BILL ANALYSIS
AB 32
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CONCURRENCE IN SENATE AMENDMENTS
AB 32 (Lieu)
As Amended June 17, 2009
Majority vote
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|ASSEMBLY: |77-0 |(May 21, 2009) |SENATE: |36-0 |(July 16, |
| | | | | |2009) |
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Original Committee Reference: PUB. S.
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.
The Senate amendments :
1)Specify a 48-hour window to remove the information from the
Internet.
2)Exempt telephone corporations if necessary in an emergency, to
collect a debt owed, or as otherwise authorized by law.
3)Require agents of the elected or appointed official to include
a statement describing the threat or fear of the official.
4)Limit the award of damages for violating an injunction or
declaratory relief to $1,000.
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.
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
official, and allows for damages if this disclosure was made
with intent to cause bodily harm.
3)States that no person shall knowingly post the home address or
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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.
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.
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.
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.
AS PASSED BY THE ASSEMBLY , this bill:
1)Required 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)Permitted 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)Required that a jury or court to award damages in the amount
of three times the actual damages and not less than $4,000 to
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an official whose home address or telephone number is
solicited, sold, or traded in violation this section.
FISCAL EFFECT : According to the Senate Appropriations
Committee, pursuant to Senate Rule 28.8, negligible state costs.
COMMENTS : 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 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."
Please see the policy committee for a full discussion of this
bill.
Analysis Prepared by : Gabriel Caswell / PUB. S. / (916)
319-3744
FN: 0001779