BILL ANALYSIS �
SENATE JUDICIARY COMMITTEE
Senator Noreen Evans, Chair
2011-2012 Regular Session
AB 906 (Galgiani)
As Amended June 20, 2011
Hearing Date: June 28, 2011
Fiscal: Yes
Urgency: No
EDO
SUBJECT
Protection of Victims and Murder Witnesses: Address
Confidentiality
DESCRIPTION
This bill would add a witness who has testified in a murder
trial, upon a showing of specified facts, to the list of program
participants eligible to participate in the Safe at Home
Program, which provides address confidentiality for victims of
domestic violence, sexual assault, or stalking, and reproductive
health care workers.
BACKGROUND
The Safe at Home Program, which is administered by the Secretary
of State, provides victims of domestic violence, sexual assault,
stalking, or reproductive healthcare workers, with a substitute
mailing address in order to protect the confidentiality of the
participant's home, work or school address. The Secretary of
State is designated as the participant's agent for service of
process and receipt of mail, which is then forwarded to the
participant. The purpose of the Safe at Home Program is to
provide a publicly available address without disclosing the
participant's actual residence or alternate location.
In 1998, SB 489 (Alpert, Chapter 1005, Statutes of 1998)
established the "Address Confidentiality for Victims of Domestic
Violence" program, which is now referred to as the Safe at Home
Program. In 2000, SB 1318 (Alpert, Chapter 562, Statutes of
2000) and AB 205 (Leach, Chapter 33, Statutes of 2000) extended
the program to cover victims of stalking. In 2006, SB 1062
(more)
AB 906 (Galgiani)
Page 2 of ?
(Bowen, Chapter 639, Statutes of 2006) added victims of sexual
assault to the list of eligible program participants. AB 797
(Shelley, Chapter 380, Statutes of 2002) established a similar
address confidentiality program for reproductive health care
service providers, employers, volunteers, and patients.
Relatedly, the California Witness Relocation and Protection
Program (WRAP) was established in 1997 to provide protection to
witnesses and their families, friends, or associates who may be
endangered due to ongoing or anticipated testimony in gang,
organized crime, or narcotic trafficking cases. The program is
administered by the Department of Justice but does not provide
for lifelong placement. However, WRAP does provide funds for
witness relocation and protection only as long as the witness is
needed to testify. In 2009, SB 748 (Leno, Chapter 613, Statutes
of 2009) expanded the protections under WRAP by prohibiting WRAP
participants' addresses and phone numbers from being posted on
the Internet.
This bill would further expand the list of eligible Safe at Home
Program participants to include witnesses who have testified in
a murder trial. In addition to meeting the current program
requirements, murder witnesses would also be required to submit
a letter from the prosecuting attorney that the applicant was a
witness in a murder trial and that his or her testimony was
substantially related to the murder charge.
CHANGES TO EXISTING LAW
1.Existing law establishes an address confidentiality program to
which victims of domestic violence, sexual assault, or
stalking may apply by completing an application in person at a
community-based victims' assistance program. The application
is approved by the Secretary of State for the purpose of
enabling state and local agencies to respond to requests for
public records without disclosing a program participant's
residential address contained in any public record and
otherwise provide for confidentiality of identity for that
person. (Gov. Code Sec. 6205 et seq.)
Existing law provides that upon proper application and
certification, applicants will be certified in the program for
four years, unless certification is withdrawn or invalidated.
(Gov. Code Sec. 6205 (c).)
AB 906 (Galgiani)
Page 3 of ?
This bill would add murder witnesses to the list of eligible
participants in the Safe at Home Program.
This bill would define "murder witness" to mean a witness who
has testified in a murder trial.
This bill would require an applicant for the Safe at Home
Program who is a murder witness to include in his or her
application a letter from the prosecuting attorney stating
that the applicant was a witness in a murder trial and that
his or her testimony was substantially related to the murder
charge. This bill would give the prosecuting attorney
discretion to decide whether or not to provide the letter for
the murder witness.
This bill would require an applicant to the Safe at Home
Program who is a witness who testified in a murder trial to
pay an application fee, as determined by the Secretary of
State to cover enrollment costs. This bill would also
authorize the Secretary of State to charge murder witnesses an
annual fee to help defray the costs of maintaining the Safe at
Home Program for these additional participants.
2.Existing law provides that any person filing for a new voter
registration who is also participating in the Safe at Home
Program for victims of domestic violence, sexual assault, and
stalking program will be considered a vote by mail voter.
