Proposed 'Safe at Home Act' would hide addresses of domestic violence survivors in Kentucky

LOUISVILLE, Ky. (WDRB) -- There's a new push in Kentucky to help survivors of domestic violence hide their addresses from their abusers.

A proposed bill, Senate Bill 79, would establish the Safe at Home program. It would allow a Kentuckian fleeing a domestic violence, stalking or human trafficking situation to mask their address from all public documents.

"Today's role of technology, internet searches and the wealth of personal information stored in public records databases can make it that much more difficult -- and sometimes even impossible -- for a survivor to keep their location private," said Angela Yannelli, CEO of the Kentucky Coalition of Domestic Violence.

ADDRESS PROTECTIONS | An announcement for a bill to expand protections for those fleeing domestic violence. It involves @KYSecState bc his office already runs a hidden address program for those with EPOs in the state. #KyGA #Sb79 @WDRBNews pic.twitter.com/o6LUgdvQAa
— Monica Harkins WDRB (@MonicaHarkinstv) February 13, 2023

The Safe at Home Act would expand on the already existing Address Confidentiality Program. This program was launched in 2013 and allows for survivors with an emergency protective order (EPO) to hide their address on voter registration documents.

This new bill would eliminate the EPO requirement.

Supporters of the bill say that's an important move because protective orders are counterintuitive, as they require the address of the person filing against his or her abuser.

The Safe at Home Act would mask addresses for those who apply on all publicly accessible documents.

"The Kentucky Coalition Against Domestic Violence and the 15 regional domestic violence shelter programs that serve all 120 counties in the Commonwealth support the Safe at Home Act because survivors of domestic violence deserve to be safe in their homes, and they deserve to be safe in their communities," Yannelli said.

As for cost of the program, Kentucky Secretary of State Michael Adams said the previous address confidentiality program already had a budget of about $48,000 and he believes that would be enough to cover the expanded work for the Safe at Home Program.

Senator Julie Raque Adams is the sponsor of the bill and hopes the bill could be brought into committee as early as this week.