BILL ANALYSIS Ó SB 859 Page 1 Date of Hearing: August 17, 2011 ASSEMBLY COMMITTEE ON APPROPRIATIONS Felipe Fuentes, Chair SB 859 (Padilla) - As Amended: July 5, 2011 Policy Committee: TransportationVote:10-3 Judiciary 8-1 Urgency: No State Mandated Local Program: Yes Reimbursable: No SUMMARY As proposed to be amended, this bill allows the Department of Motor Vehicles (DMV) to disclose to electrical utilities otherwise confidential information regarding the residential addresses of owners of electric vehicles. Specifically, this bill: 1)Authorizes DMV to release the residential address, but not the name, of the owner of an electric vehicle to an electric utility, upon request, if the electric utility agrees, under penalty of perjury, to use the information only to identify where an electric vehicle is registered. 2)As proposed to be amended, requires the electric utility, within 15 days of receiving residential information, to disclose to the registered vehicle owner that the utility is authorized by law to receive the vehicle owner's residential information. (As written, the bill requires the electric utility to disclose to the registered vehicle owner that the utility is required by law to receive the vehicle owner's residential information, a disclosure that inaccurately describes the law.) 3)Expressly prohibits the electric utility from using a registered vehicles owner's residential address information for any purpose other than identifying the address at which an electric vehicle is registered and from selling or otherwise SB 859 Page 2 sharing the information. FISCAL EFFECT Minor, absorbable costs to DMV. COMMENTS 1)Rationale . The author intends this bill to make information, currently confidential, available to electricity corporations and local publicly owned utilities so they may better plan for load demand resulting from the potential increased use of electric vehicles. 2)Background . Until 1989, DMV records were generally considered public records and any person who had a legitimate reason to seek a home address of a particular person in the DMV files could obtain it simply by producing the relevant driver's license number or a license plate number. In 1986, legislation created a list of public officials whose home addresses were to be kept confidential by the DMV. In response to a stalking and murder case, the Legislature passed AB 1779 (Roos), Chapter 1213, Statutes of 1989, which made confidential the home addresses of all individuals with records at the DMV. Statute provides for specific exemptions to the confidentiality requirement. Analysis Prepared by : Jay Dickenson / APPR. / (916) 319-2081