BILL ANALYSIS Ó
-----------------------------------------------------------------
|SENATE RULES COMMITTEE | AB 634|
|Office of Senate Floor Analyses | |
|1020 N Street, Suite 524 | |
|(916) 651-1520 Fax: (916) | |
|327-4478 | |
-----------------------------------------------------------------
THIRD READING
Bill No: AB 634
Author: Gomez (D)
Amended: 6/15/14 in Senate
Vote: 21
SENATE JUDICIARY COMMITTEE : 7-0, 6/24/14
AYES: Jackson, Anderson, Corbett, Lara, Leno, Monning, Vidak
ASSEMBLY FLOOR : 73-1, 5/13/13 - See last page for vote
SUBJECT : Public records: disclosure
SOURCE : AFSCME Local 39
Deputy District Attorneys Association
DIGEST : This bill permits the recognized collective
bargaining representative of an appointed official who is a
peace officer, as defined, a District Attorney (DA), or a Deputy
DA, to make a written demand for nondisclosure on behalf of that
appointed official.
ANALYSIS :
Existing law:
1. The California Constitution, declares the people's right to
transparency in government. ("The people have the right of
access to information concerning the conduct of the people's
business, and therefore, the meetings of public bodies and
the writings of public officials and agencies shall be open
CONTINUED
AB 634
Page
2
to public scrutiny....")
2. The California Public Records Act (CPRA), governs the
disclosure of information collected and maintained by public
agencies. Generally, all public records are accessible to
the public upon request, unless the record requested is
exempt from public disclosure. (There are 30 general
categories of documents or information that are exempt from
disclosure, essentially due to the character of the
information, and unless it is shown that the public's
interest in disclosure outweighs the public's interest in
non-disclosure of the information, the exempt information may
be withheld by the public agency with custody of the
information.
3. Defines state agency, for purposes of the CPRA, to include
every state office, department, division, bureau, board, and
commission or other state body or agency, except for the
Legislature and the Judiciary.
4. Prohibits a state or local agency from posting the home
address or telephone number of any elected or appointed
official on the Internet without first obtaining the written
permission of that individual.
5. Prohibits a person from knowingly posting the home address or
telephone number of any elected or appointed official, or of
the official's residing spouse or child, on the Internet
knowing that person is an elected or appointed official and
intending to cause imminent great bodily harm that is likely
to occur or threatening to cause imminent great bodily harm
to that individual, and provides that a violation is a
misdemeanor, unless the violation leads to the bodily injury
of the official, or his/her residing spouse or child, in
which case the violation is a misdemeanor or a felony.
6. Prohibits a person, business, or association from publicly
posting or publicly displaying on the Internet the home
address or telephone number of any elected or appointed
official if that official has made a written demand of that
person, business, or association to not disclose his/her home
address or telephone number.
7. States that a written demand made by a state constitutional
CONTINUED
AB 634
Page
3
officer, a mayor, or a Member of the Legislature, a city
council, or a board of supervisors must include a statement
describing a threat or fear for the safety of that official
or of any person residing at the official's home address, and
provides that written demand made by an elected official is
effective for four years, regardless of whether or not the
official's term has expired prior to the end of the four-year
period.
8. Authorizes an elected or appointed official to designate in
writing the official's employer, a related governmental
entity, or any voluntary professional association of similar
officials to act, on behalf of that official, as that
official's agent with regard to making a written demand.
9. Requires a written demand made by an official's agent to
include a statement describing a threat or fear for the
safety of that official or of any person residing at the
official's home address.
10.Defines "elected or appointed official."
This bill:
1. Authorizes an elected or appointed official who is a peace
officer, as defined, a DA, or a Deputy DA, to also designate
his/her recognized collective bargaining representative to
make a written non-disclosure demand on his/her behalf.
2. Clarifies that a person, business, or association is
prohibited from publicly posting or publicly displaying on
the Internet the home address or telephone number of any
elected or appointed official if that official has, either
directly or through a designated agent, made a written demand
of that person, business, or association to not disclose
his/her home address or telephone number.
