II
115th CONGRESS
1st Session
S. 1889
IN THE SENATE OF THE UNITED STATES
September 28, 2017
Mr. Blunt (for himself, Ms. Klobuchar, Mrs. Capito, Mrs. McCaskill, Mr. Cornyn, Mr. Blumenthal, and Ms. Hassan) introduced the following bill; which was read twice and referred to the Committee on Homeland Security and Governmental Affairs
A BILL
To require Federal agencies and Federal courts to comply with address confidentiality programs, and for other purposes.
Short title
This Act may be cited as the Safeguarding Addresses From Emerging at Home Act
or the SAFE at Home Act
.
Definitions
In this Act:
Address confidentiality program
The term address confidentiality program means a program implemented by a State that provides a designated address to an eligible individual for use in lieu of the individual’s actual physical address.
Actual physical address
The term actual physical address may include the address of the individual’s residence, school, and place of employment.
Eligible individual
The term eligible individual means an individual who is determined, pursuant to an address confidentiality program—
to be at risk to be a victim of domestic violence, rape, sexual assault, human trafficking, stalking, or who otherwise fears for their safety; or
to reside in the same household as an individual described in subparagraph (A).
Federal agency and Federal court compliance with State address confidentiality programs
In general
Each Federal agency and Federal court shall accept, for any purpose for which an individual is required to provide an address to the agency or court, an address designated to that individual pursuant to an address confidentiality program.
Exemption from liability
An individual who provides to a Federal agency or Federal court an address which is designated to that individual pursuant to an address confidentiality program shall not be subject to any Federal regulatory, civil, or criminal penalties for providing such address in lieu of the individual’s actual physical address.
Compliance with address confidentiality program procedures and exemption from FOIA
In the case of a Federal agency or Federal court seeking to acquire the actual physical address of an individual described in subsection (a), the agency or court shall comply with any applicable procedures of the address confidentiality program for acquiring such address. Upon acquiring such an address, the address shall be considered confidential, and shall not be subject to any request pursuant to section 552 of title 5, United States Code (commonly referred to as the Freedom of Information Act
).