BILL ANALYSIS Ó
AB 849
Page 1
Date of Hearing: April 9, 2013
ASSEMBLY COMMITTEE ON JUDICIARY
Bob Wieckowski, Chair
AB 849 (Garcia) - As Introduced: February 21, 2013
SUBJECT : PROTECTION OF VICTIMS OF ABUSE OF AN ELDER OR
DEPENDENT ADULT: ADDRESS CONFIDENTIALITY
KEY ISSUE : SHOULD PROTECTIONS CONTAINED IN THE "SAFE AT HOME"
PROGRAM, WHICH CURRENTLY SAFEGUARDS THE HOME ADDRESSES OF
DOMESTIC VIOLENCE AND STALKING VICTIMS, BE EXTENDED TO VICTIMS
OF ABUSE OF AN ELDER OR DEPENDENT ADULT?
FISCAL EFFECT : As currently in print this bill is keyed fiscal.
SYNOPSIS
This non-controversy over and broadly-supported measure seeks to
protect the confidentiality of addresses of those persons who
are victims of abuse of an elder or dependent adult by bringing
such individuals within the protective umbrella of the Safe at
Home program, a program that has received strong bipartisan
support over the years. The Secretary of State (SOS)
administers the "Safe at Home" address confidentiality program
to protect victims of domestic violence, sexual assault, and
stalking, as well as reproductive care providers, employees,
volunteers and patients. The purpose of this program is to
enable state and local agencies to respond to requests for
public records without disclosing the names or locations of
participants in the program. This bill is consistent with
existing law relating to the issuance of civil protective orders
that protect victims of abuse of an elder or dependent adult,
which presumes that victims of abuse of an elder or dependent
adult fall under the protective umbrella of the Safe at Home
program. According to the author, the bill seeks to close this
gap in the law by explicitly extending the protections of the
"Safe at Home" program to victims of abuse of an elder or
dependent adult. The bill was supported by elder protection
groups, many law enforcement agencies, and consumer groups.
There is no known opposition.
SUMMARY : Extends to the victims of abuse of an elder or
dependent adult the address confidentiality protections
contained in the Safe at Home program. Specifically, this bill :
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1)Includes victims of elder or dependent adult abuse within the
address confidentiality protections contained in the Safe at
Home program.
2)Defines "abuse of an elder or dependent adult" as an act
defined in Section 15610.07 of the Welfare and Institutions
Code.
3)Provides that the Secretary of State shall designate state and
local agencies and nonprofit agencies that provide counseling
and shelter services to victims of abuse of elder or dependent
adult to assist persons applying to be program participants.
EXISTING LAW :
1)Establishes the Safe at Home address confidentiality program
within the SOS's office in order to enable state and local
agencies to both accept and respond to requests for public
records without disclosing the changed name or address of a
victim of domestic violence, sexual assault, or stalking.
Permits any such adult victim, or parent or guardian acting on
behalf of a minor or incapacitated person, to apply through a
community-based victims' assistance program to have an address
designated by the SOS as his or her substitute mailing
address. (Government Code Section 6205 et seq. All further
statutory references are to this Code, unless otherwise
indicated.)
2)Similarly, allows reproductive health care providers,
employees, volunteers, and patients to apply to the address
confidentiality program through a community-based victims'
assistance program, as specified. (Section 6125 et seq.)
3)Requires that the SOS certify a successful applicant as a
program participant for four years following the date of
filing, unless the certification is withdrawn or invalidated
before that date, except reproductive health care services
facilities volunteers shall be certified until six months from
the last date of volunteering with the facility. Provides
that the SOS shall establish a renewal procedure. (Sections
6206(c), 6215.2(e).)
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4)Provides that any person who knowingly provides a false or
incorrect statement in an application is guilty of a
misdemeanor. (Section 6206(e).)
5)Provides that any records or documents pertaining to a program
participant shall be retained and held confidential for a
period of three years after termination of certification of
participation in the program, and then destroyed, as
specified. (Section 6206.5.)
