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