BILL ANALYSIS
AB 32
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Date of Hearing: April 28, 2009
Counsel: Gabriel Caswell
ASSEMBLY COMMITTEE ON PUBLIC SAFETY
Jose Solorio, Chair
AB 32 (Lieu) - As Amended: April 2, 2009
SUMMARY : Requires the removal of personal information of
specified officials from the Internet, and permits employers or
professional organizations to assert the rights of the official
in removing the personal information from the Internet.
Specifically, this bill :
1)Requires a person, business, or association, upon receiving
the written demand of an elected or appointed official, to
immediately remove the official's home address or telephone
number from public display on the Internet and to continue to
ensure that information is not reposted on the Internet or any
subsidiary site.
2)Permits an elected or appointed official to designate the
official's employer or any voluntary professional association
of similar officials to act, on behalf of that official, as
that official's agent with regard to making a written demand
or seeking enforcement of these posting requirements.
3)Requires that a jury or court to award damages in the amount
of three times the actual damages and not less than $4,000 to
an official whose home address or telephone number is
solicited, sold, or traded in violation this section.
EXISTING LAW :
1)Provides that no state or local agency shall post the home
address or telephone number of any elected or appointed
official on the Internet without first obtaining the written
permission of that individual. [Government Code Section
6254.21(a).]
2)Allows for specified elected or appointed officials to obtain
an injunction against any person or entity that publicly posts
on the Internet the home address or telephone number of that
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official, and allows for damages if this disclosure was made
with intent to cause bodily harm. [Government Code Section
6254.21(c).]
3)States that no person shall knowingly post the home address or
telephone number of any elected or appointed official, or of
the official's residing spouse or child, on the Internet
knowing that person is an elected or appointed official and
intending to cause imminent great bodily harm that is likely
to occur or threatening to cause imminent great bodily harm to
that individual. A violation of this subdivision is a
misdemeanor. A violation of this subdivision that leads to
the bodily injury of the official, or his or her residing
spouse or child, is an alternate felony/misdemeanor.
[Government Code Section 6254.21(b).]
4)Provides that any person who, with apparent ability and
intention to carry out the threat, threatens to kill or cause
serious bodily injury to any elected official, county public
defender, county clerk, exempt Governor's appointee, judge,
deputy commissioner of the Board of Prison Terms, or the staff
or a family member of such officials, is guilty of an
alternate felony/misdemeanor. [Penal Code Section 76(a).]
5)Requires public records to be open to inspection at all times
during the office hours of a state or local agency and affords
every person the right to inspect any public record, except as
specifically provided. (Government Code Section 6253.)
6)Defines "public record" to include any writing containing
information relating to the conduct of the public's business
prepared, owned, used, or retained by any state or local
agency regardless of physical form or characteristics.
[Government Code Section 6252(e).]
FISCAL EFFECT : Unknown
COMMENTS :
1)Author's Statement : According to the author, "In the past
year, two Los Angeles County Sheriff Deputies and one Los
Angeles Police Department officer were killed at their homes.
These tragic deaths serve as a reminder of how vulnerable our
public safety officials are, even while off-duty at their
homes. Current law allows public safety officials to opt-out
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of having their personal information on the Internet; however,
often the opted-out information is reposted online prior to
its intended expiration. AB 32 is designed to enhance the
Internet privacy rights under current law and to make the
opt-out process easier for public safety officials. This bill
will help ensure the safety and wellbeing of public safety
officials and their families."
2)Background : According to the background provided by the
author, "California Government Code Section 6254.21 provides
for privacy of home addresses and telephone numbers on the
Internet for public safety officials. Specifically, this
section provides that no public agency shall post the private
information of a public safety official on the Internet
without the written consent of that individual. The section
also prescribes that a public safety official may opt-out of
having their private information posted on any
non-governmental Internet Web site for a period of four years.
"However, often the opted-out information is reposted online
prior to its intended expiration. Data vendors will purchase
public information from a variety of sources including the
county recorder's office and school alumni lists. The concern
is that when data vendors purchase the public information from
a different source, the public safety official's home address
and telephone number is posted once again on the Internet.
While existing statute allows for injunctive or declaratory
relief to prevent re-posting, it occurs so frequently that the
court system would be overly burdened with the amount of
cases.
"AB 32 seeks to resolve frequent reposting of information by
establishing a duty on the data vendor to maintain a
suppression list, cross-reference new information against the
list and prohibit any transfers of that information to another
Web site.