(Elec. Code Sec. 2166.5.)
This bill would include "murder witnesses" in the list of
participants in the Safe at Home Program for voter
registration.
COMMENT
1. Stated need for the bill
The author writes:
Survivors of terrible crimes such as domestic violence, sexual
assault and stalking, often continue to live in fear. Even
after moving away from an abusive partner or predator, the
simple acts of opening a bank account, getting a driver's
license, registering to vote or enrolling a child in school
may put the survivor and other family members at risk.
AB 906 (Galgiani)
Page 4 of ?
The "Safe at Home Program" has helped protect the personal
information of thousands of survivors. Witnesses who testify
in murder trials often face threats of retaliation and
intimidation, and have similar fears regarding the disclosure
of their physical addresses. Yet under existing law, these
persons are not allowed to participate in the "Safe at Home
Program." Last July, Loren Herzog, a notorious serial killer
from Stockton - my district - was released on parole as a
result of an Appellate Court overturning three first degree
murder convictions and a conviction as an accessory to a
fourth murder. He was originally convicted and sentenced to
78 years to life. Prosecutors believe Herzog and his partner
Wesley Shermantine killed up to 22 people in addition to the
original six murders they were initially charged with. At
their trials, more than 80 witnesses testified with the belief
that these two killers would never see the light of day.
However, with the parole of Herzog, witnesses are fearful that
this serial killer can acquire access to their home address
and exact revenge.
�This bill] remedies this situation by allowing witnesses who
testified in murder trials to participate in the "Safe at Home
Program." It makes sense that witnesses who testified in
murder trials should also be allowed to keep their actual
physical location confidential in the hopes of relieving their
fears of retribution for their testimony.
In support of this bill, the California State Sheriffs'
Association writes, "witnesses who testify in murder trials
often face threats of retaliation and intimidation, and have
similar fears regarding the disclosure of their physical
addresses. . . �this bill] remedies this issue by allowing
witnesses who testified in murder trials to participate in the
'Safe at Home Program.' This would allow witnesses who testified
during a murder trial to keep their actual physical location
confidential in the hopes of relieving their fears of
retribution for their testimony."
Also in support, Crime Victims United of California (CVUC),
writes, "CVUC supports your efforts to ensure victims and
witnesses who testify in murder trials are afforded the same
protections under the Safe at Home Program as victims of
domestic violence, stalking and more. These individuals are so
critical to the prosecution and conviction of such heinous
offenders; as such, they too should be able to feel safe and
live without fears of retribution for their testimony because
AB 906 (Galgiani)
Page 5 of ?
their location information is publicly available."
2. This bill would add murder witnesses, as defined, to the list
of eligible participants in the Safe at Home Program
Under existing law, victims of domestic violence, sexual
assault, stalking, and reproductive healthcare workers, are
eligible to participate in the Safe at Home Program administered
by the Secretary of State. The Safe at Home Program, provides
participants with the option to apply for an alternate address
to be used for public records and to keep the participants home,
work or school address confidential. The purpose of the Safe at
Home Program is to help victims avoid any further contact with
their attackers.
In order to participate in the program, applicants must provide
all of the following:
a sworn statement indicating that the applicant has a good
reason to believe that he or she is a victim of domestic
violence, sexual assault, or stalking and that the applicant
fears for his or her safety;
if the applicant is a victim of domestic violence or sexual
assault, they may include evidence such as a police report or
documentation from a domestic violence or sexual assault
program, or documentation from a professional whom the
applicant has sought assistance from for dealing with the
alleged act;
the applicant must also include a statement whether there are
any existing court orders for child support, child custody, or
child visitation;
a designation of the Secretary of State as agent for purposes
of service of process for the receipt of mail;
the mailing address and phone number where the applicant can
be contacted by the Secretary of State;
the address(es) that the applicant requests be kept
confidential; and
the date and signature of the applicant.
By adding murder witnesses to the list of eligible participants
in the Safe at Home Program, this bill would require those
individuals to meet the above requirements in order to
participate in the program. This bill would also impose
additional requirements on murder witnesses, defined as a
witness who testified in a murder trial, as described below in
Comment 3.
AB 906 (Galgiani)
Page 6 of ?
