Voter registration information: confidentiality.

The bill now amends Sections 2166, 2166.5, 2166.7, 2166.8, 2166.9, and 2194 of the Elections Code instead of only Section 2166.9, bringing all existing voter confidentiality programs under its umbrella.

Confidentiality for all covered voters (life-threatening circumstances, domestic violence program participants, public safety officers, qualified workers, and elected officials/candidates) now extends to the entire voter registration record, including voter participation history and registration information from before the confidential status was granted, rather than just residence address, telephone number, and email address.

A new category of protected persons is created: 'qualified workers' defined as persons employed by or contracting with the Secretary of State or a local election office who perform election-related work and interact with the public or are observed by the public doing so. Precinct board members who do not otherwise perform election-related work are excluded.

Public safety officers (Section 2166.7) and qualified workers (Section 2166.8) now face a two-year maximum confidentiality period, renewable by submitting a new application for an additional period of not more than two years.

All sections now include cross-county portability provisions: when a confidential voter moves to a new county, the new county must honor the status for 60 days from notice, contact the voter with information about applying in the new county, and remove the status if the voter does not obtain it within that period.

The Secretary of State must submit an annual report to the Legislature by January 10 of each year regarding the qualified worker program, including total applications received, number of participants in each county, and any allegations of misuse relating to election purposes.

Each section includes a negligence immunity provision: no action in negligence may be maintained against any government entity or officer for disclosure of confidential information unless there is a showing of gross negligence or willfulness.

Section 2166.5 now explicitly covers participants in both the Address Confidentiality for Victims of Domestic Violence, Sexual Assault, and Stalking program (Government Code Section 6205) and the Address Confidentiality for Reproductive Health Care Service Providers program (Government Code Section 6215), with confidentiality terminating upon written notice of withdrawal, invalidation, expiration, or termination of the program certification.

The bill text was reformatted from the traditional legislative document layout (with line numbers, page headers/footers, and column formatting) to a clean web publication format with navigation menus and simplified structure. No substantive policy language was added, removed, or altered.

New paragraph (d)(3)(8) allows a candidate who opts out of confidential voter status to re-request it at any time during their eligibility period, with status reinstated upon receipt of the request. Previously, only elected officials had an explicit re-request provision in this section.

The term 'confidential status' was replaced with 'confidential voter status' throughout the bill for greater clarity and consistency (appears in sections b(4), c(2)(A), c(2)(B), c(2)(C), d(3)(A), d(3)(C), d(7), and e(5)).

Removed the word 'county' before 'local elections official' in two places: section (c)(2)(D) (special election certification) and section (e)(3)(B) (local office ballot qualification determination).

In section (b)(3), the phrase 'may at the official's discretion provide written notice' was changed to 'may at the official's discretion confidential and provide written notice,' which appears to be a drafting error inserting an extra word.

New subdivision (l) requires the Secretary of State, in consultation with county election officials, to develop and implement a process by no later than September 30, 2027, that permits a person with confidential voter status to vote at a polling place or vote center while retaining their confidential voter status. The Secretary of State may adopt regulations to ensure compliance and uniformity.

Subdivision (b)(3) was corrected to make written notice to the household mandatory. The prior version contained garbled language ('may at the official's discretion confidential and provide written notice') that made the notice discretionary; the amended text simply requires the county elections official to 'provide written notice' to the household.

The definition of 'immediate family member' now only covers an elected official's spouse, domestic partner, parent, or child at the same residence. Candidates' immediate family members are no longer eligible for confidential status under this provision.

A candidate who opts into confidential status and is elected to office now automatically retains that status after being sworn into office until they opt out or two years after leaving office. Previously, the automatic retention only lasted until the swearing-in date, and the person had to submit a new written request to keep confidentiality beyond that point.

In several places, 'county elections official' was changed to 'county local elections official' when referring to officials handling local office elections or local special elections, clarifying which level of official is responsible.