"Another problem with current law is that data vendors have
refused to allow agents of public safety officials to opt-out
under the provisions of Government Code 6254.21. These data
vendors claim that the statute is silent in regards to agents
and their powers, and ultimately means they will not accept
their opt-out lists. AB 32 rectifies this ambiguity by
explicitly authorizing agents.
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"AB 32 builds upon the current opt-out for public safety
officials who do not want their home address or telephone
number posted on the Internet. Specifically, this bill
prescribes:
"Data vendors must immediately remove the official's information
after receiving the written demand;
"Data vendors ensure that the information is not re-posted on
their website or any subsidiary Web site;
"Prohibits a data vendor from transferring the information to
another website or data vendor; and,
"Allows the public safety official to designate their employer
or a voluntary organization of similar officials as an agent
to act on behalf of the official under the opt-out
provisions."
3)Departure from Previous Legislation : Previous legislation has
sought to create both criminal and civil penalties for the
publication of officials' personal information. Unlike
previous legislation in this area, this bill creates a civil
penalty only when the Internet publisher has been placed on
notice by either the official or a designated agent acting on
behalf of the official. In previous legislation, much of the
controversy surrounded the possibility that Internet
publishers might unwittingly violate the provisions of the
legislation, thereby committing a crime or incur civil
penalties without knowing they were. This bill subverts that
issue by first requiring that the internet publisher be placed
on notice by the public official.
4)Agency : This bill permits professional organizations and
employers to enforce the rights of the specified officials.
By providing professional organizations and employers with
this ability, officials will arguably not have to take time
away from the performance of their duties. Additionally,
professional organizations and employers will have the
resources to track the publication of this information and
resources to demand the removal of personal information.
5)Vagueness : This bill utilizes the term "immediately" when
setting the timeframe for removal of the personal information
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from the Internet. The term "immediately" is arguable vague
and overbroad. Placing a specified, reasonable timeframe
would eliminate arguments that the term "immediately" is
unreasonable, overbroad, or vague. Further definition in this
area would strengthen this bill.
6)Argument in Support : According to the Hon. James R. Brandlin
(the sponsor of this bill), "Assemblymember Ted Lieu has
authored AB 32 to clarify, enhance and streamline the Internet
privacy rights created through AB 1595 (Evans), codified at
Government Code section 6254.21. AB 32 will make the opt out
process far more efficient for public safety officials by: 1)
permitting willing employers or professional associations to
act as the agent for the public safety official in making the
opt out demand, 2) requiring the Internet data vendor to
immediately remove the official's home address or telephone
number from the Internet; 3) requiring the Internet date
vendor to ensure that the removed confidential information is
not reposted on the Internet or transferred to any subsidiary
site for the four year period previously established; 4)
expanding the remedies available for the violation of the
provisions of the statute."
7)Prior Legislation :
a) AB 2238 (Dickerson), Statutes of 2002, Chapter 621,
creates a misdemeanor and felony for posting confidential
information of specified public safety officials with the
intent to cause imminent great bodily harm, as specified.
b) AB 2905 (Spitzer), Statutes of 2004, Chapter 248, added
judges, court commissioners, attorneys employed by the
State Department of Justice, the State Public Defender, or
a county office of a district attorney or public defender
to the types of employees for whom a governmental employer
shall pay the moving and relocation expenses when it is
necessary to move because of an employment-related credible
threat against his or her life, or the life of an immediate
family member and made clarifications regarding the
implementation of this provision as it applies to judges
and court commissioners.
c) AB 1595 (Evans), Statutes of 2005, Chapter 343, allowed
for specified elected or appointed officials to obtain an
injunction against any person or entity that publicly posts
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on the Internet the home address or telephone number of
that official, and allows for damages if this disclosure
was made with intent to cause bodily harm.
d) AB 1035 (Spitzer), of the 2005-2006 Legislative Session,
would have prohibited any state or local agency or person
from hosting or providing service to an Internet web site
that posts an elected or appointed official's home address
or telephone number. AB 1035 was held in Senate Judiciary
Committee.
REGISTERED SUPPORT / OPPOSITION :
Support
Hon. James Brandlin (Sponsor)
Association for Los Angeles Deputy Sheriffs
California Attorneys, Administrative Law Judges,
and Hearing Officers in State Employment
Los Angeles District Attorney's Office
Los Angeles Probation Officers Union
Riverside Sheriffs' Association
Opposition
None
Analysis Prepared by : Gabriel Caswell / PUB. S. / (916)
319-3744