Introduced Version
House Bill 2787 History
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Key: Green = existing Code. Red = new code to be enacted
H. B. 2787
(By Delegates Brown, Miller, Longstreth, Marshall, Fleischauer,
Sobonya, Sumner, Mahan, Guthrie, Rowan and Staggers.)
[Introduced February 1, 2007; referred to the
Committee on the Judiciary.]
A BILL to amend the Code of West Virginia, 1931, as amended, by
adding a new article, designated §3-1C-1
, §3-1C-2
, §3-1C-3
,
§3-1C-4
,
§3-1C-5,
§3-1C-6
,
§3-1C-7
,
§3-1C-
8,
§3-1C-9
,
§3-1C-
10
,
relating to
the creation of the Address Confidentiality
Program
.
Be it enacted by the Legislature of West Virginia:
That the Code of West Virginia, 1931, as amended, be amended
by adding thereto a new article designated §3-1C-1
, §3-1C-2
, §3-1C-
3
,
§3-1C-4
,
§3-1C-5,
§3-1C-6
,
§3-1C-7
,
§3-1C-
8,
§3-1C-9
,
§3-1C-10
to read as follows:
ARTICLE 1C. ADDRESS CONFIDENTIALITY PROGRAM.
§3-1C-1. Purpose.
The Legislature finds that persons attempting to escape from
actual or threatened domestic violence, sexual assault, or stalking
frequently establish new addresses in order to prevent their
assailants or probable assailants from finding them. The purpose of this section is to enable state and local agencies to respond to
requests for public records without disclosing the location of a
victim of domestic abuse, sexual assault, or stalking, to enable
interagency cooperation with the Secretary of State in providing
address confidentiality for victims of domestic abuse, sexual
assault, or stalking, and to enable state and local agencies to
accept an address designated by the Secretary of State by a program
participant as a substitute mailing address.
§3-1C-2. Definitions.
As used in this section, unless the context otherwise
indicates, the following terms have the following meanings.
(1) "Address" means a residential street, school or work
address of an individual, as specified on the individual's
application to be a program participant under this chapter.
(2) "Application assistant" means an employee of a state or
local agency, or of a nonprofit program that provides counseling,
referral, shelter or other specialized service to victims of
domestic abuse, rape, sexual assault or stalking, and who has been
designated by the respective agency, and trained, accepted and
registered by the Secretary of State to assist individuals in the
completion of program participation applications.
(3) "Designated address" means the address assigned to a
program participant by the Secretary of State pursuant to this
section. This designated address may be a post office box and may be used by a participant for voter registration purposes, as long
as the Secretary of State has on file for this participant an
address, as provided in subsection one of this article, and a
mailing address, as provided in subsection four of this article.
(4) "Mailing address" means an address that is recognized for
delivery by the United States Postal Service.
(5) "Program" means the Address Confidentiality Program
established in this section.
(6) "Program participant" means a person certified by the
Secretary of State of State to participate in the program.
§3-1C-3. Address Confidentiality Program.
(a) On or after the first day of July, two thousand seven, the
Secretary of State, shall create an Address Confidentiality Program
to be staffed by full time employees, who have been subjected to a
criminal history records search.
(b) Upon recommendation of an application assistant, an adult
person, a parent or guardian acting on behalf of a minor or a
guardian acting on behalf of an incapacitated person may apply to
the Secretary of State to have a designated address assigned by the
Secretary of State to serve as the person's address or the address
of the minor or incapacitated person.
(c) The Secretary of State may approve an application only if
it is filed with the office of the Secretary of State in the manner established by rule and on a form prescribed by the Secretary of
State. A completed application must contain:
(1) The application preparation date, the applicant's
signature and the signature and registration number of the
application assistant who assisted the applicant in applying to be
a program participant;
(2) A designation of the Secretary of State as agent for
purposes of service of process and for receipt of certain first-
class mail pieces;
(3) The mailing address where the applicant may be contacted
by the Secretary of State or a designee and the telephone number or
numbers where the applicant may be called by the Secretary of State
or the Secretary of State's designee; and
(4) One or more addresses that the applicant requests not be
disclosed for the reason that disclosure will jeopardize the
applicant's safety or increase the risk of violence to the
applicant or members of the applicant's household.
