BILL ANALYSIS �
AB 2366
Page 1
Date of Hearing: April 16, 2012
ASSEMBLY COMMITTEE ON TRANSPORTATION
Bonnie Lowenthal, Chair
AB 2366 (Eng) - As Amended: March 26, 2012
SUBJECT : DMV records: confidentiality
SUMMARY : Adds nonsworn peace officers to the list of
professions whose home addresses within Department of Motor
Vehicles (DMV) records are afforded enhanced confidentiality;
increases the fine for vehicular equipment violations.
Specifically, this bill :
1)Adds nonsworn peace officers to the list of professions whose
home addresses within DMV records may not be released to
financial institutions, insurance companies, vehicle
manufacturers, vehicle dealers, and certain other entities
allowed access to the records of individuals whose professions
are not on this list.
2)Increases, to $25, the fine for equipment violations,
including failure to properly display a license plate.
EXISTING LAW :
1)Lists 23 classes of persons primarily in law enforcement
fields, plus the spouses and children of those persons, and
allows them to request that their home addresses be held
confidential by DMV. The home address of these persons may
only be disclosed to a court, a law enforcement agency, the
Board of Equalization (BOE), or any governmental agency
legally required to be furnished that information.
2)Affords less comprehensive confidentiality for the home
addresses of all other individuals contained within DMV
records. These provisions similarly allow for disclosure to
courts, law enforcement agencies, and other governmental
agencies but also allow for limited disclosure to financial
institutions, insurance companies, attorneys, vehicle
manufacturers, and persons doing statistical research.
3)Grants DMV the authority to suppress all records for at least
one year for persons who are under threat of death or bodily
injury. Under these circumstances, the entire record,
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including the address, is rendered inaccessible.
4)Allows equipment violations to be entered on a notice of
parking violation attached to a vehicle by an enforcement
officer.
5)Sets the civil penalty for each equipment violation, including
failure to properly display a license plate, at the amount
established for the violation in the Uniform Bail and Penalty
Schedule, except that upon proof of the correction to the
processing agency, the penalty must be reduced to $10.
6)Directs 50% of any penalty revenues collected for these
violations to the State Treasurer and allows the remaining 50%
to be retained by the issuing agency and processing agency.
FISCAL EFFECT : Unknown. However, according to an Assembly
Appropriations analysis of similar confidentiality legislation
in 2009, there will be: a direct one-time cost of up to $75,000
(for one additional position) to DMV to modify its public
official confidentiality process and to add names to the
confidentiality list; significant cost pressure - potentially
exceeding several hundreds of thousands of dollars annually
(numerous groups seek enhanced confidentiality status; passage
of this bill would create considerable pressure for the
Legislature to approve the enhanced status to potentially tens
of thousands of individuals in various occupational groups); and
potential reduction in state and local tolls, parking fees,
fines, to the extent that current law makes it difficult for
local parking and toll agencies to collect tolls and fines from
those protected by the enhanced confidentiality statutes.
COMMENTS :
Confidential home addresses : The author's intent is for this
bill to "protect non-sworn sheriff's officers from individuals
who might seek to cause them harm in order to exact revenge.
These are not included on the statutory list of professions that
are afforded an extraordinary degree of confidentiality despite
the sensitive nature of their profession. They are typically
responsible for conducting safety checks for contraband and
weapons, and maintaining the safety and security of the public
while on County premises. Their duties include patrolling
parks, enforcing county codes, issuing citations, detaining
suspects for possible arrests, securing the perimeter of the
Sheriff's Department Helicopter Fleet, and responding with
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Homicide Detectives to crime scenes, in order to maintain a safe
perimeter while detectives collect evidence and conduct
investigations."
By way of historical background, until 1989, DMV records were
considered public records, unless state law specifically made
them confidential, as was the case for peace officers'
addresses. Therefore, until 1989, home addresses were not
considered confidential, and any person who gave a reason that
DMV deemed legitimate and could present to DMV a person's
driver's license number or license plate number could obtain
address information on that individual.
In 1989, actress Rebecca Schaeffer was stalked and killed. The
murderer obtained her address from a private investigation
agency doing business in Arizona. The private investigation
agency acquired her address through a subcontractor agent in
California, who obtained it from DMV. In response, the
Legislature enacted AB 1779 (Roos), Chapter 1213, Statutes of
1989, which made home addresses in DMV records confidential,
with specified exceptions.