6)Defines 'abuse of an elder or dependent adult' as either of
the following:
a) Physical abuse, neglect, financial abuse, abandonment,
isolation, abduction, or other treatment with resulting
physical harm or pain or mental suffering.
b) The deprivation by a care custodian of goods or services
that are necessary to avoid physical harm or mental
suffering. (Welfare and Institutions Code Section
15610.07.)
COMMENTS : This non-controversy over and broadly-supported bill
seeks to protect the confidentiality of addresses of those
persons who are victims of abuse of an elder or dependent adult
by bringing such individuals within the protective umbrella of
the Safe at Home program.
Background on the "Safe at Home" Program . Pursuant to SB 489
(Alpert) Chap. 1005 (Stats. 1998), the confidential address
program, commonly referred to as the "Safe at Home" program, was
created to protect victims of domestic violence from the
disclosure of address information. The "Safe at Home" program
allows victims of domestic violence or stalking, who satisfy
certain criteria, to request an alternate address. The SOS
provides a substitute, publically accessible address for these
victims while protecting their actual residences or locations.
The SOS also acts as the program participants' agent for service
of process and forwards mail received to the victim's actual
address. The SOS is prohibited from disclosing any address for
the participant, other than the designated program address,
unless requested to do so by a law enforcement agency, by a
court order, or if certification for participation in the
program is cancelled. A program participant, once certified,
may remain in the program for up to four years, after which
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re-certification is required.
The Legislative findings codified as part of SB 489 provides as
follows:
The Legislature finds that persons attempting to
escape from actual or threatened domestic violence
frequently establish new addresses in order to
prevent their assailants or probable assailants from
finding them. The purpose of this chapter is to
enable state and local agencies to respond to
requests for public records without disclosing the
location of a victim of domestic violence, to enable
interagency cooperation with the Secretary of State
in providing address confidentiality for victims of
domestic abuse, and to enable state and local
agencies to accept a program participant's use of an
address designated by the Secretary of State as a
substitute mailing address. (Section 6205.)
The Safe at Home program has been expanded several times since
its enactment. The program was first expanded in 2000 to
include victims of stalking. (SB 1318 (Alpert) Chap. 562,
Stats. 2000.) In 2002, the program was expanded to include
reproductive health care services providers, employers,
volunteers and patients with the purpose of preventing potential
acts of violence from being committed against those who assist
in the field of reproductive health care services and the
patients seeking those services. (AB 797 (Shelley) Chap. 380,
Stats. 2002.) The program was again expanded in 2006 to include
victims of sexual abuse. (SB 1062 (Bowen) Chap. 639, Stats.
2006.) Initially, the Safe at Home program was set to expire on
its sunset date in 2005. However, the program has been extended
on several occasions until in 2010 the Legislature extended the
program indefinitely by removing its sunset date. (SB 1233
(Oropeza) Chap. 326, Stats. 2010.)
The SOS is required to report to the Legislature each year on
the operation of the Safe at Home program. According to its
most recent annual report, the program has served 6,260
participants since 1999. The number of participants on January
1, 2011 was 2,735. According to the SOS, the program is
designed to help victims and survivors of domestic violence,
stalking or sexual assault to start new lives in peace and to
provide added protections to their overall safety plans.
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Who Qualifies for the Safe at Home Program? To be eligible to
become a Safe at Home program participant, an individual,
domiciled in California, must file an application containing a
sworn statement that he or she has good reason to believe that
he or she, or a minor child on whose behalf the applicant is
made is a victim of stalking and that the applicant fears for
his or her safety or his or her children's safety. The
applicant must also include either a police report indicating
the applicant is a victim of stalking, evidence from a legal,
clerical, medical, or other professional from whom the applicant
has sought assistance in dealing with the alleged stalking, or
any other evidence that supports the sworn statement. Finding
these requirements to be too restrictive to achieve the broader
goals of the Safe at Home program, this bill seeks to extend the
program to victims of abuse of an elder or dependent adult.