(d) Upon receipt of a properly completed application, the
Secretary of State may certify the applicant as a program
participant. A program participant is certified for four years
following the date of initial certification unless the
certification is withdrawn or invalidated before that date. The
Secretary of State shall send notification of lapsing certification
and a reapplication form to a program participant at least four weeks prior to the expiration of the program participant's
certification.
(e) The Secretary of State shall forward certain first-class
mail to the appropriate program participants.
(f)(1) An applicant may not file an application knowing that
it:
(A) Contains false or incorrect information; or
(B) Falsely claims that disclosure of the applicant's address
or mailing address threatens the safety of the applicant or the
applicant's children or the minor or incapacitated person on whose
behalf the application is made.
(2) An application assistant may not assist or participate in
the filing of an application that the application assistant knows:
(A) Contains false or incorrect information; or
(B) Falsely claims that disclosure of the applicant's address
or mailing address threatens the safety of the applicant or the
applicant's children or the minor or incapacitated person on whose
behalf the application is made.
(g) A person who violates this section shall be guilty of a
misdemeanor, and upon conviction thereof, shall be confined in jail
for a period of not more than one year.
§3-1C-4. Cancellation.
Certification for the program may be canceled if one or more
of the following conditions apply:
(1) If the program participant obtains a name change, unless
the program participant provides the Secretary of State with
documentation of a legal name change within ten business days of
the name change;
(2) If there is a change in the residential street address
from the one listed on the application, unless the program
participant provides the Secretary of State with notice of the
change in such manner as the Secretary of State provides by rule;
or
(3) The applicant or program participant violates subsection
(g), section three of this article.
§3-1C-5. Use of designated address.
(a) Upon demonstration of a program participant's
certification in the program, state and local agencies and the
courts may accept the designated address as a program participant's
address when creating a new public record unless the Secretary of
State has determined that:
(1) The agency has a bona fide statutory or administrative
requirement for the use of the program participant's address or
mailing address, such that it is unable to fulfill its statutory
duties and obligations without the residential address; and
(2) The program participant's address or mailing address will
be used only for those statutory and administrative purposes, and shall be kept confidential, subject to the confidentiality
provisions as provided in section eight of this article.
§3-1C-6. Disclosure to law enforcement and state agencies.
(a) If the Secretary of State determines appropriate, the
Secretary of State may make a program participant's address or
mailing address available for inspection or copying, under the
following circumstances:
(1) If requested of the Secretary of State by a law
enforcement agency in the manner provided for by rule; or
(2) Upon request to the Secretary of State by a commissioner
of a state agency or the commissioner's designee in the manner
provided for by rule and upon a showing of a bona fide statutory or
administrative requirement for the use of the program participant's
address or mailing address, such that the commissioner or the
commissioner's designee is unable to fulfill statutory duties and
obligations without the address or mailing address.
§3-1C-7. Disclosure pursuant to court order or canceled
certification.
(a) The Secretary of State shall make a program participant's
address and mailing address available for inspection or copying
under the following circumstances:
(1) To a person identified in a court order, upon the
Secretary of State's receipt of that court order that specifically
orders the disclosure of a particular program participant's address and mailing address and the reasons stated for the disclosure; or
(2) If the Secretary of State determines appropriate, if the
certification has been canceled because the applicant or program
participant violated subsection (f), section three of this article.
§3-1C-8. Confidentiality.
The program participant's application and supporting materials
are not a public record and must be kept confidential by the
Secretary of State. Any employee of any agency or program who
willfully breaches the confidentiality of these records shall be
guilty of a felony and shall be confined in jail for a period of
not less than one year or more than five years.
§3-1C-9
. Secretary of state; liability.
This article creates no liability upon the secretary of state
for any transaction compromised by any illegal act or
inappropriate
uses associated with this
Address Confidentiality Program.
§3-1C-
10
. Rules.
The Secretary of State is hereby directed to propose
legislative rules and emergency rules implementing this article for
legislative approval in accordance with the provisions of article
three, chapter twenty-nine-a of this code.
NOTE: The purpose of this bill is to enable interagency
cooperation with the Secretary of State in providing address
confidentiality for victims of domestic abuse, sexual assault, or
stalking, and to enable state and local agencies to accept an
address designated by the Secretary of State of State by a
program participant as a substitute mailing address.
This article is new; therefore, underscoring and strike-
through has been omitted.
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