BILL ANALYSIS �
Senate Appropriations Committee Fiscal Summary
Senator Kevin de Le�n, Chair
SB 1385 (Anderson) - Safe at Home Program: alternate physical
address.
Amended: May 6, 2014 Policy Vote: Judiciary 7-0
Urgency: No Mandate: No
Hearing Date: May 19, 2014 Consultant: Jolie Onodera
This bill meets the criteria for referral to the Suspense File.
Bill Summary: SB 1385 would allow the Secretary of State (SOS)
to designate an alternate physical address upon the request of a
Safe at Home (SAH) program participant if the participant is
prohibited from using a post office box as an address.
Fiscal Impact: Potential costs of about $75,000 (General Fund)
annually to the SOS to the extent designating physical addresses
in lieu of post office boxes results in contracting with an
outside entity to provide this service. To the extent the SOS
chooses not to provide alternate physical addresses to SAH
participants, there would be no cost incurred by the SOS.
Background: Under existing law, the SOS administers the Safe at
Home Program, which 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 substitute mailing address is an assigned post
office box, and the SOS is designated as the participant's agent
for service of process and receipt of mail. State and local
agencies are required to accept the assigned SAH mailing
address, subject to specified exceptions. (Government Code (GC)
�� 6205 and 6207)
Existing law requires the SOS to forward all first class mail
and all mail sent by a governmental agency to program
participants, and additionally provides that the SOS may refuse
to handle or forward packages regardless of size or type of
mailing. (GC � 6207(d))
Proposed Law: This bill would allow the SOS to designate an
alternate physical address upon the request of a SAH program
SB 1385 (Anderson)
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participant if the participant is prohibited from using a post
office box as an address.
Prior Legislation: AB 849 (Garcia) Chapter 676/2013 authorized
applications to the SAH program to be completed at
community-based assistance programs serving victims of elder and
dependent adult abuse, and required the SOS to conduct outreach
activities to identify and recruit agencies to assist specified
victims in applying to the program.
AB 2483 (Blumenfield) Chapter 102/2012 removed the requirement
that victims alleging stalking as the basis of their eligibility
for the SAH program provide specific evidence attached to the
application.
SB 1082 (Corbett) Chapter 270/2012 made numerous changes to the
SAH program including requiring applicants and participants to
be domiciled in California, and authorizing a minor participant
to renew his or her participation upon reaching 18 years of age.
AB 906 (Galgiani) 2012 would have authorized witnesses who have
testified in murder trials to participate in the SAH program.
This bill was held on the Suspense File of this Committee.
Staff Comments: By authorizing SAH participants to request the
use of an alternate physical address in lieu of an assigned post
office box, the SOS has indicated potential costs to contract
with an outside entity to provide mail boxes needed for
enrollees that would provide a physical location address at a
cost of about $10,000 annually for the contract. The SOS has
indicated that because the SAH program assists those escaping
stalking, domestic violence, and sexual assault, it is likely
that those individuals the SAH participants are intending to
avoid will be present at some point at the physical address
provided. The SOS is aware of only five states that offer
physical addresses for their address confidentiality programs
and all five states have identified safety issues related to
alleged abusers visiting their physical locations. The cost of
securing the SOS offices, which have public customer service
counters on nearly every floor, would be extremely costly and
would not be a realistic option.
The SOS indicates costs could likely be charged by the outside
entity to provide additional protection for its employees. Also,
SB 1385 (Anderson)
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the U.S. Postal Service provides a security guarantee that ends
when mail is delivered to the outside entity, exposing the state
to potential risks of lost mail or mail theft. The SOS has
indicated an additional position could be needed to accommodate
the additional mail sorting since the SOS would be required to
pick up and sort mail from additional mail boxes. The cost of
one position would be approximately $65,000 annually.
Currently, the SAH program does not accept packages larger than
a box of bank checks. However, the most common circumstance in
which an enrollee would need to provide a physical address is
the delivery of packages from a vendor using a non-U.S. Postal
Service delivery. Providing a physical address would likely
increase the number of packages received that must be returned
to the sender, requiring additional staff workload.
Staff notes that to the extent the SOS chooses not to provide a
physical address for the concerns noted above, there would be no
costs incurred by the SOS.