Cal. COM § 9526.5 — California Code / Code com / Division 9 / Chapter 5 / Section 9526.5
Section 9526.5
Status: in_force

(a) For purposes of this section, the following terms have the following meanings:

(1) “Official filing” means the permanent archival filing of all instruments, papers, records, and attachments as accepted for filing by a filing office.

(2) “Public filing” means a filing that is an exact copy of an official filing except that any social security number contained in the copied filing is truncated. The public filing shall have the same legal force and effect as the official filing.

(3) “Truncate” means to redact at least the first five digits of a social security number.

(4) “Truncated social security number” means a social security number that displays no more than the last four digits of the number.

(b) For every filing containing an untruncated social security number filed before August 1, 2007, a filing office shall create a public filing.

(c) A filing office shall post a notice on its Internet Web site informing filers not to include social security numbers in any portion of their filings. A filing office’s online filing system shall not contain a field requesting a social security number.

(d) Beginning August 1, 2007, for every filing containing an untruncated social security number filed by means other than the filing office’s Internet Web site, a filing office shall create a public filing.

(e) When a public filing version of an official filing exists, both of the following shall apply:

(1) Upon a request for inspection, copying, or other public disclosure of an official filing that is not exempt from disclosure, a filing office shall make available only the public filing version of that filing.

(2) A filing office shall publicly disclose an official filing only in response to a subpoena or order of a court of competent jurisdiction.

(3) This article does not restrict, delay, or modify access to an official filing, or modify existing agreements regarding access to an official filing, prior to the creation and availability of a public filing version of that official filing.

(f) A filing office shall be deemed to be in compliance with the requirements of this section and shall not be liable for failure to truncate a social security number if the office uses due diligence to locate social security numbers in official records and truncate the social security numbers in the public filing version of those official filings. The use of an automated program with a high rate of accuracy shall be deemed to be due diligence.

(g) In the event that a filing office fails to truncate a social security number contained in a record pursuant to subdivision (b) or (d), a person may request that the filing office truncate the social security number contained in that record. Notwithstanding that a filing office may be deemed to be in compliance with this section pursuant to subdivision (f), a filing office that receives a request that identifies the exact location of an untruncated social security number that is required to be truncated pursuant to subdivision (b) or (d) within a specifically identified record, shall truncate that number within 10 business days of receiving the request. The public filing with the truncated social security number shall replace the record with the untruncated number.

(h) The Secretary of State shall not produce or make available financing statements in the form and format described in Section 9521 that provide a space identified for the disclosure of the social security number of an individual.

(i) The Secretary of State shall produce and make available financing statements in the form and format described in Section 9521, except that the financing statements shall not provide a space identified for the disclosure of the social security number of an individual.

(j) This section does not apply to a county recorder.