1.Additional requirements imposed on murder witnesses
In addition to the current program requirements, previously
discussed, this bill would require murder witness applicants to
also provide a letter from the prosecuting attorney in the case
as well as payment of an enrollment fee that would be determined
by the Secretary of State.
a. Letter from prosecuting attorney
In addition to the requirements described above, this bill
would require a murder witness applying for the Safe at Home
Program to include a letter from the prosecuting attorney
certifying that the applicant was a witness in a murder trial
and that his or her testimony was substantially related to the
murder charge. This requirement should help to limit the use
of this confidential address program, since there may be
several witnesses who testify in the trial but only a few who
played a key role in the murder conviction.
This bill would also give the prosecuting attorney discretion
in deciding whether or not to provide the witness with this
letter. There may be situations where a witness should
arguably not be eligible for the Safe at Home Program. For
example, it would not be appropriate to permit a witness who
has a long criminal conviction background and is attempting to
misuse the program to make it more difficult for law
enforcement or the courts to contact him or her to participate
in the program. Or there may be situations where an applicant
is attempting to use the program to avoid creditors. Also,
because the bill is silent as to whether any particular murder
witnesses would be excluded from applying, there may be
applicants to the program who testified in a trial many years
ago and should not reasonably fear for their safety. By
requiring the letter from the prosecuting attorney and giving
the attorney discretion to provide the letter, this bill
attempts to limit any potential misuse of the program while
expanding eligibility to murder witnesses.
b. Payment of enrollment and annual fee
Under existing law, victims of domestic violence, sexual
assault, stalking, and reproductive health care workers are
not required to pay a fee to participate in the Safe at Home
Program. According to the Secretary of State, there are
currently 2,735 participants in the program with an average
AB 906 (Galgiani)
Page 7 of ?
cost to the state of $381 per participant.
Due to current budget constraints, and the inability to
estimate how many murder witnesses would apply for this
program, this bill would require a murder witness applicant to
the Safe at Home Program to pay a fee to cover the cost of
enrollment. The fee would be determined by the Secretary of
State and would not exceed the reasonable costs of enrolling
the witness in the program. Additionally, this bill would
require these applicants to pay a reasonable annual fee to
defray the operating costs of the program for the murder
witness participants. At this time, it is unknown how many
murder witnesses would apply to participate in the Safe at
Home Program should this bill become law. As a result, the
Secretary of State is unable to estimate the additional costs
that the program would incur by extending eligibility to
murder witnesses.
This bill thus raises the policy question of whether a person
otherwise eligible to participate in the program might be
unable to because of the cost. The bill addresses this issue
by providing that any fees for initial and continued
enrollment must be reasonable.
1.California Witness Relocation and Protection Program
Under existing law, the California Witness Relocation and
Protection Program (WRAP) provides protection for witnesses who
are currently testifying in a case that has a high degree of
risk to the witness, such as a gang, organized crime, or
narcotic trafficking case. The program is administered by the
Department of Justice, however, WRAP does not provide for
lifelong placement. WRAP does provide funds for witness
relocation and protection, however, that protection is only
extended to the witness until the witness is needed to testify.
While WRAP may be an adequate program for witnesses up until and
during their testimony, it is likely that WRAP is inadequate
after the conclusion of the testimony and possible conviction.
This bill would additionally provide murder witnesses with the
option to keep their location confidential after a conviction to
avoid possible retaliation from the defendant's friends, family,
or associates by allowing them to participate in the Safe at
Home Program.
Support : California State Sheriffs' Association; Crime Victims
AB 906 (Galgiani)
Page 8 of ?
United of California
Opposition : None Known
HISTORY
Source : Author
Related Pending Legislation : SB 636 (Corbett) would enhance
protections for participants in the Safe at Home Program by,
among other things, prohibiting the posting of a participants'
home address on the Internet. This bill is in the Assembly
Judiciary Committee.
Prior Legislation :
SB 489 (Alpert, Chapter 1005, Statutes of 1998) See Background.
SB 1318 (Alpert, Chapter 562, Statutes of 2000) See Background.
AB 205 (Leach, Chapter 33, Statutes of 2000) See Background.
SB 1062 (Bowen, Chapter 639, Statutes of 2006) See Background.
AB 797 (Shelley, Chapter 380, Statutes of 2002) See Background.
SB 748 (Leno, Chapter, Statutes of 2009) See Background.
Prior Vote :
Assembly Floor (Ayes 77, Noes 0)
Assembly Committee on Appropriations (Ayes 12, Noes 0)
Assembly Committee on Judiciary (Ayes 9, Noes 0)
**************
AB 906 (Galgiani)
Page 9 of ?