AB2235 - The Judicial Home Security Act.

Amended IN Senate July 02, 2026 Amended IN Assembly April 09, 2026 CALIFORNIA LEGISLATURE— 2025–2026 REGULAR SESSION Assembly Bill No. 2235 Introduced by Assembly Member Pacheco (Coauthor: Assembly Member Zbur) February 19, 2026 An act to add Chapter 3.4 (commencing with Section 6225) to Division 7 of Title 1 of the Government Code, relating to confidentiality. LEGISLATIVE COUNSEL'S DIGEST AB 2235, as amended, Pacheco. The Judicial Home Security Act. Existing law, the California Public Records Act, requires state and local agencies to make their records available for public inspection, unless an exemption from disclosure applies. Existing law authorizes a person who faces violence, harassment, or threats of violence from the public because of their work for a public entity to apply to the Secretary of State for the purposes of enabling state and local agencies to respond to requests for public records without disclosing a program participant’s residence address contained in any public record and otherwise provide for confidentiality of identity for that person, subject to specified conditions. Under existing law, any person who makes a false statement in an application is guilty of a misdemeanor. This bill would establish the Judicial Home Security Act, which would require the Attorney General to establish a program for the Judicial Home Security Program under which a judicial officer, including a current an imminent, current, or former superior court judge or district court judge, or an adult household member of a judicial officer who is domiciled in California to prevent disclosure of their home address by a state or local agency. In this regard, if the Attorney General approves a judicial officer to participate in the program, the bill would authorize the judicial officer to require, upon their request, that a state or local agency substitute a designated alternate address for their home address referenced in any records that are made public. may request their home address in public records to be shielded or substituted with an alternate mailing address, as specified. The bill would establish the Judicial Home Security Program Fund in the General Fund and would authorize moneys in the fund to be made available for the administration of the program upon appropriation by the Legislature. The bill would require the Attorney General to approve an application to the program if it is filed in the manner and on the form prescribed by the Attorney General and contains prescribed information, including documentation showing the individual is or will be household contains an individual who is a judicial officer and a sworn signed statement that the applicant fears for their safety or the safety of their family due to their a household member of the applicant due to the employment as a of the judicial officer. The bill would require the application to be dated and signed under penalty of perjury, signed, and would make knowingly providing false or incorrect information in the application a misdemeanor. The bill would require the Attorney General to commence accepting applications under the program on April 1, 2027. The bill would require the Attorney General to create, maintain, and update monthly a publicly available list that includes the name, county of residence, and designated alternate mailing address of each current program participant. The bill would also require the Attorney General to create, maintain, and update monthly a publicly available list that includes former participants who are no longer in the program, and make the list available to state and local agencies and third-party data brokers and aggregators, as specified. program. The bill would require, when disclosing or releasing records or information that would otherwise contain the home address of a program participant in any format or medium, a state or local agency to substitute the participant’s alternate mailing address for any reference to the participant’s home address. The bill bill would require, when disclosing or releasing records or information that would otherwise contain the situs of the home address of a program participant in any format or medium, a county assessor’s office to substitute the program participant’s alternate mailing address for the situs of the home address on assessment rolls, maps, property ownership statements and records, and any other records containing the home address of a program participant. The bill would require, when disclosing or releasing releasing, in any format or medium, records or information that would otherwise contain the situs of the home address of a program participant in any format or medium, who requests shielding, a county assessor assessor’s office and a county recorder recorder’s office to substitute the program participant’s alternate mailing address for the situs address on shield the participant’s public record, including real property deeds, real estate records, and any other records containing the home address of a program participant. In this regard, the bill would require a program participant to submit a request containing a list of documents to be shielded, a sworn statement attesting to the accuracy of the information provided, and payment of a fee, as specified. The bill would authorize a program participant to submit a request to update the list of documents to be shielded, a specified. The bill would require the county assessor’s office and county recorder’s office to validate and shield any requested records within 5 business days of receipt of a request for shielding. The bill would authorize making any original documents available only to specified persons or in specified circumstances. The bill would prohibit the disclosure of a participant’s home address by the Attorney General and state and local agencies, except in specified circumstances. The bill would prohibit a person or organization from publicly posting or displaying the home address of a program participant who has made a written demand of that person or organization, including on the internet, and would prohibit a third-party data broker or aggregator from selling, licensing, trading, purchasing, transferring, releasing, or otherwise sharing in any format or medium, the home address of a program participant, including on the internet. internet, except as specified. The bill would authorize the Attorney General to adopt guidance to facilitate the administration of the act by state and local agencies. The bill would require the Attorney General, beginning January 10, 2028, and no later than January 10 of each year thereafter, to submit to the Legislature a report that includes the total number of applications received for the program. define terms for its purposes. By imposing new duties on local agencies, expanding the scope of the crime of perjury, and creating a crime, this bill would create a state-mandated local program. Existing constitutional provisions require that a statute that limits the right of access to the meetings of public bodies or the writings of public officials and agencies be adopted with findings demonstrating the interest protected by the limitation and the need for protecting that interest. This bill would make legislative findings to that effect. The California Constitution requires local agencies, for the purpose of ensuring public access to the meetings of public bodies and the writings of public officials and agencies, to comply with a statutory enactment that amends or enacts laws relating to public records or open meetings and contains findings demonstrating that the enactment furthers the constitutional requirements relating to this purpose. This bill would make legislative findings to that effect. 