Governor signs 'Safe At Home' changes into law

Missouri's secretary of state now has an automatic right to intervene in civil lawsuits where the state's "Safe At Home" confidential address program may be an issue.

Gov. Eric Greitens on Thursday signed the bill including "Safe At Home" language. The section had an emergency clause making it part of state law immediately after it was signed.

"It now puts it specifically in the law that notice has to be given to the secretary of state, when someone who is a participant in our address confidentiality program might be ordered to give out their address," Secretary of State Jay Ashcroft told the News Tribune Thursday.

The program allows victims of domestic violence, rape, sexual assault or stalking to keep their home addresses confidential and use a different address designated by the secretary of state's office.

"Safe At Home" has been a part of state law since 2007, and first was promoted by then-Secretary of State Robin Carnahan, a Democrat.

"There are lots of things that we're going to disagree about - good, smart people are going to disagree politically," Ashcroft, a Republican, told the News Tribune, "but this is the sort of program that we ought to all be able agree that this is a good thing to do."

The modifications to "Safe At Home" were among 20 law changes contained in a bill Greitens signed in a Thursday morning ceremony in St. Louis County - most of the law's provisions don't go into effect until Aug. 28.

Greitens emphasized the bill's creation of a "Blue Alert" system that notifies the general public - similar to the way Amber Alerts are distributed for missing children - when a law enforcement officer has been killed or injured.

"We must stand up for those who stand guard for us," the governor said in a news release.

Among its other provisions, the new law:

Allows a person to ask a court to expunge any records relating to any infraction or offense that resulted from mistaken identity, or from another person's using the petitioner's identification. If the court agrees, it must order the courts and all other state agencies to eliminate all records that identify the petitioner.

Adds museums focusing on children under 18 to the list of public places with 500-foot exclusion boundaries for people convicted of certain offenses against minors.

Increases the penalty for some kinds of stalking of a law enforcement officer or an officer's close relative.

Creates the crime of "illegal reentry" for a person who has been removed from the United States due to the violation of certain federal crimes, then illegally enters Missouri and commits an assault or other felonies under Missouri law.

The "Safe At Home" changes were introduced late in the General Assembly's session, after St. Louis County Circuit Judge Sandra Farragut-Hemphill denied Ashcroft's request to intervene in a divorce case the judge was hearing.

Ashcroft's office wanted to get involved after the judge twice had ordered the wife in the case - who joined "Safe At Home" in April 2016 - to provide her physical address as part of the joint custody issues in the divorce case.

Ashcroft, who is an attorney, declined to discuss the specifics of the St. Louis County case.

But, he said, "We need to balance the rights of everyone here, and make sure that we're keeping everyone safe - and that parents have the ability to be participants in their children's lives without requiring the public disclosure of an address for people who have been abused in the past."

Ashcroft said the confidential address information is not available under Missouri's Sunshine Law. But a court has the authority to order the secretary of state's office to provide the information to the court.