Extending the Safe at Home Program to Victims of Abuse of an
Elder or Dependent Adult. This bill will allow victims of abuse
of an elder or dependent adult to participate in the program,
assuming that they meet the same documentation requirements that
existing law demands of domestic violence, stalking and sexual
assault victims. According to the author, "there are cases in
which an abused elder has moved to a new address to escape a
persistent abuser and wants to keep the abuser from finding him
or her. In other cases, a conservator may need to move an elder
or dependent adult to new housing or an assisted living facility
following a history of physical, emotional, and/or financial
abuse by a caregiver or other person, and want to ensure the
confidentiality of the new address. In such cases, eligibility
to participate in the "Safe at Home" program would give the
abused elders and dependent adults the added protection of the
address confidentiality program to help keep them safe from
their abusers."
Guaranteed Notice for Protected Victims of Abuse of an Elder or
Dependent Adults. This bill is consistent with existing law
relating to the issuance of civil protective orders that protect
victims of abuse of an elder or dependent adult, which presumes
that victims of abuse of an elder or dependent adult fall under
the protective umbrella of the Safe at Home program. After the
court issues a civil protective order for a victim of abuse of
an elder or dependent adult, existing law allows the court, on
motion from a party, to terminate, shorten or otherwise modify
that protective order, provided that the protected person is
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notified of the hearing prior by either personal service or by
service on the Secretary of State, if the protected party has
satisfied the requirements of the Safe at Home program.
(Welfare and Institutions Code Section 15657.03(i)(3).)
However, under current law victims of abuse of an elder or
dependent adult do not fall under the protective umbrella of the
Safe at Home program. According to the author, this bill seeks
to close this gap in the law by explicitly extending the
protections of the Safe at Home program to victims of abuse of
an elder or dependent adult.
Prior Related Legislation : SB 1082 (Corbett) Chap. 270 (Stats.
2012), requires prospective participants of the "Safe at Home"
program to be domiciled in California in order to apply to the
program, authorizes a minor program participant, who reaches 18
years of age during his or her enrollment, to renew as an adult,
and modifies the Secretary of State authority to terminate a
program participant's certification, as specified.
SB 636 (Corbett) Chap. 200 (Stats. 2011), enhances the
protections for participants in the Safe at Home program,
including prohibiting publicly posting or displaying on the
Internet, or soliciting, selling, or trading on the Internet,
specified personal information of the program participant.
SB 1233 (Oropeza) Chap. 326 (Stats. 2010), removed the sunset
date for the Safe at Home program and required that the name
change records for the program participants be permanently
retained.
AB 2304 (Plescia) Chap. 586 (Stats. 2008), requires courts to
keep confidential the current legal name of the petitioner and
prohibited the court from publishing that name by any means or
in any public forum when the petition for name change is by a
participant in the address confidentiality program.
SB 1062 (Bowen) Chap. 639 (Stats. 2006), extended the
protections of the Safe at Home program to victims of sexual
assault.
AB 797 (Shelley) Chap. 380 (Stats. 2002), extended the
protections of the Safe at Home program to reproductive health
care service providers and their employees, volunteers, and
patients.
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AB 205 (Leach) Chap. 33 (Stats. 2000), extended the protections
provided for victims of domestic violence, including provisions
that provided courts to maintain the confidentiality of requests
for name changes and required the Secretary of State to archive
participants name changes.
SB 1318 (Alpert) Chap. 562 (Stats. 2000), extended the
protections of the Safe at Home program to victims of stalking,
and revised procedures relating to terminating the certification
of participants.
SB 489 (Alpert) Chap. 1005 (Stats. 1998), established the Safe
at Home program for victims of domestic violence and allowed for
voter record and marriage application confidentiality as well as
address confidentiality.
REGISTERED SUPPORT/OPPOSITION:
Support
California Police Chiefs Association
California State Sheriffs' Association
Chief Probation Officers of California
California District Attorneys Association
Legal Assistance to the Elderly, Inc.
WISE Healthy Aging
Consumer Federation of California
National Association of Social Workers -- California Chapter
Opposition
None on file
Analysis Prepared by : Drew Liebert and Rebecca Kramer / JUD. /
(916) 319-2334