California bill AB1168, pertaining to the redaction of social security numbers, is now law.The legislative counsel’s analysis summarizes a key element for researchers.

This bill would declare the intent of the legislature that, in order to protect against the risk of identity theft, local agencies shall redact social security numbers from records before disclosing them to the public pursuant to this chapter. This bill also would provide that, unless required to do so by state or federal law, no person, entity, or government agency shall present for recording or filing with a county recorder if it displays more than the last 4 digits of a social security number, as specified.

County recorders will be able to assess an additional fee on document filing to fund the mandate to create a public version of every filed document, which would truncate Social Security numbers. Secretary of State forms are required to eliminate any request for Social Security numbers and the Franchise Tax Board will also truncate SSNs.