Youngstown Daily Legal News

Address confidentiality program for Ohio sought

TIFFANY L. PARKS
Special to the Legal News
Published: October 22, 2014

Sen. Nina Turner and Rep. Kathleen Clyde have introduced bills into the Ohio General Assembly that would establish an address confidentiality program for individuals who reasonably believe they are in danger of being threatened or physically harmed by another person.

“This program would allow Ohioans who fear their safety is threatened from either abusers or stalkers to use a placeholder mailing address and would prohibit the disclosure of a participant’s address in the public record,” said Turner, D-Cleveland.

Under the pieces of proposed legislation, Senate Bill 366 and House Bill 623, the Ohio Secretary of State would be responsible for establishing and maintaining the address confidentiality program.

Turner said eligibility would be extended to individuals who could attest to threats to their safety or that of their children, those who have protection orders for menacing by stalking or domestic violence and victims of assault, stalking, rape, sexual battery, domestic violence, and/or certain other crimes.

“Those who qualify based on the (bill’s) conditions would be eligible to apply to the secretary of state’s office to have a placeholder address designated for them, with an application assistant guiding the process,” Turner said.

A program participant would then be assigned a new address and governmental entities, employers and the United States Postal Service would be required to accept it.

“This measure prevents the participant’s real address from being made part of the public record,” Turner said, noting that after an address has been designated for the participant, all first-class mail would be sent to that address and monitored by the secretary of state’s office.

“The participant’s mail would then be gathered daily and forwarded to them at their preferred address.”

Clyde, D-Kent, said 37 states have established address confidentiality programs since they began in 1991 in the state of Washington.

“These programs reduce the risk that offenders can use public information to gain access to their victims,” she said.

“An offender often uses public data, such as voter or drivers’ license registries, to find a victim’s address. Yet victims can’t falsify their addresses on public documents, even to protect themselves, without facing criminal penalties.”

Clyde said some victims give up civil liberties, such as voting, because of the risks involved.

“(Address confidentiality program) laws bridge this gap by allowing victims to use the alternate ACP address when submitting information to public agencies. Usually, the fewer people who know a victim’s location, the safer she will be,” she said.

“ACPs can work only if the perpetrator does not know where the victim lives and when used in conjunction with other safety strategies. Yet ACPs offer both victims and government a promising and useful public safety tool.”

With regard to voting, Turner said a participant in the proposed program would be able to vote absentee using their placeholder address and could request absentee ballots from the secretary of state.

“This legislation provides for the confidentiality of a participant’s home address, mandating that it be excluded from public records law, providing exemptions for state, local and federal law enforcement officials,” she said.

Nancy Neylon, executive director of the Ohio Domestic Violence Network, joined Turner and Clyde in campaigning for the proposed legislation.

“Domestic violence is a community problem that demands community solutions,” she said. “The fact that we have the opportunity to help survivors live fuller lives after taking the dangerous steps of leaving a violent situation is reason enough to enact the address confidentiality program.”

An earlier version of the address confidentiality program bill was passed by the House with unanimous support in the 128th General Assembly.

“Victims of domestic violence sometimes struggle to stay safe. They may have to switch jobs, move to other towns or states, or even change their names. And yet, their abusers may still find them, often by using information that is part of the public record,” Clyde said.

“As a state, we should be doing all we can to ensure the safety of people who take the hard and dangerous step of leaving domestic violence situations. Protecting their address and restoring their ability to vote without fear is one way to do that.”

Both bills are awaiting committee assignments.

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