BILL ANALYSIS
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|SENATE RULES COMMITTEE | SB 938|
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THIRD READING
Bill No: SB 938
Author: Huff (R)
Amended: As introduced
Vote: 21
SENATE PUBLIC SAFETY COMMITTEE : 6-0, 4/13/10
AYES: Leno, Cogdill, Cedillo, Huff, Steinberg, Wright
NO VOTE RECORDED: Hancock
SENATE APPROPRIATIONS COMMITTEE : Senate Rule 28.8
SUBJECT : Department of Motor Vehicles: records:
confidentiality
SOURCE : Los Angeles County Sheriffs Department
DIGEST : This bill exempts from the enhanced Department
of Motor Vehicles confidentiality provisions the spouse or
child of a listed person if that spouse or child has been
convicted of a crime and is on active probation or parole.
ANALYSIS : Existing law provides except where a specific
provision of law prohibits the disclosure of records or
information or provides for confidentiality, all records of
the Department of Motor Vehicles (DMV) relating to the
registration of vehicles, other information contained on an
application for a driver's license, abstracts of
convictions, and abstracts of accident reports required to
be sent to DMV in Sacramento, except for abstracts of
accidents where, in the opinion of a reporting officer,
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another individual was at fault, shall be open to public
inspection during office hours. All abstracts of accident
reports shall be available to law enforcement agencies and
courts of competent jurisdiction. (Vehicle Code Section
1808.)
Under existing law, the residential addresses of certain
public employees and their families are confidential.
(Vehicle Code Sections 1808.4 and 1808.6 - began in 1977.)
Existing law states that all residence addresses in any
record of the DMV are confidential and shall not be
disclosed to any person, except a court, law enforcement
agency, or other governmental agency, or as authorized in
section 1808.22 of the Vehicle Code. (Vehicle Code
Sections 1808.21 - added in 1989.)
Existing law states that any person may seek suppression of
any DMV registration or driver's license record if he or
she can show that he/she is the subject of stalking or a
threat of death or great bodily injury. The suppression
will be for a period of one year renewable for two more,
one-year periods. (Vehicle Code Section 1808.21(d).)
Existing law provides that the release of such confidential
information, for all other persons specified, is a
misdemeanor and punishable by a fine of up to $5,000 and/or
by up to one year in a county jail. (Vehicle Code Section
1808.45.)
Existing law provides that a record of DMV containing a
confidential home address shall be open to public
inspection as provided in Vehicle Code Section 1808 if the
address is completely obliterated or otherwise removed from
the record. The home address shall be withheld from public
inspection for three years following the termination of
office or employment except with respect to a retired peace
officer, his/her home address shall be withheld from public
inspection permanently upon request of confidentiality at
the time the information would otherwise be opened.
(Vehicle Code Section 1808.4 (e).)
Existing law provides that the spouse or child of a person
listed in Vehicle Code Section 1808.4 and the surviving
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spouse or child of a peace officer who has died in the line
of duty regardless of their place of residence shall also
have enhanced confidentiality. (Vehicle Code Section
1808.4(a)(24).)
This bill provides that the address of a spouse or child of
a listed person should not have the enhanced
confidentiality, if the spouse or child has been convicted
of a crime and is on active parole or probation.
Background
DMV Confidentiality . Vehicle Code section 1808.4 was added
by statute in 1977 to provide confidentiality of home
addresses to specified public employees and their families.
In 1989, Vehicle Code section 1808.21 was added to make all
residence addresses confidential within the DMV files.
Vehicle Code section 1808.21(a) states the following:
The residence address in any record of the
department is confidential and cannot be disclosed
to any person except a court, law enforcement
agency, or other governmental agency, or as
authorized in Section 1808.22 or 1808.23.
This section was further amended in 1994 to allow
individuals under specific circumstances to request that
their entire records be suppressed. Any individual who is
the subject of stalking or who is experiencing a threat of
death or great bodily injury to his/her person may request
their entire record to be suppressed under this section.
Upon suppression of a record, each request for information
about that record has to be authorized by the subject of
the record or verified as legitimate by other investigative
means by the DMV before the information is released.
A record is suppressed for a one-year period. At the end
of the one-year period, the suppression is continued for a
period determined by the department and if the person
submits verification acceptable to the department that he
or she continues to have reasonable cause to believe that
he or she is the subject of stalking or that there exists a
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threat of death or great bodily injury to his/her person.
According to the DMV, however, all residence addresses are
suppressed and only persons authorized by statute can
access this information.
Under sections 1808.4 and 1808.6 the home addresses of
specific individuals are suppressed and can only be
accessed through the Confidential Records Unit of the DMV
while under section 1808.21, the residence address portion
of all individuals' records are suppressed but can be
accessed by a court, law enforcement agency, or other
governmental agency or other authorized persons.
FISCAL EFFECT : Appropriation: No Fiscal Com.: Yes
Local: No
SUPPORT : (Verified 4/27/10)
Los Angeles County Sheriff's Department (source)
Association for Los Angles Deputy Sheriffs
California State Sheriffs' Association
Chief Probation Officers of California
San Bernardino County Sheriff's Office
ARGUMENTS IN SUPPORT : According to the author's office,
existing law allows law enforcement and public officials
who may become targets to protect their home address from
disclosure, keeping their address confidential when police
run a license plate check. Confidentiality is rightly
extended to children, spouses and surviving spouses of
these individuals. However, there is no provision to
exempt those who have a criminal record.
The Lose Angeles County Sheriff's Station recently had a
reserve deputy who listed his adult son as one of the
persons who is covered under DMV confidentiality.
Although the son had served county jail and state prison
time, when he was stopped by the deputies and they ran the
vehicle plates, the return showed the Los Angeles County
Sheriff's Department address, indicating the individual had
confidentiality allowances.
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This situation presented a critical officer safety issue
because the convicted criminal could not be identified
under DMV confidentiality privileges; officers were unaware
they were dealing with a convicted criminal.
When a license check at a routine traffic stop turns up as
confidential, deputies naturally assume they are in a safe
situation. Allowing convicted
criminals to fall under confidentiality blindly puts law
enforcement in harms way. Confidentiality was intended to
protect some public officials and their families, not to
provide a shroud from criminals who are on supervised
release.
RJG:do 4/27/10 Senate Floor Analyses
SUPPORT/OPPOSITION: SEE ABOVE
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