Since that time, despite the fact that all home addresses are
afforded a high degree of confidentiality, the Legislature has
considered numerous bills proposing to add select categories of
persons to the confidentiality provisions that apply to peace
officers. (The home addresses of peace officers and others on
the statutory list may only be disclosed to a court, a law
enforcement agency, the BOE, or any governmental agency legally
required to be furnished that information. The home addresses
of everyone else may also be disclosed, in limited
circumstances, to financial institutions, insurance companies,
attorneys, vehicle manufacturers, and persons doing statistical
research.)
In debating these bills, it has become apparent to most
observers that adding more groups to the list of those eligible
for peace officer confidentiality served no useful purpose and
was simply another administrative burden for state and local
agencies. The testimony indicated that a growing number of
private sources provide home addresses with little or no
scrutiny.
In fact, most persons seeking confidential information about
others no longer look to DMV records for the data since those
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records are so carefully protected and much more easily
obtainable via the internet. DMV is not aware of any instance
since the enactment of AB 1779 where DMV home address
information has been used for a criminal purpose.
Every recent bill proposing to expand the statutory
confidentiality list has died or been abandoned by its author.
AB 923 (Swanson) of 2009 would have granted this privilege to
BOE officers, code enforcement officers and certain zoo
veterinarians. AB 592 (Bonnie Lowenthal) of 2009 would have
included certain BOE employees. Both bills died on Suspense in
the Assembly Appropriations Committee. In 2007, AB 1311
(Berryhill) would have extended confidentiality provisions to
community service and public service officers employed by police
departments. That bill died in the Assembly Transportation
Committee after being withdrawn by its author. In 2005, AB 1706
(Strickland) would have added fraud investigators, park rangers,
emergency dispatchers, and DMV employees who test new drivers.
That bill also died in committee. In the 2003-04 Session, AB
130 (Campbell) and AB 246 (Cox) both would have added members of
Congress to the existing statutory list. Neither author ever
took up his bill in committee. AB 2012 (Chu) from that session
would have made court-appointed attorneys, their investigators
and social workers assigned to child abuse cases eligible for
special address confidentiality in DMV's records. These
provisions were eventually amended out of that bill.
An additional factor in the issue of home address
confidentiality came to light a few years ago as a result of an
investigation conducted by the Orange County Register. That
investigation revealed thousands of unpaid violations and tolls
accrued by a number of peace officers and other individuals
whose DMV records are afforded enhanced confidentiality. These
unpaid tolls and fines cost agencies in Orange County over $5
million over a five-year period. Parking and toll agencies
throughout the state, including those in San Diego and San
Francisco, have experienced similar abuses.
When parking agencies or toll road operators attempt to collect
fines from such individuals, DMV is not able to provide the
offender's registered addresses in a manner timely enough for
fines to be collected under the statute of limitations.
Therefore, it is generally not cost effective for agencies to
pursue money owed, so that fines for these violations are
usually written off. While some agencies attempt to collect the
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money by sending a notice to the individuals' employing entities
on file at DMV, there is no way to enforce the collection of
violations because this practice is not authorized under the
law. AB 996 (Spitzer) of 2008 would have addressed this
situation but was vetoed by Governor Schwarzenegger. AB 3
(Miller) of 2011, and AB 2097 (Miller) of 2010, also sought to
address this issue, but were ultimately unsuccessful. Mr.
Miller is now pursuing AB 2192, which will be heard in this
committee next week.
Equipment and registration violations : According to the Public
Parking Association, the correction penalty for "fix-it" tickets
issued to illegally parked cars, which is currently set at $10,
has not increased in over 18 years. However, "a non-appealed
fix-it ticket costs (a city) approximately $27.72 to issue and
process. Unfortunately, for cost reasons, the current $10.00
penalty is a disincentive for cities to write. An unwritten
'first ticket' results in a loss of license plate revenue to the
state for unregistered vehicles or for vehicles with expired
tags and a public safety hazard for equipment violations."
REGISTERED SUPPORT / OPPOSITION :
Support
California Public Parking Association (sponsor)
Los Angeles County Professional Peace Officers Association
(sponsor)
Association for Los Angeles Deputy Sheriffs
Riverside Sheriffs Association
Opposition
None on file
Analysis Prepared by : Howard Posner / TRANS. / (916) 319-2093