SETTING THE RECORD STRAIGHT ON AB 2624

Assemblymember Bonta Corrects Misinformation Circulating About AB 2624: Privacy for immigration support services providers.

For immediate release:
Daniel McGreevy
Communications Coordinator
(916) 319-2589
Daniel.McGreevy@asm.ca.gov
California State Capitol

SACRAMENTO, Calif. – Right-wing agitators, ineffective legislators, and Trump loyalists are intentionally spreading significant misinformation about Assembly Bill 2624, authored by Assemblymember Mia Bonta (D-Oakland). The office of Assemblymember Bonta is releasing the  following information to correct the record:

 

AB 2624 extends California’s existing Safe at Home address confidentiality program to immigration support service providers, employees, and volunteers who face documented threats, harassment, or violence. The bill has passed the Assembly Privacy and Judiciary committees with broad coalitional support. AB 2624 is a 2026 California Legislative Latino Caucus Priority bill and will next be heard in the Assembly Public Safety Committee.

 

​“People working in immigrant services are being followed home, receiving death threats, and having their personal information weaponized against them. AB 2624 provides protection through the same tried and tested process California already offers to domestic violence survivors and select healthcare workers. The concerns raised about this bill are based on a malicious and intentional misrepresentation of this bill,” said Assemblymember Mia Bonta.

 

GET THE FACTS

Responding to misconceptions about AB 2624.

 

CLAIM

CORRECTION

FALSE

 

"AB 2624 would criminalize investigative journalism and penalize independent journalists."

The bill’s civil and criminal penalties require demonstrated intent to incite imminent great bodily harm or place a program participant in objectively reasonable fear for their safety. Investigative journalism such as visiting locations, filming in public, publishing reports does not meet that standard and is not touched by this bill. 

 

Additionally, Section 6218.19(b)(3) of the bill explicitly references California Evidence Code §1070, the state’s journalist shield statute. 

FALSE

 

"There is no differentiation [for journalists]. It says any individual who does this, any corporation, any business who posts a video, full stop. There’s no exemption for journalists.”

California’s long standing Evidence Code §1070 is explicitly referenced in the bill language, that statute defines journalists and news organizations and provides the state’s press shield.

 

Beyond the exemption, every enforcement provision in the bill requires proof of specific harmful intent not merely the act of posting video or information.

 

Doxxing and inciting violence are not journalism. 

FALSE

 

AB 2624 is the ‘Stop Nick Shirley Act.’

This characterization has no basis in the bill’s text, legislative history, or author’s intent. 

 

AB 2624 is targeted at doxxing individuals’ home addresses and personal information with intent to incite violence — conduct with no overlap with investigative work.

 

The bill was introduced in response to documented, escalating harassment of immigrant service workers.

 

Any insinuation this bill would apply to Nick Shirley is insinuation that Nick Shirley intends to doxx individuals’ personal information with the intent to incite violence. 

FALSE

 

AB 2624 would shield "taxpayer-funded organizations from public scrutiny."

AB 2624 creates a confidentiality program for individual workers, not organizations. 

 

Organizational public records obligations, nonprofit financial disclosures, and accountability mechanisms are governed by entirely separate law.

 

This bill does not modify, limit, or intersect with the California Public Records Act as applied to organizations.

 

Institutional transparency and individual worker safety are separate matters; this bill addresses only the latter.

BASELESS

 

AB 2624 is "completely unconstitutional."

AB 2624 mirrors existing California law already on the books and already operational: the Safe at Home address confidentiality program for reproductive healthcare workers (Gov. Code §6215) and gender-affirming care providers (AB 82, 2025). No constitutional challenge to those programs is pending.

 

WHAT AB 2624 ACTUALLY DOES

 

AB 2624 extends California’s Safe at Home program, created in 1998 for domestic violence survivors and since expanded to reproductive healthcare workers and gender-affirming care providers, to immigration support service providers, employees, and volunteers who can document threats or harassment.

 

​Eligible individuals must apply to the California Secretary of State and provide documentation demonstrating they have faced threats, harassment, or acts of violence within one year of applying. Upon certification, participants receive a substitute address for use in public records. Penalties for violating the bill’s anti-doxxing provisions require proven intent to incite violence or place a participant in objectively reasonable fear for their safety.

 

The bill does not restrict filming in public, prohibit investigative journalism, modify public records law for organizations, or apply to anyone who has not enrolled in and been certified by the program.

 

THE CONTEXT

 

The bill was introduced in direct response to a documented escalation of threats against immigration service workers across the state of California. Testimony before the Assembly Privacy Committee included the following account from Angelica Salas, Executive Director of CHIRLA:

 

“We received a lot of hate calls, a lot of threats of violence against our organization… I’m personally named consistently, and the threats of violence are extreme… Our staff, just recently, going out to lunch, had people outside asking for their names, asking them questions, really attacking their ability to move from one place to another, trying to get into our office. It happened to me and happened to a family member. They were looking for me and ended up in my mother’s home. There’s so many of my colleagues where individuals have shown up to their home, who have been threatened, and this is not just our organization, but many others.”

 

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Assemblymember Mia Bonta represents California’s 18th Assembly District encompassing the East Bay including Oakland, Alameda, and Emeryville. She also chairs the Assembly Health Committee.

Courtesy photos can be found HERE.