the Legislature
           A judge or court commissioner
           A district attorney
           A public defender
           An attorney employed by the Department of Justice or the  
            Office of the State Public Defender
           A city attorney or an attorney that represents a city in  
            matters that place the attorney in personal contact with  
            persons under investigation for, charged with, or convicted of  
            committing criminal acts
           A non-sworn police dispatcher
           A child abuse investigator or social worker working in child  
            protective services
           An active or retired peace officer




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           The spouse or child of any of these persons

          The confidential home address of these persons may not be  
          disclosed except to any of the following:

           A court
           A law enforcement agency
           The State Board of Equalization
           An attorney in a civil or criminal action that demonstrates to  
            a court the need for the home address
           A governmental agency to which, under law, information is  
            required to be furnished from DMV records

          Following termination of office or employment, a confidential  
          home address shall remain confidential for three years, unless  
          the termination is the result of conviction of a criminal  
          offense.  The home address of a retired peace officer shall  
          remain confidential permanently upon request at the time the  
          information would otherwise be opened.

          Existing law also establishes time periods by which an agency  
          must issue a notice of violation to an alleged violator and by  
          which the alleged violator must either pay the fine or contest  
          the citation.  For example, for parking violations, an agency  
          must issue a notice of violation within 15 calendar days of the  
          violation occurring and a person has 21 days to pay or contest.   
          For toll evasion violations, a toll agency has 21 days to issue  
          a notice of toll evasion violation, but an additional 45 if the  
          agency is unable to obtain the address of an alleged violator.  

           This bill  :

           Requires a person who requests confidentiality of his or her  
            home address to provide DMV with a current employment address  
            for purposes of processing the service and collection of  
            traffic, parking, and toll violations.  

           Waives the statutory time periods for processing the service  
            and collection of traffic, parking, or toll road violations  
            until DMV provides the law enforcement agency, governmental  
            agency, or issuing agency with the person's current employment  
            address.

           Provides that the use of a person's business address satisfies  
            the requirement that a notice to appear or a notice of  
            violation be served to a person's home address.




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           Requires a person whose home address is confidential to notify  
            DMV of any change in his or her employment address within 10  
            days of the change.

           Requires DMV to refuse to renew the registration of a vehicle  
            if the owner whose home address is confidential has been  
            served notice to his or her employment address has been mailed  
            a notice of delinquent parking violation or a failure to pay a  
            traffic citation.

           Requires DMV to update the form persons may use to request  
            confidentiality to include the requirement that the person  
            provide a current employment address.

           Requires DMV to distribute copies of the updated form to the  
            human resources offices of each agency that employs any of the  
            persons eligible to request confidentiality.

           Requires the human resources office of an applicant or  
            existing enrollee to make the form available to all new  
            applicants and all existing enrollees, to require these  
            persons to provide their employment address, and to forward  
            the forms to the Confidential Records Unit at DMV.  The forms  
            for existing enrollees must be received by DMV by April 1,  
            2012. 

          COMMENTS:

           1.Purpose  .  According to the author, the purpose of this bill is  
            to provide a means for traffic fine collectors to collect  
            unpaid tolls and penalties for traffic, toll, and parking  
            violations without compromising existing confidential records.  
             The author also strives to create transparency in government  
            by allowing for the collection of fees and penalties that  
            would otherwise remain un-collectable from those with  
            confidential DMV records.  Finally, the author also asserts  
            that the bill will provide a new source of revenue for badly  
            needed transportation projects throughout the state.

           2.The problem  .  The exact nature of the problem this bill seeks  
            to address is unclear.  DMV does have a process whereby a  
            government agency, law enforcement agency, or court can  
            request a masked home address, though the time it can  
            sometimes take DMV to unmask a record and provide the address  
            to a requester may be longer than the notice requirements  




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            provided under current law.  Additionally, some of the  
            entities seeking the information use private vendors under  
            contract with the agency that are not authorized to request  
            home addresses.  In these situations, the entity must make  
            requests for home addresses through a court or a law  
            enforcement agency, an additional layer of bureaucracy that  
            some agencies resist.  If the principal issue is that the time  
            required to obtain a confidential home address may exceed the  
            time allowed by the notice requirements, the author or  
            committee may wish to consider an amendment that would extend  
            the notice periods when an agency is not able to obtain the  
            home address readily, as is the case under current law for  
            toll evasion violations.  

           3.Previous legislation  .  In 2007, Assembly Member Spitzer  
            authored legislation to allow that confidential home addresses  
            be disclosed to government agencies for the purpose of service  
            and collection of traffic, parking, and toll violations.  That  
            bill was vetoed by the Governor.  His veto message read, in  
            part:

               This bill allows collectors of traffic and parking fines to  
               have access to the confidential home address information at  
               the Department of Motor Vehicles (DMV).  There are existing  
               mechanisms in place to allow a traffic enforcement agency  
               to pursue collections from law enforcement officers and  
               others who have a restricted confidential home address.   
               The agencies are authorized to obtain an individual's  
               employment information from the DMV and send billing  
               notification to the individual's place of employment.   
               Additionally, unpaid fines can be reported to DMV and  
               included in the registration renewal notice.

               DMV estimates significant costs to implement the bill,  
               depending of the volume of requests for restricted  
               confidential address records. DMV maintains over 1.5  
               million records that fall under the Confidential Records  
               program.  These records cannot be accessed electronically,  
               and therefore, additional staff time would be required to  
               manually process requests for these records.  I am also  
               concerned that this access puts the home addresses of law  
               enforcement officers at risk of disclosure.

           4.Current enrollees  .  The process of developing a new form,  
            providing it to all employers, requiring employers to solicit  
            an employment address from all current enrollees, and then  




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            requiring current enrollees to provide an employment address  
            is cumbersome. The process also raises questions about the  
            consequences if DMV does not, for whatever reason, receive an  
            employment address from a current enrollee.  If DMV does not  
            receive an employment address from an individual whose address  
            is already confidential, will DMV no longer treat that address  
            as confidential?  What if the person has already retired or  
            change jobs?  Given the logistical problems of requiring  
            current enrollees to provide an employment address, the author  
            or committee may wish to consider an amendment to make the  
            bill prospective such that the requirement to provide an  
            employment address would apply only to persons who newly  
            request that their addresses be held confidential.
          
          Assembly Votes:
               Floor:    76-0
               Appr: 17-0
               Trans:    13-0

           POSITIONS:  (Communicated to the Committee before noon on  
                     Wednesday,                              
                      June 23, 2010)

               SUPPORT:  California State Sheriffs' Association
                         Orange County Toll Authority
                         South Bay Expressway
          
               OPPOSED:  None received.