BILL ANALYSIS Ó AB 849 Page 1 ASSEMBLY THIRD READING AB 849 (Garcia) As Amended May 24, 2013 Majority vote JUDICIARY 10-0 APPROPRIATIONS 17-0 ----------------------------------------------------------------- |Ayes:|Wieckowski, Wagner, |Ayes:|Gatto, Harkey, Bigelow, | | |Alejo, Chau, Dickinson, | |Bocanegra, Bradford, Ian | | |Garcia, Gorell, | |Calderon, Campos, | | |Maienschein, Muratsuchi, | |Donnelly, Eggman, Gomez, | | |Stone | |Hall, Ammiano, Linder, | | | | |Pan, Quirk, Wagner, Weber | | | | | | ----------------------------------------------------------------- SUMMARY : Facilitates the participation of victims of elder or dependent adult abuse in confidentiality protections contained in the Safe at Home program. Specifically, this bill : 1)Requires the Secretary of State (SOS) to 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 those persons in applying to participate in the SOS Safe at Home address confidentiality program. Requires the SOS to conduct outreach activities to identify and recruit such agencies. 2)Specifies that an application to participate in the Safe at Home program may be completed in person at a community-based assistance program that serves victims of elder or dependent adult abuse. FISCAL EFFECT : According to the Assembly Appropriations Committee, the SOS will incur General Fund (GF) costs of around $75,000 in the first year and $65,000 annually thereafter for one position to address increased program caseload. COMMENTS : This bill seeks to protect the confidentiality of addresses of those persons who are victims of abuse of an elder or dependent adult by facilitating their participation in the Safe at Home program, a program administered by the SOS. Pursuant to SB 489 (Alpert), Chapter 1005, Statutes of 1998, the AB 849 Page 2 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 re-certification is required. 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), Chapter 562, Statutes of 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), Chapter 380, Statutes of 2002.) The program was again expanded in 2006 to include victims of sexual abuse. (SB 1062 (Bowen), Chapter 639, Statutes of 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), Chapter 326, Statutes of 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. AB 849 Page 3 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. As introduced, this bill would have amended the Safe at Home statute to expressly place victims of elder and dependent adult abuse under that statute's protection. However, according to the SOS, the anti-stalking provisions of existing law are already broad enough to include an elder or dependent adult who are harassed by abusers to such an extent that he or she must move to a new address. Therefore, the bill as amended seeks to clarify existing law and to facilitate participation by authorizing agencies that serve elders and dependent adults to assist them in enrolling in the Safe at Home program, if necessary, and requiring the SOS to identify and recruit such agencies. 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, [participating] 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." Analysis Prepared by : Drew Liebert / JUD. / (916) 319-2334 FN: 0000910 AB 849 Page 4