Background
AB 2238 (Dickerson, Chapter 621, Statutes of 2002) established
the Public Safety Officials Home Protection Advisory Task Force
(Task Force) to determine how to protect a public safety
official's home information. The Task Force, chaired by the
Attorney General and comprised of representatives from law
CONTINUED
AB 634
Page
4
enforcement, judges, district attorneys and public defenders,
state recorders and assessors, and the business community
involved in real estate transactions, filed its report with the
Legislature in January 2004. Recommendation 15 of the report
stated the need for legislation to prohibit any person,
business, or association from commercially posting a public
safety official's home address and telephone number on the
Internet after receiving a written confidentiality report.
In response, the Legislature enacted AB 1595 (Evans, Chapter
343, Statutes of 2005) to prohibit the posting or display of
specified elected and appointed officials' home address or
telephone number on the Internet and to allow these officials to
obtain an injunction against any person or entity that publicly
posts or displays the information on the Internet. It also
allowed for damages if the disclosure was made with intent to
cause imminent great bodily harm. AB 32 (Lieu, Chapter 403,
Statutes of 2009) imposed further restrictions and increases
penalties on the posting or display of a public official's home
address or telephone number.
Prior Legislation
AB 2299 (Feuer of 2012) would have authorized a county board of
supervisors to establish a program that redacts public safety
officials' names from property records, at the official's
request. AB 2299 was held in the Senate Governance and Finance
Committee.
AB 1813 (Lieu, Chapter 194, Statutes of 2010) included the
information provided to cellular phone applications in the
information that a public official may ask to be removed from
the Internet and to expand the definition of peace officer
within the definition of public official.
FISCAL EFFECT : Appropriation: No Fiscal Com.: No Local:
No
SUPPORT : (Verified 6/26/14)
AFSCME Local 39 (co-source)
Deputy District Attorneys Association (co-source)
Peace Officers Research Association of California
CONTINUED
AB 634
Page
5
ARGUMENTS IN SUPPORT : The author writes:
Peace Officers and their families have been attacked at
their homes. These officers take many precautions to keep
their loved ones out of harm's way. The state has
recognized that there are those who seek retribution or
for other criminal reasons seek to harm these officers
[and/or] their families. Examples of such protections
include the current law to allow a peace officer to
individually request a removal from an internet posting,
confidentiality from public posting of voter registration,
DMV driver license and vehicle registrations etc.
This measure expands that protection for Peace Officers by
providing the authority to request removal from internet
posting by their collective bargaining representative.
ASSEMBLY FLOOR : 73-1, 5/13/13
AYES: Achadjian, Alejo, Atkins, Bigelow, Bloom, Blumenfield,
Bocanegra, Bonilla, Bonta, Bradford, Brown, Buchanan, Ian
Calderon, Campos, Chau, Chávez, Chesbro, Cooley, Dahle, Daly,
Dickinson, Eggman, Fong, Fox, Frazier, Beth Gaines, Garcia,
Gatto, Gomez, Gordon, Gorell, Gray, Grove, Hagman, Hall,
Harkey, Roger Hernández, Jones, Jones-Sawyer, Levine, Linder,
Logue, Maienschein, Mansoor, Medina, Melendez, Mitchell,
Morrell, Mullin, Muratsuchi, Nazarian, Nestande, Olsen, Pan,
Patterson, Perea, V. Manuel Pérez, Quirk, Quirk-Silva, Rendon,
Salas, Skinner, Stone, Ting, Torres, Wagner, Waldron, Weber,
Wieckowski, Wilk, Williams, Yamada, John A. Pérez
NOES: Donnelly
NO VOTE RECORDED: Allen, Ammiano, Conway, Holden, Lowenthal,
Vacancy
AL:d 8/18/14 Senate Floor Analyses
SUPPORT/OPPOSITION: SEE ABOVE
**** END ****
CONTINUED