Amended in Senate June 28, 2016

Amended in Senate June 13, 2016

Amended in Assembly March 18, 2016

California Legislature—2015–16 Regular Session

Assembly Bill No. 2843

Introduced by Assembly Member Chau

February 19, 2016

An act to amend Sections 6253.2 and 6254.3 of the Government Code, relating to public records.

LEGISLATIVE COUNSEL’S DIGEST

AB 2843, as amended, Chau. Public records: employee contact information.

Existing law, California Public Records Act, requires that public records are open to inspection, subject to various exceptions. The act excepts from public inspection the home addresses and home telephone numbers of state employees and employees of a school district or county office of education, provided that disclosure can be made in specified instances, including to an employee organization.

This bill would extend the limitation on the disclosure of the personal information described above to all employees of a public agency and would extend the limitation to include personal cellular telephone begin delete numbers, personal electronic mail addresses, end delete begin insert numbers end insert and birth dates. By increasing the duties of local officials, this bill would impose a state-mandated local program.

Existing law additionally excepts from public inspection specified information regarding persons paid by the state to provide in-home supportive services. Existing law requires copies of names, addresses, and telephone numbers of those persons to be made available, upon request, to an exclusive bargaining agent and to any labor organization seeking representation rights, as specified.

This bill would additionally require personal cellular telephone begin delete numbers, personal electronic mail addresses, and birth dates end delete begin insert numbers end insert of those persons to be made available to an exclusive bargaining agent and to any labor organization seeking representation rights.

Existing constitutional provisions require that a statute that limits the right of access to the meetings of public bodies or the writings of public officials and agencies be adopted with findings demonstrating the interest protected by the limitation and the need for protecting that interest.

This bill would make legislative findings to that effect.

The California Constitution requires local agencies, for the purpose of ensuring public access to the meetings of public bodies and the writings of public officials and agencies, to comply with a statutory enactment that amends or enacts laws relating to public records or open meetings and contains findings demonstrating that the enactment furthers the constitutional requirements relating to this purpose.

This bill would make legislative findings to that effect.

The California Constitution requires the state to reimburse local agencies and school districts for certain costs mandated by the state. Statutory provisions establish procedures for making that reimbursement.

This bill would provide that no reimbursement is required by this act for a specified reason.

Vote: majority. Appropriation: no. Fiscal committee: yes. State-mandated local program: yes.

The people of the State of California do enact as follows:

SECTION 1.  

Section 6253.2 of the Government Code, as
amended by Section 1 of Chapter 37 of the Statutes of 2013, is
amended to read:

6253.2.  

(a) Notwithstanding any other provision of this chapter
to the contrary, information regarding persons paid by the state to
provide in-home supportive services pursuant to Article 7
(commencing with Section 12300) of Chapter 3 of Part 3 of
Division 9 of the Welfare and Institutions Code, or services
provided pursuant to Section 14132.95, 14132.952, or 14132.956
of the Welfare and Institutions Code, is not subject to public
disclosure pursuant to this chapter, except as provided in
subdivision (b).

(b) Copies of names, addresses, home telephone numbers, begin insert and end insert
personal cellular telephone begin delete numbers, personal electronic mail
addresses, and birth dates end delete begin insert numbers end insert of persons described in
subdivision (a) shall be made available, upon request, to an
exclusive bargaining agent and to any labor organization seeking
representation rights pursuant to Section 12301.6 or 12302.25 of
the Welfare and Institutions Code or the In-Home Supportive
Services Employer-Employee Relations Act (Title 23 (commencing
with Section 110000)). This information shall not be used by the
receiving entity for any purpose other than the employee
organizing, representation, and assistance activities of the labor
organization.

(c) This section applies solely to individuals who provide
services under the In-Home Supportive Services Program (Article
7 (commencing with Section 12300) of Chapter 3 of Part 3 of
Division 9 of the Welfare and Institutions Code), the Personal Care
Services Program pursuant to Section 14132.95 of the Welfare
and Institutions Code, the In-Home Supportive Services Plus
Option pursuant to Section 14132.952 of the Welfare and
Institutions Code, or the Community First Choice Option pursuant
to Section 14132.956 of the Welfare and Institutions Code.

(d) Nothing in this section is intended to alter or shall be
interpreted to alter the rights of parties under the In-Home
Supportive Services Employer-Employee Relations Act (Title 23
(commencing with Section 110000)) or any other labor relations
law.

(e) This section shall be inoperative if the Coordinated Care
Initiative becomes inoperative pursuant to Section 34 of the act
that added this subdivision.

SEC. 2.  

Section 6253.2 of the Government Code, as amended
by Section 2 of Chapter 37 of the Statutes of 2013, is amended to
read:

6253.2.  

