AB 1726

Bill Subjects

Abstract

Existing law establishes an address confidentiality program, commonly known as the Safe at Home program, for victims of domestic violence, sexual assault, stalking, human trafficking, or elder or dependent adult abuse, under which an adult person, or a guardian on behalf of a minor or an incapacitated person, states that they are such a victim, and designates the Secretary of State as the agent for service of process and receipt of mail. Under existing law, when the Secretary of State certifies the person as a program participant, the person's actual address is confidential. Existing law relating to civil procedure requires written notice and establishes deadlines for serving and filing moving and supporting papers for prescribed motions and for serving notices and other papers, if served by mail. Existing law extends the period of notice in certain circumstances based on the location of the place of mailing or the place of address, or both. This bill would extend those periods by 12 calendar days if the place of address is the address confidentiality program. Under existing law relating to summary proceedings, a plaintiff that wishes to bring an action to obtain possession of real property must file a complaint and serve the defendant with a notice of summons, in which case the defendant has 5 days to respond. This bill would give the defendant an additional 5 court days to file a response, if service is completed by mail or in person through the address confidentiality program. Existing law requires the Secretary of State to approve an application for the address confidentiality program if it is filed in the manner and on the form prescribed by the Secretary of State and if it contains specific information, including the name and last known address of the applicant's minor child or children, the name and last known address of the other parent or parents of the minor child or children of the applicant, and all court orders related to the minor child or children of the applicant, and legal counsel of record in those cases. This bill would revise that information requirement to require the name and last known address of the applicant's minor child or children and the name and last known address of the other parent or parents as legally established by prescribed legal methods. The bill would authorize this section to be left blank if no other parent has been established for the applicant's minor child or children. Existing law authorizes the Secretary of State to terminate a program participant's certification and invalidate their authorization card for specified reasons, including that the program participant no longer resides at the most recent residential address provided to the Secretary of State, and has not provided at least 7 days' prior notice in writing of a change in address, that a service of process document or mail forwarded to the program participant by the Secretary of State is returned as nondeliverable, or that the program participant obtains a legal name change and fails to notify the Secretary of State within 7 days. This bill would extend the 7-day notice requirement for the most recent residential address to 30 days. The bill would require the program, before terminating a program participant's certification due to nondeliverable mail, to attempt to contact the participant by phone and email, if available, to resolve the mail delivery issue. The bill would extend the legal name change notice deadline to 30 days. Existing law authorizes the Secretary of State to refuse to renew a program participant's certification if the adult program participant or the parent or guardian acting on behalf of a minor or incapacitated person has abandoned their domicile in this state. This bill, if the program participant or parent or guardian acting on behalf of a minor or incapacitated person leaves the state during their valid participation term, would prohibit them from being terminated on the grounds of having abandoned their domicile in this state until they have resided outside of this state for a period of more than 60 consecutive days, if relocating to a state with an address confidentiality program. The bill would require, if the program participant or parent or guardian acting on behalf of a minor or incapacitated person has relocated to a state without an address confidentiality program, that they remain enrolled and mail be forwarded for the remainder of their certification term. Existing law prohibits any person, business, or association from knowingly and intentionally publicly posting or publicly displaying on the internet prescribed personal information or images with the intent to incite a third person to cause imminent great bodily harm to the person identified in the posting or display, or to a coresident of that person, where the third person is likely to commit this harm, or with the intent to threaten the person identified in the posting or display, or a coresident of that person, in a manner that places the person identified or the coresident in objectively reasonable fear for their personal safety. This bill would expand the prohibition to also apply to other posting or displaying entities and to posts or displays in public spaces other than the internet. The bill, with respect to the intent to threaten, would provide that disclosure alone may be considered a threat, depending on the totality of the circumstances. Existing law prohibits a person, business, or association from soliciting, selling, or trading on the internet the home address, home telephone number, or image of a participant with the intent to incite a third person to cause imminent great bodily harm to the person identified in the posting or display, or to a coresident of that person, where the third person is likely to commit this harm, or with the intent to threaten the person identified in the posting or display, or a coresident of that person, in a manner that places the person identified or the coresident in objectively reasonable fear for their personal safety. This bill would expand that prohibition to also apply to other entities and other forums besides the internet. Existing law prohibits a person from posting specified personal information of a participant or participating family members on the internet, with the intent that another person imminently use that information to commit a crime involving violence or a threat of violence against the participant or the program participant's family members who are participating in the program. A violation of this prohibition is a misdemeanor, punishable as prescribed. This bill would expand the prohibition to apply to public spaces other than the internet. The bill would expand the prohibited intent to include the use of the information to intimidate the participant or participating family members. By expanding the application of this prohibition, the violation of which is a crime, this bill would impose a state-mandated local program. Existing law provides that neither existing law nor participation in the program affects custody or visitation orders in effect before or during program participation. Existing law further provides that participation in the program does not constitute evidence of domestic violence, stalking, sexual assault, human trafficking, or elder or dependent adult abuse for purposes of making custody or visitation orders. This bill would provide that the fact that a participant is registered with the program creates a rebuttable presumption that disclosure of information about the participant's location and activities during the period of the registration, as specified, would lead to the discovery of the participant's actual residential address or physical location, would endanger the safety of the participant, and is not authorized. The bill would authorize this presumption to be rebutted by clear and convincing evidence, as prescribed, and would require this presumption to govern civil discovery requests. The bill would prohibit a participant from being required to provide in discovery their residential address or other location information reasonably likely to lead to the discovery of these addresses unless ordered to do so by a court after the other party has rebutted the presumption against disclosure of this information. This bill would prohibit certification as a program participant from being evidence that minor children in the participant's custody are at-risk in the participant's care. This bill would incorporate additional changes to Sections 6206 and 6206.7 of the Government Code proposed by AB 2872 to be operative only if this bill and AB 2872 are enacted and this bill is enacted last. The California Constitution requires the state to reimburse local agencies and school districts for certain costs mandated by the state. Statutory provisions establish procedures for making that reimbursement. This bill would provide that no reimbursement is required by this act for a specified reason.