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 with regard to certain mandates no reimbursement is required by this act for a specified reason. With regard to any other mandates, this bill would provide that, if the Commission on State Mandates determines that the bill contains costs so mandated by the state, reimbursement for those costs shall be made pursuant to the statutory provisions noted above. Digest Key Vote: MAJORITY Appropriation: NO Fiscal Committee: YES Local Program: YES Bill Text The people of the State of California do enact as follows: SECTION 1. Chapter 3.4 (commencing with Section 6225) is added to Division 7 of Title 1 of the Government Code, to read: CHAPTER 3.4. The Judicial Home Security Act 6225. This act shall be known, and may be cited, as the Judicial Home Security Act. 6225.1. The Legislature finds and declares all of the following: (a) The Legislature finds that persons employed as judicial officers in California are subject to an increased risk of threats or actual violence against themselves and their families. household members. As public officials responsible for the functioning of the judicial system, judicial officers have a uniquely high level of exposure to the public and the criminal justice system. Persons and groups might attempt to subvert, delay, or otherwise impede the justice system by threatening or intimidating judicial officers. These individuals or groups may also threaten or take violent action against judicial officers or their families household members as retribution for past rulings or judicial actions. The threat of violence towards judicial officers and their families household members extends beyond the courtroom and into the home. The purpose of this chapter is to enable state and local agencies to respond to requests for public records without disclosing or referencing in any way the home addresses of judicial officers or adult household members of judicial officers who are in the Judicial Home Security Program, to enable interagency cooperation with the Attorney General in providing home address confidentiality for these judicial officers, officers or household members, and to enable state and local agencies to substitute mailing addresses for any reference to home addresses of these judicial officers or household members in records that are made public. (b) The Legislature finds that judicial officers and household members of judicial officers are subject to such serious and detrimental risks of threats and violence that the public interest in justice and fairness under the law clearly outweighs the public interest served by disclosure of judicial officers’ home addresses. Any reference to judicial officers’ home addresses is thus entitled to exemption from the California Public Records Act (Division 10 (commencing with Section 7920.000) of Title 1). 6225.2. Unless the context clearly requires otherwise, the definitions in this section apply throughout this chapter. (a) “Alternate mailing address” means a United States Postal Service post office box or personal mailbox provided by a private company. (b) “Applicant” means a judicial officer or an adult household member of a judicial officer who submits an application for the program established pursuant to this chapter. (b) (c) “Cohabitant” has the same meaning as in subdivision (b) of Section 18291 of the Welfare and Institutions Code. (c) (d) “Domicile” means a place of habitation as defined in Section 349 of the Elections Code. (d) (e) “Home address” includes any reference to all of the following, as specified on the individual’s application to be a program participant under this chapter: (1) A property address. (2) A common street address. (3) An assessor’s parcel number. (4) A property legal description. (e) (f) (1) “Household member” means an adult member of the applicant” and “household member of the participant” mean a person who resides at the same home address as the applicant or participant and is related to the applicant or participant by blood, marriage, registered domestic partnership, or adoption, or is a cohabitant of an applicant or participant. (2) “Household member of a judicial officer” means a person who resides at the same home address as a judicial officer and is related to the judicial officer by blood, marriage, registered domestic partnership, or adoption, or is a cohabitant of a judicial officer. (f) (g) “Judicial officer” means a person who will be imminently employed, is currently employed employed, or was formerly employed as any of the following: (1) A supreme court justice. (2) A court of appeal judge or justice. (3) A superior court or district court judge. (4) A municipal court judge. (5) A court commissioner or court magistrate. (6) A federal, state, or local agency judge. (7) A tribal judge. (8) A state bar court judge. (g) (h) “Program participant” means a person certified as a program participant under this chapter. (i) “Shield” or “shielding” means a process by which an agency has removed public access to an image that contains the program participant’s home address. 6225.3. (a) An adult person A judicial officer or an adult household member of a judicial officer who is domiciled in California may apply to the Attorney General to have a designated alternate mailing address substituted for any reference to the person’s home address in records that are made public. be accepted into the Judicial Home Security Program established pursuant to this chapter. The home address of an accepted program participant shall be substituted with an alternate mailing address pursuant to this chapter. An accepted program participant also may request shielding of public records pursuant to subdivision (c) of Section 6225.6. The Attorney General shall approve an application if it is filed in the manner and on the form prescribed by the Attorney General and if it contains all of the following: (1) Documentation showing that the individual is to commence employment as or household contains an individual who is a judicial officer. (2) A sworn signed statement that the applicant fears for their safety or the safety of their family a household member of the applicant due to their the employment as a of the judicial officer. (3) (A) The alternate mailing address requested for substitution for any reference to the person’s applicant’s home address in public records. or a request for shielding of public records as described in Section 6225.6. The application shall include documentation issued by the United States Postal Service or the personal mailbox rental company confirming the mailbox is rented to the applicant or a household member of the applicant. (B) The Attorney General shall not approve an application if the alternate mailing address is any address other than a post office box or personal mailbox, or if it is a post office box or mailbox rented by anyone other than the applicant or a household member of the applicant. (4) The telephone numbers and email addresses where the a [Text truncated for display. 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