BILL ANALYSIS �
AB 2687
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Date of Hearing: April 21, 2014
ASSEMBLY COMMITTEE ON TRANSPORTATION
Bonnie Lowenthal, Chair
AB 2687 (Bocanegra) - As Amended: March 27, 2013
SUBJECT : Vehicles: confidential home address
SUMMARY : Adds a Licensing Program Analyst (LPA) with the
Department of Social Services (DSS) to the list persons who can
request that their home address be held confidential by the
Department of Motor Vehicles (DMV).
EXISTING LAW :
1)Lists 23 classes of persons, primarily in law enforcement
fields, plus the spouses and children of those persons, that
may request that their home addresses be held confidential by
DMV. The home addresses of these persons may only be
disclosed to a court; a law enforcement agency; the State
Board of Equalization (BOE); an attorney in a civil or
criminal action who demonstrates to a court the need for the
home address, if the disclosure is made pursuant to a
subpoena; and any governmental agency legally required to be
furnished the information.
2)Makes confidential the home addresses of all 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,
including the address, is rendered inaccessible.
FISCAL EFFECT : Unknown
COMMENTS : Until 1989, DMV records were considered public
records unless state law specifically made them confidential, as
was the case for the addresses of peace officers and certain
other officials thought to be at risk. Because home addresses
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were not considered confidential, 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 all home addresses in DMV records confidential,
with limited exceptions. AB 1779 left in place existing
confidentiality provisions that applied only to peace officers
and certain other officials. The list of those to whom the
pre-AB 1779 confidentiality provisions apply now includes 23
classes of persons. To date, DMV is not aware of any instances
since the implementation of AB 1779 where DMV home address
information has been used for physical harm or for violent
criminal purposes.
AB 2687 proposes to add LPAs employed by DSS to the list of
those persons eligible to request that DVM hold their addresses
confidential via the confidential records program (CRP). LPAs,
also known as State Licensing Evaluators or State Inspectors,
operate within the Community Care Licensing Division of DSS.
They are responsible for monitoring and evaluating licensed
facilities, such as child day care centers, for regulatory
compliance, gathering evidence, documenting findings, and
recommending legal and administrative actions to be taken
against facilities found to be out of compliance with licensing
requirements.
According to the author, there have been many documented
instances of licensees harassing LPAs. Because many LPAs use
their personal vehicles to conduct on-site evaluations, some
fear that disgruntled licensees could be using license plate
information to obtain their home addresses. The author's intent
with this bill is to provide greater protection to LPAs because
of the very sensitive nature of their jobs and the very real
threats of violence and stalking that many have already faced.
Given that DMV records are universally confidential, with
limited exceptions, and the fact that DMV is not aware of any
instances since the implementation of AB 1779 in which DMV home
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address information has been used for physical harm or for
violent criminal purposes, the need for this bill is unclear.
People seeking confidential information about others generally
do not look to DMV records for personal data since those records
are so carefully protected and the same information is much more
easily obtainable via the internet and social media. While
there is no doubt that some LPAs have faced serious threats as a
result of their work, there is no reason to believe adding them
to the list of persons eligible for the CRP will afford them a
greater level of protection.
Related legislation : SB 767 (Lieu) would add code enforcement
officers to the list of those eligible for the CRP and requires
eligible persons requesting confidentiality for their spouse or
child to disclose whether the spouse or child has been convicted
of a crime and is on mandatory supervision or post release
community supervision at the time of the request for
confidentiality.
Prior legislation : Over the past 10 years, a number of bills
proposing to expand the list of those eligible to apply for the
CRP have died, including:
AB 1270 (Eggman) of 2013, which would have added code
enforcement officers and their spouses and children to the
list. That bill died in the Assembly Appropriations
Committee.
AB 923 (Swanson) of 2009, which would have added Board
of Equalization members, code enforcement officers, and
certain veterinarians. That bill died in the Assembly
Appropriations Committee.
AB 592 (Lowenthal) of 2009, which would have added BOE
staff who are designated to exercise limited peace officer
authority and duties. That bill died in the Assembly
Appropriations Committee.
AB 1958 (Swanson) of 2008, which would have added
firefighters, code enforcement officers, and certain
veterinarians. The bill died in the Assembly Appropriations
Committee.
AB 1311 (Berryhill) of 2007, which would have added
community service and public service officers employed by
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police departments. That bill died in the Assembly
Transportation Committee after being withdrawn by the
author.
AB 1706 (Strickland) of 2005, which would have added
fraud investigators, park rangers, emergency dispatchers,
and DMV employees who test new drivers. That bill died in
the Assembly Transportation Committee.
AB 130 (Campbell) of 2003 and AB 246 (Cox) of, 2003,
which both would have added members of Congress. Neither
author ever took up his bill in committee.
AB 2012 (Chu) of 2004, which would have added
court-appointed attorneys, their investigators, and social
workers assigned to child abuse cases. These provisions
were eventually amended out of the bill.
Other legislative efforts have aimed to address program and
public safety abuses associated with the CRP. For example, AB 3
(Miller) of 2011 and AB 2097 (Miller) of 2010, would have
required CRP participants to update their records in order
improve the ability to identify toll evaders. AB 3 died in the
Assembly Appropriations Committee and AB 2097 died in the Senate
Appropriations Committee. Additionally, SB 938 (Huff), Chapter
280, Statutes of 2010, removed CRP confidentiality protections
for certain individuals who have been convicted of crimes.
REGISTERED SUPPORT / OPPOSITION :
Support
AFSCME Local 2620
Tamara Jensen-Hill, Licensing Program Analyst
Virna Wright, Licensing Program Analyst
Opposition
None on file
Analysis Prepared by : Anya Lawler / TRANS. / (916) 319-2093
AB 2687
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