(a) Notwithstanding any other provision of this chapter
to the contrary, information regarding persons paid by the state to
provide in-home supportive services pursuant to Article 7
(commencing with Section 12300) of Chapter 3 of Part 3 of
Division 9 of the Welfare and Institutions Code or personal care
services pursuant to Section 14132.95 of the Welfare and
Institutions Code, is not subject to public disclosure pursuant to
this chapter, except as provided in subdivision (b).

(b) Copies of names, addresses, home telephone numbers, begin insert and end insert
personal cellular telephone begin delete numbers, personal electronic mail
addresses, and birth dates end delete begin insert numbers end insert of persons described in
subdivision (a) shall be made available, upon request, to an
exclusive bargaining agent and to any labor organization seeking
representation rights pursuant to subdivision (c) of Section 12301.6
or Section 12302.25 of the Welfare and Institutions Code or
Chapter 10 (commencing with Section 3500) of Division 4 of Title
1. This information shall not be used by the receiving entity for
any purpose other than the employee organizing, representation,
and assistance activities of the labor organization.

(c) This section applies solely to individuals who provide
services under the In-Home Supportive Services Program (Article
7 (commencing with Section 12300) of Chapter 3 of Part 3 of
Division 9 of the Welfare and Institutions Code) or the Personal
Care Services Program pursuant to Section 14132.95 of the Welfare
and Institutions Code.

(d) Nothing in this section is intended to alter or shall be
interpreted to alter the rights of parties under the
Meyers-Milias-Brown Act (Chapter 10 (commencing with Section
3500) of Division 4) or any other labor relations law.

(e) This section shall be operative only if Section 1 of the act
that added this subdivision becomes inoperative pursuant to
subdivision (e) of that Section 1.

SEC. 3.  

Section 6254.3 of the Government Code is amended
to read:

6254.3.  

(a) The home addresses, home telephone numbers,
personal cellular telephone numbers, begin delete personal electronic mail
addresses, end delete and birth dates of all employees of a public agency shall
not be deemed to be public records and shall not be open to public
inspection, except that disclosure of that information may be made
as follows:

(1) To an agent, or a family member of the individual to whom
the information pertains.

(2) To an officer or employee of another public agency when
necessary for the performance of its official duties.

(3) To an employee organization pursuant to regulations and
decisions of the Public Employment Relations Board, except that
the home addresses, home telephone numbers, personal cellular
telephone numbers, begin delete personal electronic mail addresses, end delete and birth
dates of employees performing law enforcement-related functions
shall not be disclosed.

(4) To an agent or employee of a health benefit plan providing
health services or administering claims for health services to public
agencies and their enrolled dependents, for the purpose of providing
the health services or administering claims for employees and their
enrolled dependents.

(b) Upon written request of any employee, a public agency shall
not disclose the employee’s home address, home telephone number,
personal cellular telephone number, begin delete personal electronic mail
address, end delete or birth date pursuant to paragraph (3) of subdivision (a)
and an agency shall remove the employee’s home address, home
telephone number, begin insert and personal end insert cellular telephone begin delete number, and
personal electronic mail address end delete begin insert number end insert from any mailing list
maintained by the agency, except if the list is used exclusively by
the agency to contact the employee.

SEC. 4.  

The Legislature finds and declares that Sections 1, 2,
and 3 of this act, which amend Sections 6253.2 and 6254.3 of the
Government Code, impose a limitation on the public’s right of
access to the meetings of public bodies or the writings of public
officials and agencies within the meaning of Section 3 of Article
I of the California Constitution. Pursuant to that constitutional
provision, the Legislature makes the following findings to
demonstrate the interest protected by this limitation and the need
for protecting that interest:

In order to protect the privacy and well-being of state and local
employees, it is necessary to limit access to their personal and
emergency contact information.

SEC. 5.  

The Legislature finds and declares that Sections 1, 2,
and 3 of this act, which amend Sections 6253.2 and 6254.3 of the
Government Code, further, within the meaning of paragraph (7)
of subdivision (b) of Section 3 of Article I of the California
Constitution, the purposes of that constitutional section as it relates
to the right of public access to the meetings of local public bodies
or the writings of local public officials and local agencies. Pursuant
to paragraph (7) of subdivision (b) of Section 3 of Article I of the
California Constitution, the Legislature makes the following
findings:

In protecting the privacy and well-being of state and local
employees, by appropriately limiting general access to their
personal and emergency contact information, this bill furthers the
purpose of paragraph (7) of subdivision (b) of Section 3 of Article
I of the California Constitution.

SEC. 6.  

No reimbursement is required by this act pursuant to
Section 6 of Article XIII B of the California Constitution because
the only costs that may be incurred by a local agency or school
district under this act would result from a legislative mandate that
is within the scope of paragraph (7) of subdivision (b) of Section
3 of Article I of the California Constitution.