Amended in Senate August 18, 2016

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 BillNo. 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 billbegin delete wouldend deletebegin insert would, with certain exceptions,end insert 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 numbers 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 numbers 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:

P2    1

SECTION 1.  

Section 6253.2 of the Government Code, as
2amended by Section 1 of Chapter 37 of the Statutes of 2013, is
3amended to read:

4

6253.2.  

(a) Notwithstanding any other provision of this chapter
5to the contrary, information regarding persons paid by the state to
6provide in-home supportive services pursuant to Article 7
7(commencing with Section 12300) of Chapter 3 of Part 3 of
P3    1Division 9 of the Welfare and Institutions Code, or services
2provided pursuant to Section 14132.95, 14132.952, or 14132.956
3of the Welfare and Institutions Code, is not subject to public
4disclosure pursuant to this chapter, except as provided in
5subdivision (b).

6(b) Copies of names, addresses, home telephone numbers, and
7personal cellular telephone numbers of persons described in
8subdivision (a) shall be made available, upon request, to an
9exclusive bargaining agent and to any labor organization seeking
10representation rights pursuant to Section 12301.6 or 12302.25 of
11the Welfare and Institutions Code or the In-Home Supportive
12Services Employer-Employee Relations Act (Title 23 (commencing
13with Section 110000)). This information shall not be used by the
14receiving entity for any purpose other than the employee
15organizing, representation, and assistance activities of the labor
16organization.

17(c) This section applies solely to individuals who provide
18services under the In-Home Supportive Services Program (Article
197 (commencing with Section 12300) of Chapter 3 of Part 3 of
20Division 9 of the Welfare and Institutions Code), the Personal Care
21Services Program pursuant to Section 14132.95 of the Welfare
22and Institutions Code, the In-Home Supportive Services Plus
23Option pursuant to Section 14132.952 of the Welfare and
24Institutions Code, or the Community First Choice Option pursuant
25to Section 14132.956 of the Welfare and Institutions Code.

26(d) Nothing in this section is intended to alter or shall be
27interpreted to alter the rights of parties under the In-Home
28Supportive Services Employer-Employee Relations Act (Title 23
29(commencing with Section 110000)) or any other labor relations
30law.

31(e) This section shall be inoperative if the Coordinated Care
32Initiative becomes inoperative pursuant to Section 34 of the act
33that added this subdivision.

34

SEC. 2.  

Section 6253.2 of the Government Code, as amended
35by Section 2 of Chapter 37 of the Statutes of 2013, is amended to
36read:

37

6253.2.  

(a) Notwithstanding any other provision of this chapter
38to the contrary, information regarding persons paid by the state to
39provide in-home supportive services pursuant to Article 7
40(commencing with Section 12300) of Chapter 3 of Part 3 of
P4    1Division 9 of the Welfare and Institutions Code or personal care
2services pursuant to Section 14132.95 of the Welfare and
3Institutions Code, is not subject to public disclosure pursuant to
4this chapter, except as provided in subdivision (b).

5(b) Copies of names, addresses, home telephone numbers, and
6personal cellular telephone numbers of persons described in
7subdivision (a) shall be made available, upon request, to an
8exclusive bargaining agent and to any labor organization seeking
9representation rights pursuant to subdivision (c) of Section 12301.6
10or Section 12302.25 of the Welfare and Institutions Code or
11Chapter 10 (commencing with Section 3500) of Division 4 of Title
121. This information shall not be used by the receiving entity for
13any purpose other than the employee organizing, representation,
14and assistance activities of the labor organization.

15(c) This section applies solely to individuals who provide
16services under the In-Home Supportive Services Program (Article
177 (commencing with Section 12300) of Chapter 3 of Part 3 of
18Division 9 of the Welfare and Institutions Code) or the Personal
19Care Services Program pursuant to Section 14132.95 of the Welfare
20and Institutions Code.

21(d) Nothing in this section is intended to alter or shall be
22interpreted to alter the rights of parties under the
23Meyers-Milias-Brown Act (Chapter 10 (commencing with Section
243500) of Division 4) or any other labor relations law.

25(e) This section shall be operative only if Section 1 of the act
26that added this subdivision becomes inoperative pursuant to
27subdivision (e) of thatbegin delete Section 1.end deletebegin insert section.end insert

28

SEC. 3.  

Section 6254.3 of the Government Code is amended
29to read:

30

6254.3.  

(a) The home addresses, home telephone numbers,
31personal cellular telephone numbers, and birth dates of all
32employees of a public agency shall not be deemed to be public
33records and shall not be open to public inspection, except that
34disclosure of that information may be made as follows:

35(1) To an agent, or a family member of the individual to whom
36the information pertains.

37(2) To an officer or employee of another public agency when
38necessary for the performance of its official duties.

39(3) To an employee organization pursuant to regulations and
40decisions of the Public Employment Relations Board, except that
P5    1the homebegin delete addresses, home telephone numbers, personal cellular
2telephone numbers, and birth datesend delete
begin insert addresses and any phone
3numbers on file with the employerend insert
of employees performing law
4enforcement-relatedbegin delete functionsend deletebegin insert functions, and the birth date of any
5employee,end insert
shall not be disclosed.

6(4) To an agent or employee of a health benefit plan providing
7health services or administering claims for health services to public
8agencies and their enrolled dependents, for the purpose of providing
9the health services or administering claims for employees and their
10enrolled dependents.

11(b) Upon written request of any employee, a public agency shall
12not disclose the employee’s home address, home telephone number,
13personal cellular telephone number, or birth date pursuant to
14paragraph (3) of subdivision (a) and an agency shall remove the
15employee’s home address, home telephone number, and personal
16cellular telephone number from any mailing list maintained by the
17agency, except if the list is used exclusively by the agency to
18contact the employee.

19

SEC. 4.  

The Legislature finds and declares that Sections 1, 2,
20and 3 of this act, which amend Sections 6253.2 and 6254.3 of the
21Government Code, impose a limitation on the public’s right of
22access to the meetings of public bodies or the writings of public
23officials and agencies within the meaning of Section 3 of Article
24I of the California Constitution. Pursuant to that constitutional
25provision, the Legislature makes the following findings to
26demonstrate the interest protected by this limitation and the need
27for protecting that interest:

28In order to protect the privacy and well-being of state and local
29employees, it is necessary to limit access to their personal and
30emergency contact information.

31

SEC. 5.  

The Legislature finds and declares that Sections 1, 2,
32and 3 of this act, which amend Sections 6253.2 and 6254.3 of the
33Government Code, further, within the meaning of paragraph (7)
34of subdivision (b) of Section 3 of Article I of the California
35Constitution, the purposes of that constitutional section as it relates
36to the right of public access to the meetings of local public bodies
37or the writings of local public officials and local agencies. Pursuant
38to paragraph (7) of subdivision (b) of Section 3 of Article I of the
39California Constitution, the Legislature makes the following
40findings:

P6    1In protecting the privacy and well-being of state and local
2employees, by appropriately limiting general access to their
3personal and emergency contact information, this bill furthers the
4purpose of paragraph (7) of subdivision (b) of Section 3 of Article
5I of the California Constitution.

6

SEC. 6.  

No reimbursement is required by this act pursuant to
7Section 6 of Article XIII B of the California Constitution because
8the only costs that may be incurred by a local agency or school
9district under this act would result from a legislative mandate that
10is within the scope of paragraph (7) of subdivision (b) of Section
113 of Article I of the California Constitution.



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