LEGISLATIVE COUNSEL'S DIGEST


AB 32, as amended, Lieu. Public officials: personal information.
(1) Existing law prohibits a person, business, or association from
publicly posting or publicly displaying on the Internet the home
address or telephone number of any elected or appointed official if
that official has made a written demand of that person, business, or
association to not disclose his or her home address or telephone
number , or from . Upon receiving a written
demand, a person, business , or association is
prohibited from transferring the official's information to any other
person, business , or association. Existing law
also prohibits soliciting, selling, or trading on the Internet
the home address or telephone number of an elected or appointed
official with the intent to cause bodily harm to the official or to
any person residing at the official's home address. Existing law
provides various remedies for violation of these provisions.
This bill would require a person, business, or association, upon
receiving the written demand of an elected or appointed official, to
immediately remove the official's home address or
telephone number from public display on the Internet within 48
hours of the delivery of the demand, and
to continue to ensure that information is not reposted on the
Internet or any same Internet Web
site, a subsidiary site , or any other Internet
Web site maintained by the recipient of the
written demand .
The bill would specifically exempt a telephone corporation, as
defined, from the prohibition on transferring a public official's
home address or telephone number after receipt of a written demand if
the transfer is necessary in the event of an emergency, to collect a
debt owed to the telephone corporation or its affiliate, or as
otherwise authorized by state or federal law.
The bill would allow an elected or appointed official to designate
the official's employer , a related governmental entity,
or any voluntary professional association of similar officials to
act, on behalf of that official, as that official's agent with regard
to making a written demand or seeking enforcement of these posting
requirements. A written demand made by an official's
agent would be required to incl ude a statement describing
a threat or fear for the official's safety or the safety of those
residing in the official's home.
(2) Existing law additionally prohibits a state or local agency
from posting the home address or telephone number of any elected or
appointed official on the Internet without first obtaining the
written permission of that individual. Existing law also prohibits a
person from knowingly posting on the Internet the home address or
telephone number of an elected or appointed official or of the
official's residing spouse or child with intent to cause imminent
great bodily harm to that individual.
Existing law prohibits a person, business, or association from
soliciting, selling, or trading on the Internet the home address or
telephone number of an elected or appointed official with the intent
to cause imminent great bodily harm to the official or to any person
residing at the official's home address. With regard to a violation
of this prohibition, existing law requires a jury or court that finds
a violation has occurred to award damages to that official in an
amount up to a maximum of 3 times the actual damages but not less
than $4,000.
This bill would instead require a jury or court to award damages
in that amount to an official whose home address or telephone number
is solicited, sold, or traded in violation of any of those
prohibitions.
(2) Under existing law, a public official is authorized to
petition a court for injunctive or declarative relief if his or her
home address and telephone number are publicly posted despite a
written demand, and the court is empowered to grant official court
costs and reasonable attorney's fees for the action.
This bill would authorize a court to also impose a fine not
exceeding $1,000 for violation of an order for an injunction or
declarative relief.

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