BILL ANALYSIS                                                                                                                                                                                                    



                                                                       



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          |SENATE RULES COMMITTEE            |                   SB 938|
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                              UNFINISHED BUSINESS


          Bill No:  SB 938
          Author:   Huff (R)
          Amended:  8/16/10
          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

           SENATE FLOOR  :  34-0, 5/03/10
          AYES: Aanestad, Ashburn, Cedillo, Cogdill, Corbett, Correa,  
            Cox, Denham, DeSaulnier, Ducheny, Dutton, Florez,  
            Hancock, Harman, Hollingsworth, Huff, Kehoe, Leno, Liu,  
            Lowenthal, Negrete McLeod, Oropeza, Padilla, Pavley,  
            Price, Romero, Runner, Simitian, Strickland, Walters,  
            Wolk, Wright, Wyland, Yee
          NO VOTE RECORDED: Alquist, Calderon, Steinberg, Wiggins,  
            Vacancy, Vacancy

           ASSEMBLY FLOOR  :  75-0, 8/18/10 - See last page for vote


           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  
                                                           CONTINUED





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          child of a listed person if that spouse or child has been  
          convicted of a crime and is on active probation or parole.

           Assembly Amendments  (1) repeals the requirement that the  
          California Highway Patrol utilize the California Law  
          Enforcement Telecommunications System when conducting  
          background checks on tow truck drivers and employers; (2)  
          add clarifying language requesting information at the time  
          a request is made for the Department of Motor Vehicle  
          exemption

           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,  
          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).)








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          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  
          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:

          1. Excludes from the categories of individuals whose home  
             addresses within the records of the DMV are afforded  
             enhanced confidentiality, the spouses and children of  
             peace officers and other enumerated public officials, if  
             those spouses or children have been convicted of crimes  
             and are on active parole or probation.

          2. Specifies that neither the listed person's employer nor  
             DMV is responsible for verifying that such a spouse or  
             child has been convicted of a crime and is not on active  
             parole or probation.

          3. Requires persons requesting confidentiality for their  
             spouse or child, on or after January 1, 2011, to declare  
             at the time of that request whether the spouse or child  
             has been convicted of a crime and is on active parole or  
             probation.







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          4. Repeals the requirement that the California Highway  
             Patrol utilize the California Law Enforcement  
             Telecommunications System when conducting background  
             checks on tow truck drivers and employers.

           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  
          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  







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          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  8/18/10)

          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.

          This situation presented a critical officer safety issue  
          because the convicted criminal could not be identified  
          under DMV confidentiality privileges; officers were unaware  







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          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.


           ASSEMBLY FLOOR : 
          AYES: Adams, Ammiano, Anderson, Arambula, Bass, Beall, Bill  
            Berryhill, Tom Berryhill, Block, Blumenfield, Bradford,  
            Brownley, Buchanan, Caballero, Carter, Chesbro, Conway,  
            Cook, Coto, Davis, De La Torre, De Leon, DeVore, Eng,  
            Feuer, Fletcher, Fong, Fuentes, Fuller, Furutani, Gaines,  
            Galgiani, Garrick, Gatto, Gilmore, Hagman, Hall, Harkey,  
            Hayashi, Hernandez, Hill, Huber, Huffman, Jeffries,  
            Jones, Knight, Lieu, Bonnie Lowenthal, Ma, Mendoza,  
            Miller, Monning, Nava, Nestande, Niello, Nielsen, Norby,  
            V. Manuel Perez, Portantino, Ruskin, Salas, Saldana,  
            Silva, Skinner, Smyth, Solorio, Audra Strickland,  
            Swanson, Torlakson, Torres, Torrico, Tran, Villines,  
            Yamada, John A. Perez
          NO VOTE RECORDED: Blakeslee, Charles Calderon, Evans,  
            Logue, Vacancy


          RJG:do  8/18/10   Senate Floor Analyses 

                         SUPPORT/OPPOSITION:  SEE ABOVE

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